MY YEAR AS RTPI PRESIDENT

The Grande Finale Triple Blog...

2010-01-18T10:47:00.017Z

Shaping Tomorrow

Chairing the annual National Transport and Development (TRICS) conference is a must for the RTPI President.
TRICS is a traffic impact assessment system that has been in place for 21 years (happy birthday TRICS!), is owned by a number of local authorities and has been reviewed and updated regularly.
The annual 2009 conference is an opportunity to consider updates but, more importantly, receive expert papers on "the state of the Nation".
Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of the discussion concerned the links between transport and spatial planning, with concerns at the perceived lack of progress on LDFs (better news on this, as we are catching up on the backlog) and concerns at the possible removal of regional plans which provide an important means for including transport issues.

I’ve been fortunate to visit No 10 on a couple of occasions - once for planning and once for education - but my visit this time was to “celebrate British Architecture” at the invitation of the RIBA.
Many eminent architects were there, a number known to me, and there were excellent presentations by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Culture Ben Bradshaw - one of the South West MPs I have come across in my work on housing, when he wore a different hat.
It was a great event!
I was envious that we have yet to persuade a PM that there should be a No 10 event to "celebrate British planning” - but perhaps that is for a future date?

Amazing developments in East Midlands

My next regional trip was to the East Midlands and it was extremely revealing. RTPI East Midlands has a comparatively small number of members and believes it suffers from “polycentricity” because it stretches from Lincoln and the East Coast to the Peak District and picks up major settlements from Northampton to the Corby-Kettering Growth Area and includes Derby, Leicester and Nottingham!

Stephen Pointer, Treasurer and Head of Policy at Harborough District Council, was my minder and met me at the hotel on Sunday night, in the beautiful town of Market Harborough, for a glass of local ale!

The programme started on Monday with a tour of Leicester City Centre, with Andrew Smith, the Service Director for the Council.
I have done some business in Leicester around 10 years ago and was absolutely staggered at the transformation of the place – iconic retail and theatre buildings, building on areas that were once a road, and fantastic paving and landscaping.
It was clearly an outstanding team effort and congratulations to them all! - especially those who have seen the regeneration through, over many years.
I also visited Prospect Leicestershire, the new economic development company for city and shire, led by an old friend, Dave Hughes.
David, Alan Swales, his ex boss (now working for him!) were responsible for some excellent work in Nottingham Regeneration Company and it is great to see Dave and his team leading economic development so effectively.
Back to Harborough to meet Stephen’s boss Brett Culpin, and John Bloxsom, Head of the city/shire Infrastructure Board, to address good levels of co-operation and also discuss the usual issue of scarce resources.
This was followed by an excellent and invigorating session with the Harborough planners, who were faced with three major wind farm applications, and the need to review their LDF, but were clearly coping with enthusiasm and professionalism.
It was really nice to see such a committed bunch in one of the smaller council planning departments - a credit to the profession.

Dinner with the Regional Management Board (RMB) - with free coffee, because I was wearing my chain!
There was much discussion about the need for more volunteers in the East Midlands area - so any offers are appreciated, please!

Much credit must go to Chair, Chris Perrett, and communications guru, Peter Wilkinson, of Landmark Planning, who is a lively and driven chap in championing planning editing their EM Newsletter.

First thing the following morning, we went by train to Nottingham for the East Midlands Planning Awards, sponsored for many years by Browne Jacobsen lawyers, for which many thanks - especially to MRTPI Steve Coult.
Once again, the “solutions” were excellent, covering urban and rural schemes and a good joint strategy in Northants.
A quick coffee with Sue Slack, our hardworking regional administrator, then off to Planning Aid East Midlands, to meet Peter Orban and two ladies named Emily - volunteers from Rushcliffe Borough Council.
They have done outstanding work with groups of children to explain the principles of planning and are clearly star young planners of the future.

Finally, lunch at Regeneration East Midlands, the employer of the 2010 RTPI EM Branch James Carpenter.
REM has captured a number of important bodies and initiatives under their wing and seems to face similar opportunities to the Branch, to address wider engagement.
Discussions with James, on the way back to Harborough, identified scope for joint activities and pooling of resources this coming year.
James gets married this year - so we will get two for the price of one!

Revisiting schemes set up during the 1980s

My visit to Aylesbury Vale was kindly organised by Jack Peeters, my erstwhile Chief Planning Officer, when I was Director of Technical Services and Planning in the mid to late 80s, and now a good family friend.
He arranged for me to visit schemes that I had been involved in, but more importantly, what had emerged from the foundations that were set back then.
The Council has done a terrific job, restructuring the town centre, and also has an incredible theatre project underway, designed by my longstanding friends, RHWL Architects, who designed the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

I met the CEO, Andrew Grant, who I think said he is an ex-planner, and a much remembered Councillor Mike, together with Jim Cannell and Tony Barker, who are still loyally and effectively serving the planning cause.
I also met the Head of Planning, John Byrne, and Richard Harrington, MD of Aylesbury Vale Advantage, the growth area partnership who I knew, when he worked on East Midlands Development Agency (emda) - and I was involved in some interesting schemes in the East Midlands.

