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
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