From Ireland at its best to Guildford green belt

Philly and I visited Southern Ireland at the end of a busy week. Dublin is a regular haunt of ours because, every two years, Ireland plays England at rugby!
On this occasion, we were accompanied throughout the visit by the wonderful Billy Hynes, Chair of the RTPI's Irish Branch, Southern Section.


By the end of the day, Billy had suffered a clamp on his car, his son being bitten by a dog and his bike stolen! Billy, you are a star, keeping cheerful throughout, clearly highly respected by all we met and keeping us amused with your wonderful sense of humour throughout all our travels. Thank you.
Southern Ireland is the smallest group of members in the Regions and Nations, and also operates alongside the Irish Planning Association. However, it operates with huge enthusiasm and is recognised as a statutory consultee by the Irish Government. Perhaps the biggest difference is that they have third party rights of appeal of which more anon.



First stop, University College Dublin, to meet students and lecturers at the Planning School, including the new Chair of Spatial Planning, Professor Zorica Nevodic-Budic. There were the usual concerns about work but a high level of enthusiasm and considerable expertise were displayed by the PhD students. It was also a lovely campus.

Lunch with the Chair, John O’Connor, and Board of the Irish Inspectorate called An Bord Pleanala. Because of the Third Party Appeals, they were involved in the majority of major applications and demonstrated the highest levels of integrity. It seemed to work OK - in the way we all hope the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) will work - but with significant delays to decisions that, in the UK, would have remained with local authorities.


The Adamstown Strategic Development Zone was a private housebuilder initiative, displaying high levels of sustainability alongside a new LRT station proposal.
What were particularly innovative were the efforts by the Project Planner Karen Kenny, of South Dublin County Council, to generate a neighbourhood travel plan. Adamstown has already won an RTPI award and this scheme might well win them another!



Dinner in the evening with Billy, his wife, vice-chair Philip Jackson and Honorary Secretary Rosemary Gibbons, of Dublin City Council, was in a French Restaurant, where we had an enjoyable evening, listening to local gossip and political intrigue in Ireland!

Frank Allen, an ex-financier, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Railway Procurement Agency, responsible for the LUAS Dublin Light Rail System, which complements the DART tram system, railways and buses.



He, with RPS consultant Des Cox who cycled to join us, demonstrated the huge economic impact of the LUAS and substantial proposals for its expansion.





We jumped on the LUAS back to the Docklands Area to meet Jerry Barnes, now of consultants MacCabe Durney Barnes, but previously part of the team that masterplanned and delivered Dublin’s city centre waterside expansion early phases. You can see how successful it’s been.


The inevitable contemporarily designed Arts/Theatre building raised a few questions but in general it was rather more user friendly than London Docklands and the spaces were nicely related to the water.



The highlight of the visit for Philly and me, much to the chagrin of our son Tim’s Northern Irish father-in-law Bill McGinnis, was a tour of the new Lansdowne Road Rugby Stadium, now called (but I suspect without much recognition by the Irish rugby supporters) the Aviva Stadium.
The architects, including Philip are Scott Tallon Walker, and although the budget is over £300 million, it is an exceptional building.
The site constrained capacity to around 50,000, but you can see through the building which curves gently to accommodate its surrounding neighbours’ daylight.

The outside has a skin of Perspex panels but still manages to generate a feeling of grace and dignity as these pictures show. A real treat and apparently on time and on budget.

Dinner with a large number of Branch members organised by the long serving Berna Grist who had done a marvellous job. We were addressed by Ciarin Cuffe one of the Green Party TDs (MPs) representing the Minister.
The Green Party through PR are part of the Irish Government. The address seemed to be providing a relatively onerous planning regime but one which had excellent sustainability credentials.



Throughout the visit, we had enjoyed wonderful weather, Ireland at its best.
The following week, I had been invited to visit Guildford Council by Tracey Haskins the Young Planner of the Year whose company Philly and I had enjoyed on many occasions in particular at the USA APA Convention. RGS Guildford is where I went to school along with Past Presidents Brian Ragget and Nick Davis.
After meeting all the planning team I was taken on a tour that brought back many memories but also showed how the town has changed.
At the top of a multi storey car park, we visited a Thai restaurant, then to see a really exciting modern retail and HQ scheme at the top of the High Street.
We also visited the school that had recently received a new front entrance and clearly planned further extensions sometimes in the vicinity of Grade 1 listed buildings.


Finally we went inside Abbot's Hospital - a long standing charity of almshouse type accommodation. George Abbot was the founder of many public buildings and the building and a modern extension were exceptional.



I returned to the civic offices, having been accompanied by Carol Humphrey, Head of Planning, Tim Dawes DM Manager and of course Tracey, Planning Policy Manager, throughout the day, very impressed by the quality and level of planning service they were able to offer.



Although they are a relatively wealthy council, the planning pressures are substantial, as most of the Borough is Green Belt!
It was very easy to see how Tracey had won her YP Award!


Martin Willey

A glimpse of the London Olympics project

A trip to London, my home town, is a regular occurrence, either for business or RTPI.



