Environment Agency conference
First up, I presented to the Environment Agency Thames Region Annual Conference on “External Drivers for the Environment Agency and Planning.” The EA reports to DEFRA and rumour has it that they have at least as many if not more chartered planners than DCLG!
There were over 60 attending the conference, including around 20 planners, discussing their strategy and practice. The EA Corporate Strategy focuses on their responsibilities for climate change, air/land/water quality, sustainable use of resources and working with business and the public sector in these areas.
The planning challenges concern the usual suspects of political uncertainty, addressing job and housing needs in the current climate and climate change, but more particularly how to secure public and private resources for infrastructure, especially marine erosion and flood protection. We had a healthy discussion regarding the planners’ role in their work and the need for planners outside the EA to have the necessary environmental assessment skills to work with the EA.
They were engaged in the RTPI’s 7 commitments to climate change, in particular, looking at RTPI accredited training modules on climate change mitigation. We all agreed on the need to promote, more loudly, planners' role in addressing climate change.
Extraordinary eye-opening contemporary art
The CABE 10th Anniversary celebration, at the Saatchi Gallery, just off Kings Road, was a glittering affair, with much credit to them for lifting the case for good design into public awareness. The gallery itself was an eye opener, with some extraordinary examples of contemporary art. Sadly, I had to leave quite early to catch the train to Chelmsford, for the start of my RTPI East of England visit.
Fewer trainees sponsored in university
Firstly I visited the Anglia Ruskin University campus - an excellent collection of well designed modern buildings - to meet staff on the planning course, led by Senior Lecturer Ann Hockey. The staff were very lively, but the numbers on the post-graduate part-time course had suffered, because of local authorities sponsoring fewer trainee places.
Nonetheless the students were engaged and, while concerned about the public sector spending climate, were clearly being very well taught.
Jim Page, a planning stalwart in his 80s, then chaperoned me on the train to Norwich, to address the RTPI East of England Urban Design and Conservation Conference in the beautiful Queen Ann Assembly House. I was in very good company, with presentations from ex-Norwich DoP Michael Loveday and Ben Webster, current master planner at Norwich, making particularly pertinent presentations.
A walking tour, and attached are a number of pictures of schemes, demonstrated the huge success of Norwich planners in making a difference to the economy and environment of this great city. Michael showed how a public investment of some £400 K had generated £16 m investment in the environment.
At the end of the conference I had the great pleasure of presenting Regional Chair Rob Hobbs with the EE Tomorrow’s Leader award.
To complete an excellent day I met representatives of the Greater Norwich Partnership Planning Sub Group who described the extraordinary progress they were making in delivering a 4 authority supported LDF. They were so impressive that I will be using their work as an exemplar for other sub regional planning models as part of the RTPI’s work in addressing the possible demise of regional arrangements.
The next day Rob accompanied me to Ipswich where I met Christopher Stratton and Steven Bainbridge of The Landscape Partnership planning consultants to visit an old airfield site Bentwaters. Bentwaters Park Ltd consists of a group of business farmers who currently manage some 20,000 acres of land in Suffolk and related businesses.
The primary reason for visiting was to look at the scheme for a Bio Mass plant that used agricultural “waste” as the raw material. The process of preparing vegetables to super market standard leaves much surplus material that has to be ploughed back into the land.
The Bentwaters scheme involves the vegetables being transported to the site prepared, stored to season the product, and then distributed. The surplus material that emerges from these processes is now stored and will be used to generate electricity for the process and other uses on the site, a truly sustainable process that should be working next year. There were many others activities going on in the site which are the subject of a master plan being taken forward by the consultants and some of the surplus buildings are illustrated here.
Richard Chillingford the EE Regional Secretary then kindly took me back to the station for my trip home after an eventful visit for which thanks to all involved.
Martin Willey
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