The evening reception and my presentation allowed for a healthy and challenging debate on local authority planner skills and capacity, as viewed by sole trader consultants, most of whom had once worked for the public sector.
It seemed to me that Aylesbury Vale District Council continued to provide an excellent service and it was a pleasure to see it thriving, some 20 years on.

The Three Academics

I begin this new blog with reference to a Presidential initiative – “The 3 Academics” – where following discussions with many regional planners, with the Conservative Opposition and their plans to get rid of regional housing targets, and listening to an excellent presentation by Sheffield University Professor Gordon Dabinett, on cross boundary strategic planning, I felt the need to collect some evidence to “restate the case for strategic planning at the sub national level".

I managed to persuade Gordon, Mike Beazley of Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS), University of Birmingham, and Mark Tewdyr-Jones of University College London (UCL), to assemble a think tank to review international experience.
We met at UCL and, with support from other academics, reached a number of conclusions, including that there had been little research into the subject area although a wide variation in practice.
A first draft paper is now under consideration by the RTPI and makes very interesting reading - and it will, I am sure, influence our emerging RTPI Manifesto.

Greener pastures and green matters

Dr Helen Philips is the Natural England CEO, a very influential and effective lady, who has brought together various bodies to champion the natural environment.
Matt and I met her in her impressive office, overlooking Victoria Street, and agreed to progress common interests in land use planning, health, Green Infrastructure, the Green Belt and Continuing Professional Development. Watch this space!

Grande finale of my presidential presentations

My final presentation of my year to a firm of planning consultants was to NLP Planning, strong supporters of the RTPI Convention, successful award winners and a Leaders winner.
Their office, at the back of King's Cross, now includes a substantial number of MRTPIs - over 50 at the last count - led by Managing Director James Fennell.
They have a wide variety of clients and a very broad knowledge base.
It would seem that they may well become even more involved in RTPI governance and I look forward to such an excellent team, playing a greater part in our affairs.

Living up to our members' expectations

The annual Regions and Nations chairs' get together allows the current and incoming President to reflect on past and future Presidential programmes.
I provide some interesting facts about my experiences, including how difficult, at times, it is to live up to members’ expectations of the President, especially from our younger members.
My last Planning magazine article, as President (RTPI News in Planning, 8 January 2010 - www.rtpi.org.uk/download/8003/RTPI_News_2010january08.pdf), reflects in more detail and I also have some lessons learned that will feature in my final address.

However, I enjoyed the company of all the planners I have met and learnt a great deal from them. Certainly I was able to share with the chairs clear evidence from every visit of Planning – Delivering Solutions and they appear to have enjoyed setting me a few challenges.

The Regions and Nations continue to operate at the frontline of RTPI member relationships, and I commend the chairs for all the hard work they have put in, on behalf of all of us.

PINS Centenary

The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) celebrated its 100th Anniversary this year and I was honoured to be invited by CEO Katrine Sporle, to address about 200 planning inspectors in Bristol Cathedral.

I was in good company, alongside Baroness Andrews and Richard McCarthy, and a wonderful former Chief Inspector, Betty Haran.
Between us, we addressed the PINS - past, present and future - and then enjoyed an amazing exhibition in the old Brunel Railway Shed, at Bristol Temple Meads.
The pleasure was extended for me by meeting a number of planners, including three who have been to the same school, Royal Grammar School, Guildford, allowing for some reminiscing about teachers and our alma mater. A great event!

Breakfast at Botolph Lane with the CLG

The second CLG-RTPI major consultants event - this time, a breakfast at Botolph Lane - attended by many of the largest firms' leaders in London, built on the first. Again, it was addressed by Chief Planner Steve Quartermaine, RTPI Directors and myself.
Clearly, closer links are emerging, especially with government, but perhaps the most important initiative concerned support for Sue Percy’s current CPD review.
I must also pay tribute here to Steve, who has not only lifted the profile and importance of planning across departments, but has also been a great champion for the RTPI.
My grateful thanks, Steve! Long may you continue to flourish.

Past Presidents’ glittering dinner

The annual Past Presidents’ dinner is a glittering affair - paid for by them! - to which the current President is always invited.
I met some wonderful planners, who I remember from my youth, such as John Dean, and was also barracked by more recent ones, such as Messrs Goodstadt and Hayes.
It is a privilege to be part of that particular club and I look forward to ones in the future - if I have earned my stripes!

Hitting the headlines in Daily Telegraph

Some of you may have noticed a front page Sunday Telegraph headline, concerning our issues on the Heritage Planning Policy Statement, arranged by Tino and Jamie of our Marketing and Communications Team.
They also managed to get me on to You and Yours to speak to Paul Finch, the new Chair of CABE.
We were told that planners were to be challenged to deliver better designs in town supermarkets, so I joined the debate, with examples of good planning delivering better designs, community engagement and affordable housing.
Quite a robust discussion, but I think he was persuaded that good planning delivered the results he was looking for.