As an East End boy, my mother waved me out of the window of Charing Cross Hospital in the Strand, Michael Jackson style, so I could hear the sound of the Bow Bells and retain my Cockney routes.
I always enjoy going back, but for the RTPI London trip, it was a completely new experience.



After visiting AECOM, the home of RTPI London chair Rachael Rooney, for a rewarding briefing on legacy, I joined a large group for a tour round the Olympic site.



It is extraordinary - both the scale and volume of what is going on - and I also met the two planning teams, the applicants for the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and a team of mainly seconded staff from the constituent local authorities, whose Head of Development Control at the Olympic Delivery Authority, Vivienne Ramsey, also won my London Today’s Leader Award.



The skills displayed by both teams were world class and the quality of the resulting development will make the London Games an exceptional experience as you can already judge from these photos.
I met the London young planners at Botolph Lane in the evening and had a very robust debate regarding expectations of the RTPI. I believe that their energy will bring handsome rewards both in individual career terms but also for the RTPI. Two of the YPs were unemployed planners who I was subsequently able to refer to the RTPI who were looking for interns – I wish them good luck.


The next day, I was taken around the Kings Cross Scheme by Argent and planners RPS, together with representatives of the British Waterways Board, who are partners in the scheme. Again this was an impressive visit with hugely complex planning project management required but with a quality that despite the market conditions was beginning to shine through.


I also renewed acquaintances with Lester Hillman, who always comes to the RTPI AGM, and gave me a wonderful book on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. He also asked me to write a letter to Anthony Rouse, who has completed 65 years as a chartered planner and who was to be recognised on World Town Planning Day, which we celebrated at the Commons on November 10th – a request I was delighted to respond to.
Finally to a DTZ sponsored evening event which was to have addressed a wide range of issues but ended up with Sir Simon Milton launching the new London Plan. It was a memorable event, firstly because the Plan is very good and secondly because a leading Tory was promoting a region – London. We will talk again with Sir Simon!
The General Assembly had a political element too.
We persuaded Tory Shadow Planning Minister Bob Neil and Baroness Hamwy, the Lib Dem planning spokesperson in the Lords, to address us regarding their views on the future of planning.
They were generally very supportive and, under questioning, were clearly strong supporters of Planning Aid and its potential to deliver localism, but also had some concerns about speed of preparation, while very keen on local development frameworks.
The GA had also received a highly entertaining presentation from an Independent councillor on how he applied business processes to a small Dorset Council to create an effective planning system.
The GA has come on in leaps and bounds this year and has become an excellent forum for testing policy.
This debate will inform the next GA on our 2010 RTPI Manifesto.


Martin Willey

Heartening that all parties are pro-planning

This week, domestic issues played a proper part, including moving my daughter Alex into a new flat in London over the weekend, my Mum’s funeral after a good innings of 86 years, and Philly and my 39th wedding anniversary (she deserves a medal!)
Tino and I, as part of our programme of Party briefings, met Bob Neil and Julia Goldsworthy, respective opposition spokespersons for planning.
They were both interesting meetings: the Tories produce their Planning Green Paper before Christmas and the Liberals a Planning Charter.
Although we are not “statutory consultees”, we are doing our best to influence the documents and gain the impression that both parties are pro-planning. We shall see!
At last, the Minister for Planning John Healey has also agreed to see us, so we will press the case for good planning with him, as well as we move towards an election in 2010.
The Board met with a very busy agenda dominated by the process for agreeing the details of Robert’s replacement.
We are all very optimistic that the market is excellent and expect some high calibre candidates.
That evening, on the way home, I popped into the Royal Society of Arts to listen - for the first time in person - to our Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham MP. He is a confident and relaxed character, and although he spent much of his presentation basing the Opposition, again, the government continues to demonstrate it is pro-planning.
My last commitment was an extraordinary privilege - the Nathaniel Lichfield Commemorative Conference at University College London, chaired by the cerebral Sir Peter Hall.
Nat was one of the great plannersm, prominent particularly in the 60s, 70s and 80s, alongside Desmond Heap, Sir Colin Buchanan, Walter Bor and others.
The debate was lively and demonstrated the need to try to recapture the spirit of times when eminent planners led public policy!


Martin Willey

Award-winning places and people up north

I have visited the West Midlands three times and found it very rewarding. The Branch is very active and relationships between public, public and private are sound if occasionally lively so I was sorry to complete my tour.

Young Planners Conference in Newcastle

Next it was the Young Planners Annual Conference at Newcastle.
I arrived to join them at a bar on Newcastle Quayside – needless to say all the food had gone and there was a queue of impoverished YPs imagining that the RTPI expense budget would address their thirst. Sadly not, but youthful powers of persuasion allowed the Presidential wallet to remove the moths and recall when elder statesmen had bought me drinks in my youth. A good cause!

I managed to escape to my hotel and grab a sandwich, and the following day - alongside a wonderful group of RTPI experts, including Kevin Murray, Kelvin MacDonald and Prof Patsy Healey - make my presentation to a lively group with challenging questions.
The event was extremely well organised and pleasingly well supported, despite the economic downturn. The standard of debate was high and continues to give me comfort that the future of the profession is in good hands.

