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
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