Happy visit down memory lane in Harrogate

It was a special pleasure to revisit Harrogate Borough Council, a previous employer - a trip organised by Stuart Quinn, who, impressively as a planner, now runs the International Conference Centre. He used to work for me as a team leader in DC Planning, then DP Planners, then subsequently Economic Development.

Photo by SIRA Studio.

At a Mayor’s reception, I met Colin Brown, the CPO who followed me, and also Anne, Helen and Tim (now CPO), who have remained with the department doing great work since I left for pastures new.

Photo by SIRA Studio.

It was also a great pleasure to meet John Lovell, my then CEO, who played an important part in my management development, and is now in his 81st year.

We visited schemes that were started some 20 years ago - in particular, the Nidd Gorge Countryside Management Scheme, now run by a Community Trust, which was the first of its kind in the North. It’s always a pleasure to go back to Nidderdale and Betty’s, and I also visited a farmer’s deli on the Yorkshire Showground, giving the supermarkets a run for their money.

Fortunately, Philly and I have stayed in touch many friends from Harrogate, so will continue to return to God’s own country, where also, Alex, our youngest daughter, was born – wonderful place!

Final blog from your 2009 President

This will be my last Blog as your President.
I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing about the wonderful planners I have met during 2009.

Decimated by severe winter weather

The bad weather has caused a number of important stakeholder engagements to be cancelled from my tenure – Planning Officers Society, Town and Country Planning Association, English Heritage, British Waterways and the Local Government Association... but I am sure my successor will follow up these important links.

My apologies, following family crisis

I am sorry these last few blogs have arrived in a rush.
However, some of you may know that a member of my family was unfortunately injured in a bus, when an accident at Clapham Junction, just before Christmas, caused the London bus to turn over.
Although she is on the mend, I fell behind a little with the blogs.
For this, please forgive me.

Network surveys

Good lessons from Network surveys

I have mentioned John Baker’s LDF Task Force and the DM and DP Network surveys that will inform the RTPI Manifesto.
The Network manager Rhian Brimble - one of a fantastic team, led by Trish Cookson - also arranged seminars on the subjects at PINS, and I attended them both. The first was chaired by Janet Askew, the DM Network chair, the second by John Baker.
I won’t steal their thunder, as a full report will soon follow.
However, needless to say, some very good lessons were offered on how to improve our practice.
My thanks to those who contributed to two very good discussions.

Today's and Tomorrow's Leaders

On Monday 18th January 2010, Charles Veale has organised a special session - sponsored by Drivers Jonas - for all the winners of the Today’s and Tomorrow’s Leaders awards.
We intend to discuss leadership in planning, and sponsor Peter Wilbraham and I will seek to extract characteristics from those who you have recognised.
I am sure Charles will write them up for the Planning magazine's RTPI News pages.

The awards have seemed to find favour with many, and disabused those who suggest that the planning profession does not have confidence in its people and what planning does.

Affordable housing

I am also presenting to a seminar that week on Planning for Housing, organised by one of my favourite Registered Social Landlords, L & Q - London and Quadrant housing association.

Looking ahead to the General Assembly

The General Assembly - the last I shall chair - will include what I am sure will be a healthy discussion on the emerging Manifesto.
Issues include:

the need for an English Spatial Plan, learning lessons from those in the devolved nations;

whether we need the many Local Authority strategies, or whether the LDF might demonstrably pull them together;

the extent to which a focus on pre-application deliberation might improve the speed with which decisions are taken and other important points.

There will be other opportunities for members to contribute to this highly important document, setting a planning agenda for a new government of whatever persuasion.

It will then be my great pleasure to hand over the chain of office to Ann Skippers, the RTPI's new President for 2010.

Ann, it will be an exhausting year but - if it is anything like mine - hugely rewarding, demonstrating the skills and commitments of RTPI officers and members.

For my part - and here I am especially grateful to my lovely, patient and hugely supportive wife, Philippa, and family - it has been a privilege and a pleasure.

Thank you to you all.

Martin Willey

North of the Border to bonnie Scotland

Back to bonnie Scotland and a flight to Aberdeen to be met by my minder, GA and Audit Committee member, Alistair Stark, who kindly chauffeured me to my hotel.
The following morning, we were joined by Richard Bush, a senior member of the local North East Scotland chapter to visit Aberdeenshire Council.
Christine Gore, Director; Robert Gray, Head of Policy; and Bruce Stewart, Planning Manager DM, took me through the counter cyclical conditions, where the continuing supply of North Sea Oil had sustained the sub regional economy in a way not experienced anywhere else in the country.

Nonetheless, some savings have had to be made, but there was clear progress on their Strategic and Local Development Plans, the former of which have just been approved.

Discussions with recently qualified young planners on the team followed, with clear suggestions for the enhancement of the APC process, passed onto the team at Botolph Lane.

Photo by Charles Strang

However, there was “reluctant” agreement that the high standards, expected by the RTPI, reflected the importance of professional qualifications and a very good idea emerged - that of offering advice to employers of licentiates, of the support that was required to complete the APC process.

