50 Shades of Planning
50 Shades of Planning is Sam Stafford’s attempt to explore the foibles of the English planning system and its aim is to cover the breadth of the sector both in terms of topics of conversation and in terms of guests with different experiences and perspectives. 50 Shades episodes include 'Hitting The High Notes', which are a series of conversations with leading planning and property figures. The conversations take in the six milestone planning permissions or projects within a contributor’s career and for every project guests are invited to choose a piece of music that they were listening to at that time...
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A Lot of Stick (But Not Much Carrott)
<p>Sam Stafford was in Birmingham recently and caught up whilst there with old friends of the podcast Myles Wild-Smith, Kathryn Ventham and Jacob Bonehill.</p> <p>Myles is a Director at Lichfields, Kathryn is a Senior Director at Twenty5 Planning and Jacob is a Director at Carney Sweeney.</p> <p>In a conversation recorded at the Podcast Room, they talked about what was then the soon-to-be, but is now the mandatory, National Scheme of Delegation; they talked about appealing against non-determination rather than waiting to be called-in; they talked about the extension of the deadline for the submission of...
Hail To The Chief
<p>One of the most common topics of conversation that Sam Stafford heard at UKREiiF this year was the need for statutory chief planners. There are perhaps three factors behind that interest in building or strengthening leadership capacity within LPAs. First, the impending programme of devolution and local government reform will create larger teams covering larger geographies that will need to co-operate with newly emerging strategic authorities. Second; more authorities being in no overall control need guiding through the decision-making implications of that. And thirdly, the emerging need to manage the possibly contentious gateway test element of the soon statutory...
Neutral Impact IV
<p>When 50 Shades of Planning first covered nutrient neutrality in February 2021, Sam Stafford described the process of eutrophication as a bit like the podcast itself: a little niche, but very important.</p> <p>When Sam published a second episode on the subject in September 2022 it had grown in significance to the extent that Prime Minister Liz Truss had pledged to “scrap nutrient neutrality rules”.</p> <p>The question that was posed in that second episode, and again in a third episode in June 2024, was how far away is a satisfactory resolution in those parts of the country that have been affe...
The New Local Plan-Making System
<p>The previous Government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduced the legislative framework for a new system of local plan-making and in March 2026 the current Government introduced the regulations concerning this new regime. </p> <p>The headline changes are that local authorities will be required to complete plans within a condensed 30-month period; conduct three public consultations rather than the two currently required; and pass through three mandatory gateway checks on the way.</p> <p>39 authorities, those that had submitted, but not adopted, a plan for examination on or before 12 March 2025 that proposed meeting less than 80% of local housing ne...
A Framework-Led Conversation
<p>Whilst in London recently Sam Stafford took the opportunity to catch up with old friends of the podcast Simon Ricketts, Andrew Taylor and Mike Kiely.</p> <p>Simon is a Partner at Town Legal, Andrew is Group Planning and Sustainability Director at Vistry and Mike is a former Chief Planner, now independent planning consultant working mainly in the public sector as well as chairing the board of the Planning Officer's Society.</p> <p>In a conversation recorded at Brazen Studios in Southwark they kicked around a few of the issues exercising the planning profession at the minute. Their ramblechat...
Meet a MP and an AM - Reform UK
<p>As regular listeners know there is often talk on the 50 Shades of Planning podcast about the role of local councillors in the planning system, in the context of, for example, overturning officer recommendations or a decision to withdraw a local plan.</p> <p>There is talk less often about the role of MPs, which is something that friend of the podcast Andrew Taylor wanted to remedy and this is the third of what he and Sam Stafford hope will be five episodes exploring what it is to be a member of a parliament by way of conversations that Andrew...
We Can't Stop Planning
<p>Sam Stafford was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with old friends of the podcast Lisa Tye, Shaun Knights and Jaimie Ferguson.</p> <p>Lisa is a Partner at Town Legal, Shaun is a Senior Planning Officer at Preston City Council and Jaimie is a Company Director at Lucid</p> <p>In a conversation recorded at Reform Radio they discussed, principally, the new NPPF, but also touched upon the current live consultations on standard planning agreements for medium-sized sites and planning powers for mayors in England.</p> <p>Some accompanying reading.</p> <p>Planning Teal...
Viable Options
<p>The basis of this episode was a series of posts Sam Stafford spotted that Nick Cuff at Urban Sketch had shared on his Prop Views blog about the Parkhurst Road judgement and the implications thereof.</p> <p>Sam asked Nick if he would like to explore the themes that he writes about with another new friend of the podcast Jamie Ratcliff, and old friends of the podcast Gilian Macinnes and Anthony Lee.</p> <p>Jamie co-founded PlaceBase and is chair of the Housing Forum; Gilian advises LPAs on improving planning and place-making services and is presently Interim Assistant Director...
Why do places look the way they do?
<p>Sam Stafford was at a symposium organised by Create Streets at Hatfield House in June last year called ‘Building for generations’. All of the presentations on the day and the conversations there upon led Sam back to the fundamental question as to why places look the way they do, which, it seemed to him on the train back that evening, would make for a good episode of a town planning-based podcast so he convened some experts in the field of design and placemaking to try to answer that question.</p> <p>Those experts are old friends of the podcast Hana...
Vibes and Stuff
<p>Sam Stafford was in Birmingham recently and took the opportunity whilst there to catch up with old friend of the podcast Myles Wild Smith and new friends of the podcast Mike Knott, Bart Shirm and Beth Pywell.</p> <p>Myles is a Director at Lichfields, Mike is a Regional Practice Lead at Stantec, Bart is a Senior Planning Policy Officer at Sandwell and Beth is an Associate Director at Nexus.</p> <p>During a good ol’-fashioned, Shades-style ramblechat, recorded at Podhaus studios in Digbeth’s Custard Factory, they talk about the NPPF's non-appearance before the parliament summer recess, loca...