RTPI North West dinner

The North West RTPI dinner, on the same day, was a fantastic affair.
I stayed in the new Manchester Hilton, consisting of 23 storeys of hotel accommodation and 23 storeys of penthouse above it.
With RTPI NW Beverley’s magic, I was upgraded free to an upper floor of the hotel, with wonderful roof-top views over the city, including – sorry to bore you – the Bridgewater Concert Hall, in which I played a modest part, alongside some wonderful consultants, such as architects RHWL and engineers Ove Arups.
There are so many interesting things regarding this scheme.

• We re-introduced a basin off the Bridgewater Canal;


• the Hall is balanced on 80 enormous springs to mitigate the effect of the tram line alongside;


• the air-conditioning unit was originally on the roof, but the vibration and noise, both in the Hall and to the housing alongside in Chepstow House, resulted in the engineers coming up with a novel solution. We put it in an internally lit tower, hiding the rear entrance of the Hall and taking air from the top of the auditorium, and then feeding it below the hall to individual outlets under each seat, with no noise nuisance at all.

A privilege to be involved with such experts.

At the dinner, I sat alongside the guest speaker Garry Richardson, the BBC sports broadcaster. We clearly got on!
He spent much of the evening unmercifully making me the brunt of his jokes...

The evening was well organised by Beverley, the NW RTPI administrator of many years service, for which the RTPI’s grateful thanks is offered.

The following week was the Tory Conference, also in Manchester.
This was the second year we attended all the party conferences, but this year, we decided to run a fringe event at the Tory one.
If you haven’t visited the RTPI website, seen the photos or heard the podcast, it was an exceptional event, attended by over 170 - half were NW planners.
We work closely with Tinos’s team, with all main parties, but this event was a real example of your RTPI getting its voice heard.
Whoever wins the election, there has been a significant change in the level of influence by the RTPI.

RTPI North East

The RTPI NE visit was organised by many but, in particular, Chris Clarke, who with wife Fiona (whose mum was once Lord Mayor of Newcastle) kindly looked after me for two nights in their delightful Arts and Crafts house in Newcastle.
I was picked up from the station and treated to a glass of malt whisky before slumber. Then up early next morning to join RTPI NE Chair Mike Mealing for a trip to the northern tip of England.
Our tour was to include the two RTPI 2009 Award winners - the first in Alnwick, the home of Lord Percy and his lady, the Duchess of Northumberland, who agreed to move to Alnwick Castle, if she was allowed a “project” - in her case, an extraordinary garden project, now a major tourist attraction.
The good Lord apparently owns huge chunks of Northumberland and you will see, from these pictures, he owns a huge but beautiful pile!

The winning scheme was more modest but involved a conversion of a church into a church and community centre, funded by the sale of a modest building, adjoining which was converted extremely skilfully into Housing Association flats by ISOS.
The whole scheme was also imaginatively supported by a separate private housing scheme which transferred its social, affordable housing obligation contribution into the social housing conversion. This was all negotiated by DM Manager Peter Biggers and the end result as you can see is the imaginative conversion of a listed church and the provision of much needed affordable housing.

Berwick winners

The next scheme winner in Berwick upon Tweed in the far North was a conversion and extension of an old factory into a starter firm business run by a body funded by County and Local Councils and other public investors.
Again, it was an imaginative solution, this time for the local employment needs of a market town, which even in the downturn had secured 50 per cent occupancy in the first few months. My visit was blessed with unexpected clear autumn sunshine and the drive back to Newcastle also allowed me to enjoy the wonderful Northumberland countryside.

I then visited planners at the new Northumberland (Unitary) Council, who were suffering the impact of cuts as a result of a number of factors, including Icelandic banks, but offered a cheerful disposition and wonderful commitment especially on sustainability. They are clearly a talented group, well led by Paul Gee, and I am sure they will deliver excellent planning results for the new council.
Off to Newcastle and the talented Kevin Lillie, who runs Planning Aid North, who took us to meet the Mayor, who both gave and received awards.
We were then taken around the Eldon Square Centre by Anthony Greally of NLP.
I recall visiting this when it was first developed in the 70s, and it had subsequently declined.
The new scheme adds a wonderful treatment to the Square and new access to an upper floor which with extensions has reintroduced a logical grain and permeability back into the city centre.
Before we walked round the centre, we had also visited planners in the beautiful 60s City Hall and saw a model of how they were bringing back structure to the City Centre, which made commercial and access sense.

That evening, we visited a Planning Aid event at a Primary School and Community Centre, where I completed my Leader Awards.

Many congratulations to Today’s Leader Graham Sword of North Tyneside Council, and Tomorrow’s Leader Emma Walker of NLP.

Kevin runs an enthusiastic group, who have achieved marvellous results, especially in schools. His approach is not always traditional but a mixture of drive and commitment has secured an outstanding reputation for Planning Aid in the Region. Well done, Kevin and team!
I was then taken to a wonderful pub, up on the top of a cliff above the Tyne, looking back down towards the Quayside and Wilkinson Eyelash Bridge and SAGE.
A great end to the evening with a glass of NE bitter.


Martin Willey