Aberdeen School of Planning

We moved to the Aberdeen School of Planning, recently RTPI accredited, to meet lecturers and students.
Top of the list was the sad state of the job market and the need to try to retain our future planners through internships and the like.
The RTPI PIWP services provide more help in this respect and see also my article in Planning Magazine on 5th November.

Aberdeen City Council followed with the discussion focusing on progress under the 2006 Scottish Act.
Led by Dr Margaret Bochel, Head of Planning and Infrastructure - with David Jennings, Manager of the City and Shire Strategic Planning Authority also in attendance - it was clear that reductions in resources and in planning applications made the process of increasing efficiency less than easy, although the Strategic Plan for the sub region had recently received Ministerial approval.
We agreed that the RTPI DM and DP Network surveys, if replicated by local evaluation, could provide data against which to press the case to sustain skills and resources to accelerate economic recovery.
Certainly, the quality of planning outcomes was very clear to see in the City, and we secured some good local publicity to this effect.
Also, I was shown some excellent examples of design and historic building refurbishment and was able to issue a press release praising the planners for their success in creating attractive places in the City.

RTPI Scotland Conference

Finally, I addressed the Annual RTPI Scotland Conference, Delivering Development: Planning in Scotland, well organised by Veronica and the Conferences team. Presentations covered the impact of cities, National Schemes, Transport, Water and Waste Infrastructure, Ports, Green Infrastructure, Shared Streets, Health and Place making.
The Minister, Stewart Stevenson, who I had met on a previous visit at the Scottish Awards, had clearly hardened his view regarding the need for planning to deliver results to revitalise the economy.
In brief discussion afterwards, we agreed that there was much evidence to show the beneficial impact of planning and we also discussed the positive impact of planning consultants to economic and sustainable development.

NAPE Conference

My trip had been hugely enjoyable but my train trip to NAPE was delayed by three hours - so I arrived in Newark well after midnight!
The NAPE conference, chaired excellently by Sue Taylor - many thanks to her predecessor Lesley Smith for putting enforcement on the RTPI map! - covered a wide range of practice with some excellent examples of the removal of unauthorised development, some of which are shown here.
Even though the profession as a whole is sometimes measured by Here come the planners, the public face of our work relies on proper enforcement or the planning game will be held in disrepute!
I believe that there are votes in enforcement of planning decisions and we should try to make sure that adequate resources are made available to continue to do it properly.
The conference was held at the beautiful offices of Newark Council and I am particularly grateful to Zoe Fuller for her excellent organisation.
My return by train was uneventful and on time, but quite nice to put my feet up.

Interesting Facts

There are a number of interesting facts regarding my visits...

over 200 thank you letters;

33 visits of which 13 have been urban, seven rural and 13 more specifically to individual Planning Schools and consultants.

However, I reckon I have walked around 200 miles and I do get footsore!

From Ireland at its best to Guildford green belt

2009-12-14T11:22:00.007Z

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

2009-12-09T17:21:00.003Z

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

2009-12-07T14:29:00.003Z

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

2009-12-02T16:54:00.015Z

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

Hopes and fears for West Midlands planning

2009-11-12T19:36:00.005Z

Bath versus Leicester on Saturday afternoon, when we managed to contrive a draw out of a win, and this weekend lost in the last moment of injury time to Harlequins - just about sums up my rugby feelings. However, with the autumn internationals, who knows? Perhaps we might move forward from a couple of months, in particular, involving the last two protagonists where my comparison of rugby being a team game - like planning - might resonate a bit more comfortably!

Back to the West Midlands for a really interesting trip, with some surprising conclusions!

Firstly to Ted Manders, Director of Planning and Regeneration at Stafford Borough Council, to whom I had given his first job, when I was Chief Planning Officer in Harrogate, in the early 80s.

I was chaperoned by Young Planner Julie Morgan, of Place Elements - a real live wire, who brought much humour to the proceedings!
Ted introduced me to senior planners, from all of the North Staffordshire local authorities, and we had a lively discussion about the future of planning in this area, which has so many problems and opportunities.
I was able to extract offers of support for a number of RTPI initiatives, including for community infrastructure levy. We also benefitted from the arrival of planner Ian Thompson, now Chief Executive Officer of Stafford Borough Council, and felt that the commitment to good planning featured strongly on his agenda.

Back to Brum, where I met Steve Hill, Chair of RTPI West Midlands and Atlas, to have dinner with Paul Spooner, Homes and Communities Agency's Regional Director. Steve has stepped in, following Sue Manns’s promotion to become Chief Planner at Planning Aid - thanks from all of us, Sue, for all your excellent work! - and accompanied me for the first couple of days. Paul, a planner, is a regional champion for our profession, and one of many things we agreed was the possibility of a Regional Planning Summit in the New Year, perhaps chaired by Ian Austin West Midlands Regional Minister and Minister for Planning in Communities and Local Government.

The following morning, we started at the West Midlands Regional Assembly, discussing “Hopes and Fears for Regional Planning” with Mark Middleton, Director of Policy and reps from Government Office West Midlands, the Regional Development Agency and Regional Assembly. We agreed that the West Midlands, despite differences of opinion between RA and RDA, had demonstrated sound regional credentials.
We rehearsed the case for regional planning and prepared the ground for my discussion with councillors on the Wednesday. There are tensions between public and private sector, but I believe we reached an accord on the opportunities to sustain a sound regional planning case, despite the differences.

Lunch with Planning Aid HQ.
What a fantastic success story Planning Aid is! - special thanks to Robert Upton, Sue Percy and CLG - and the evidence for sustaining their work features strongly in all of our discussions at the Party Conferences. Their offer now also features in the Infrastructure Planning Commission roadshow and will also feature, I hope, in the HCA “single conversation” with LAs. We have a good team in place, and may I also thank all of the wonderful RTPI volunteers that make the service so exceptional!

George Goodall, another long-standing servant of planning and the RTPI, accompanied me to Shrewsbury, to meet the new Shropshire Unitary Authority.
The new Leader, Keith Barrow, chaired a meeting with the planning team corporate director Tom McCabe and Nick Taylor Strategy and Development (Planning!) together with service heads. The benefits of bringing skills under one authority were very evident and I am confident that planning performance will improve dramatically under the new regime balancing larger scale housing needs with rural requirements in a cohesive manner.

The Council had also provide facilities for the evening meeting (for which thank you) of the WM RB and RAC preceded with a “meet the president” session but first my pleasure again in presenting Today’s Leader Annette Roberts from Dudley MBC and Tomorrow’s Leaders Joanne Hooper from Drivers Jonas (also WM YP chair.) 2 ladies, both under 40 and both exceptional – no wonder I am confident about the future of the profession!

Next morning, chaperoned by Dr Mike Beazley of CURS Uni of Birmingham, breakfast at Advantage WM the RDA, where the potential for planners at the RDA and RA to come together in the interests of good regional planning dominated the agenda. Mark Williets the Head of Planning and Mark Middleton at the RA need to combine resources to restate the case for regional planning whoever gets in at the election!

Finally and most importantly, I was given the opportunity to address senior councillors of the RA chaired by Cllr David Smith. With characters like Alfred Bore and other important WM personalities, the discussion centred on the fact that of all the Regions, the West Midlands clearly demonstrated that planning at this level could work effectively whatever the political complexion. Political point scoring to one side, it was clear that local MP and opposition CLG spokesperson Caroline Spelman would be pressed to allow the WM LAs to continue to work together in the event of a change in government!

I finished the day in centre for urban and regional studies (CURS) seminar room W a bar off New Street and found myself enjoying 2 pints of WM bitter with Mike who is clearly used to drinking beer at 11 am in the morning! Mike will join Gordon Dabinett (Sheffield), Mark Tewdr-Jones (UCL) in doing some work for the RTPI on administrative structures between local and national to inform our RTPI Planning Manifesto.

Martin Willey

Outstanding teams led Plymouth regeneration and eco towns in old china clay sites

2009-10-23T10:57:00.015+01:00

From previous President’s recommendations...

...the Oxford Planning Law Conference is a highlight and this year was no exception.
The RTPI, Law Society, the General Council of the Bar and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors come together to receive expert presentations and papers on contemporary issues - this year “Planning in 2009 – the show must go on”!
The focus was a mixture of energy and the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) - the top team for which were in attendance - and updating on RSSs, LPAs and mediation.
Being a gathering dominated by lawyers, an underlying interest was the impact on the legal profession and process, one view being that the reduction in work for barristers, from the removal of cross examination, from IPC infrastructure scheme consideration being replaced by business from judicial review, because of the changes in impact assessment and community involvement in such decisions!
We shall see... but I had conversations with representatives of the Law Society and GCB, which indicated that they might be prepared to talk to the RTPI regarding “better planning law” because however much legal work emerged from the complexities of the planning process there was a professional desire to see the law work better. An informal discussion will follow so let’s see if the legal profession might help the planning profession in a simplification of their process but one which led to the more effective delivery of planning objectives?
One surprise was to hear Ken Livingstone’s after dinner speech support Gordon Brown for having “saved the world!”

Following my presentation to the Environment Agency Thames Region Conference, I had arranged to meet Simon Birch, the Environment Agency's Head of Planning, at their offices in Bristol. The offices had just been award the top Eco building award. Simon has wide ranging experience, including Chief Planning Officer at Winchester and Chief Executive Officer at Swindon, and as a committed planner, his job in the EA is to lead on planning issues, varying from flood prevention to water supply and quality. Simon, like Steven Bee at English Heritage, is keen to renew and refresh the relationship with the RTPI - and we will be holding a major stakeholders' session later in the year, to address how we can work more closely together.

Remaining in the South West region, I started my Regional visit with Dr Stephen Essex, at Plymouth University School of Geography (which is seeking accreditation of a planning course), joined by Andy England, the outstanding South West Region Chair.

The university was heaving with freshers and, as the campus is right on the northern edge of the city centre, it integrates fully in the life of the city. We discussed the benefits to be gained from accessing their departments of Psychology (Community Behaviour and Engagement), Business (Economy and Viability) and Architecture (Urban Design) to strengthen their case - and I came away confident that they will shortly be successful.

Down to the highly regarded Planning Division of Plymouth City Council, who were awarded the RTPI Silver Jubilee Cup in 2007 for their LDF Core Strategy.
Led by Paul Barnard and Mike Palmer, with an outstanding team, it was clear that they had led the revival and regeneration of Plymouth and were hugely respected by the local community and councillors. They seemed to have a grip of the most difficult issue facing LDF planners, how to review and update LDFs in the light of changing economic circumstances, and have managed to provide a clear planning framework for public and private investment.
One of their consultants had come up with an ingenious solution to move people from a redeveloped railway station, down the valley to the city centre, then up to the Hoe – on an overhead cable car.
I hope this outstanding idea is introduced, as it will help the Hoe, which is a steep walk up from most other city centre venues.
I was also taken round the centre by an expert team including one of the most enthusiastic young lady planners I have met, Hannah Sloggett, who has worked her way up from admin clerk to planning trainee and, as a local, will clearly be an exceptional ambassador for the city in the future.

Pleasant dinner with RAC and Plymouth worthies, including the long serving David Lobban, where Plymouth Gin is produced - then off the next day to Truro.

First stop a small planning consultancy, Laurence Associates, led by Laurence Osborne. They were an impressive team, a mixture of MRTPI and Technical members together with an urban designer and what, for me a distinguished team, was that they offered eco design and eco building expertise to all their clients to complement planning advice.

This is exactly what I am looking for from private planning consultants - the professional commitment to try to deliver planning objectives before an application is made. Well done to you all!

I then visited the new Planning Department at Cornwall County Council, met their Corporate Director Tom Flanagan, Head of Planning and Regeneration Phil Mason and their newish Chief Executive Officer, an ex-planner Kevin Lavery. I had a discussion with many senior and junior members of Phil’s team. They seemed attracted by some of the services on offer from the RTPI and, with Andy England as in-house chairman, were clearly committed to the Regional approach. Phil also drew attention to the benefits of bringing together specialists from the previous authorities, once unitary status was delivered.
He made an excellent suggestion about how specialists within local authorities might form an “internal consultancy” for adjoining LAs to provide expertise, such as bio-diversity, urban design, landscape architecture, archaeology, etc. I commend this to others and I'm sure that arrangements emerging, where LAs combine resources, may offer particular opportunities in these difficult economic times.

Finally with officer support, a Land Rover trip with John Hodkin, Project Director of IMERYS Minerals, around the multi-settlement Eco Town, IMERYS’s China Clay Community.

The photos shown here demonstrate both the potential and the beauty of these old china clay sites for sustainable development.

IMERYS have just attracted a Swiss investor, so it looks as if reservations regarding the need for unavailable up-front public investment may be reduced, and both public and private partners are approaching the master plan and community engagement process with great skill.

A pleasant drive, through the countryside of the South West region, back home in Somerset, after a quick glass of Cornwall Ale with Andy in Truro.

Martin Willey

A busy autumn in the East of England

2009-09-30T10:24:00.004+01:00

Back into the swing of things and a very busy autumn schedule!

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

Associates and award-winners

2009-09-25T14:48:00.005+01:00

Sorry this is a bit delayed in starting, after the summer holidays, but I came back to a busy diary and an elderly mum, having become unwell.
Nonetheless, Philly and I benefited from a break, and my first meeting continued my programme of meetings to refresh relationships with major stakeholders.
Mutual agenda of cooperation with English Heritage
I met Steven Bee, Head of Planning at English Heritage. He was once Chief Planning Officer at Winchester, where I lived in the 70s, and we reminisced on what a beautiful place it is.
The recent change in chair of English Heritage to Baroness Andrews, and the new laws and regulations in programme, mean that there is a mutual agenda of co-operation and support required - so the RTPI and EH will meet later in the year for this purpose.

Glamour and humour
I was delighted to go to the RIBA Presidential changeover, from Sunand Prasaad to Ruth Baker, at Portland Place. It was a glamorous affair, including Julia Somerville, wife of an eminent architect, Jeremy, who is also a colleague patron of the Children of Chernobyl Fund Wells, that brings children across for recuperative holidays from Belarus.
It was made a little humorous for me, as during Sunand’s speech, favouring good relationships with the RTPI, there were loud stage whispers behind me from another eminent architect - who shall be nameless, but he wears a florid bow tie - not entirely agreeing with Sunand!
I turned to introduce myself as RTPI President, in a "loud stage whisper", much to the amusement of others within hearing.
Fortunately most architects hold a high opinion of the planning profession and we will continue to work with the RIBA to mutual benefit.
Back to school...
The Planning Summer School is an institution and I have attended, either as a delegate or speaker, four times.
This one was an excellent event, with 160-plus delegates, mainly from local authorities, chaired by Alistair Hackston, the whisky expert(!) from Scotland.
It differs from other events because, to quote next year's PSS President, Leonora, the School is about “Sharing Learning and advancing Education”, aimed specifically at detailed consideration by practitioners of planning matters, over a number of days.

Discussions with delegates, both in response to my address and at other times, concerned the need to lift the profile of planners and planning, especially in local authorities, to demonstrate their leadership in bringing about economic recovery.
We reviewed the importance of the RTPI 7 Commitments to Climate Change, as a good example of the RTPI taking a lead. The presentations and workshops, especially on Sec 106 agreements by John Bosworth of Ashfords, were excellent and again, filled my reservoir of “Planning Delivering Solutions”.
Drivers of economic recovery
I speak regularly to the two branches of ROOM, in London and the SW, and addressed the latter at Taunton, on a busy Friday morning, on the subject of South West local development frameworks as drivers of economic recovery.
As the members are predominantly councillors, the discussion centred on the importance of the planning process, whatever the political complexion, in particular the need to reinforce resources, for LDFs to provide a basis for priorities in public and private investment.

Finally, I had great fun in presenting the SW Region Today’s and Tomorrow’s Leaders Awards to Kath Haddrell and Mike Harris, respectively, both from the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) in Bristol.
We were also addressed by Katrine Sporle, the PINS CEO, and both of us reflected on the exceptional contributions of these “young” planners to planning and to the RTPI. I still have a number of awards to give, but these two, local to me, gave me particular pleasure.

Martin Willey

Wherever planners work, they will sustain high professional standards

2009-08-25T09:43:00.007+01:00

I am looking forward to a brief holiday with Philippa in the sun...

But firstly, two meetings with top consultants and one with the chair of the IPC.
Terence O’Rourke Ltd has their HQ in Bournemouth.

Terry, recently retired, was a Hants County Council Planning Department Team Leader when I was a PPO in Test Valley and subsequently set up what is now a substantial consultancy of nearly 100 people, specialising in difficult but high quality consents mainly for the private sector. Whenever I meet separate groups of either local authority or consultant planners, they both perceive that the other group has more influence in the RTPI. Both are mistaken because all planners have equal influence!

Our discussions, led by MD Tim Hancock and Director Ann Bartaby, ranged from the energy required to complete the APC process to the scope to persuade clients to require high design standards as a route to successful and speedy application consideration. TOR has a good mix of young and experienced and like the RTPI as a whole, an increasing proportion of ladies. They have a good track record of supporting RTPI governance having supported a President, SW Regional Chair and leading YP. All in all a thoroughly professional outfit.

With Robert’s elevation to Deputy Chair, meeting the IPC chair Sir Michael (Mike) Pitt was always going to be interesting. I was joined by Sue and Jim Claydon the interim Policy Officer for Planning Aid and as with other important stakeholders we started off by describing the RTPI and what we would like to offer the IPC. The IPC starts on October 1st and will receive applications from 1st March and have already received indications that at least 55 are in the pipeline. Clearly the RTPI has the scope to inform and upskill members through Networks and we may offer some customised training through Planning Matters. However Planning Aid can offer quite specific support to the IPC in engaging hard to reach communities in the various Commission processes and we agreed to meet later in the year to agree a specific programme of action.

Finally to the London offices of Jones Lang LaSalle, at the top of a Canary Wharf office block, with amazing views up and down the Thames. Guy Bransby, Planning Director, and Jeff Field, Director of Planning, introduced me to a team, mainly from the London offices, but one from Manchester, and I did my presentation on what the RTPI stands for and what services it offers.

Unlike many of the meetings I attend, over half of those present were aware of and members of RTPI Networks, mainly YPs, but they were not aware of the website and Learning Partners, the RTPI kite marked training recognition.
Again the discussions covered the APC process and I understand that some modest changes are under consideration that are likely to address some reservations but generally we were favourably compared with other schemes such as from the RICS, which was perceived to be much easier.
JLL London deal mainly with major city commercial schemes but are moving into mixed use projects. I gained the firm impression that they work hard and competently but also enjoy themselves. Jeff also indicated that he would look at the possibility of collecting evidence of the beneficial economic impact of planning from within the firm and provide this to the RTPI, for which I am very grateful.
As I mention in my latest Planning article, any change in government may result in more outsourcing of public services so the balance of public/private members in the RTPI may change. From all of my visits I remain confident that wherever professional planners work, they will sustain high professional standards.

Have a good summer!

Martin

A towering experience...

2009-08-20T13:29:00.007+01:00

I have a great affection for the North West Region. I’ve never lived there but two periods of my employment were based in Manchester – the Great Bridgewater Initiative and the English Cities Fund.

The former resulted in the Bridgewater Concert Hall and the latter, amongst other outcomes, a new central business district for Liverpool, next to what was Littlewood’s headquarters.
The RTPI NW Region ably chaired by - young planner again - Sarah Foster, and the highly successful administrator Beverley Watson had, unbeknown to them, also booked me into Jury's Inn, at the back of the Bridgewater Hall, where I used to stay for both jobs!
However, before my RTPI NW trip, I started with a special Executive Board to agree a speedy programme to replace Robert, and then the “annual out of London” General Assembly at Liverpool University, located there to celebrate the centenary of the first planning school in the UK, the School of Civic Design. We assembled in a beautiful chamber in the old University building and were addressed by the Head of School (and chair of CHOPS) Prof Dave Shaw, and Lever Professor Peter Batey.
Peter gave us a history of the creation of the School, which resulted from a successful libel case against the Daily Mail, in 1907, by Lord Lever (of the soap fame), who secured and invested £1million in the school! They have attracted extraordinary planning figures, such as Patrick Abercombie, and remain one of, if not the, top Planning Design courses in the world.
The General Assembly discussed housing in the recession, and received an excellent introductory presentation from Dave Curtis, Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) director, on the opportunities for planners to contribute to Sir Bob Kerslake’s “single conversation” with local authorities, regarding housing delivery. This was followed by opposing presentations by Glyn Robert’s offering a market based solution and Alan Wenban Smith’s offering a non trend based approach, both of which had run the usual gauntlet of Rynd, Richard and Planning Policy and Practice Committee.
The debate was healthy, humorous and well informed, and results will be published shortly but you can see the presentations on the RTPI website. The GA seems to have discovered a real policy purpose of late and the Executive Team members have found their contributions extremely valuable. Elections for GA and ExBo commence in the autumn, and I expect to see much more competition for places than usual.

I was then privileged to address the AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning) Convention also celebrating the centenary and concluded their opening session with a summary of the excellent academic and research track record of the RTPI (due in no small part to Robert’s and now Sue’s considerable efforts), their use of Partnership Boards for Planning Schools and the range of careers now open to spatial planners. You can see my presentation on the website at http://www.rtpi.org.uk/download/6730/RTPI_AESOP_Liverpool.pdf

So, on to Manchester, and an early start with Sarah and Tony Whitehead,
who kindly chauffeured us for the first day.

We arrived in Blackpool, where Philly and I had taken our four children to see the lights, each year we had lived in Harrogate, in the early 1980s, but I had never visited the Tower.

It was an extraordinary and highly recommended experience, led by Tom Kellet, the Works Manager, who must have done the tour hundreds of times in his 37 years of service, but still showed huge enthusiasm for the project.

The building complex has changed hands several times since its construction in the 1800s, and the current owners, Leisure Parcs, are slowly uncovering wonderful tiled interiors and generally bringing the buildings back to their former glory.

The pictures here do not do justice to the quality of heritage, and we were also in the Ballroom when the “Mighty Wurlitzer” appeared out of the floor and onto the stage – memories of Terry Jones and Monty Python's Flying Circus were banished by the delightful ballroom dancing before us.

The views from the top allowed us to receive a helpful presentation on the work of the Urban Regeneration Company ReBlackpool, by Julie Dunn, who also guided us around the town centre. Blackpool, despite the lack of success in securing a mega casino, is clearly on the up, so visit it if you can.

Off to Lancaster and a serious discussion regarding an unusual case of developer withdrawal from a call-in Public Inquiry, into a public/private partnership scheme to extend the retail centre site - photos of which can be seen here.

Many of you will know the detail, but a positive discussion, with important contributions from Tony and Sarah, left David Hall and his enthusiastic team with some ideas to take the initiative forward, to discover a new scheme, assuming the current one is unsuccessful.

Dinner with the RTPI NW RAC and MB in a Greek restaurant, that I also used to frequent - and the huge pleasure for me, of presenting the first Today’s and Tomorrow’s Planners Awards to Richard Knight and Lindsay Whitley, respectively. John Knight, erstwhile RTPI ELL Committee Chair, was particularly proud of his son!

For the record, this year's and next year's RTPI NW Chairs are young planners - and so were both of the winners! Some of us are feeling a little old...!

The following day, with Lindsay replacing Tony, Sarah and I visited Nigel Wray’s planning team at NWRDA, who were feeling a little bruised by the latest cost-saving reorganisation, and threats from an opposition party, declaring the intent to remove regional bodies.

Our discussion centred on the rational for strategic planning, a subject that also featured in my discussions with Yorkshire and Humberside RA, and which will feature in my next Planning article. They were a cerebral and able team, and I am confident that any reshuffle will accommodate planners of this ilk.

Finally to Warrington, where we met John Groves and a highly competent and streetwise team, who showed us the transformation of the town centre. I have not visited Warrington town centre for 10 years or so, and as these photos show, the landscaping of public realm is of an extraordinary quality, vastly different from my last visit.
They have over five years' housing land supply but are clearly focused now on delivery, in partnership with the RDA and HCA.
The town compares well with my experience at Reading, where committed public servants work for many years to introduce grain and structure, to create wonderful places from a poor start. Good work John, Director Andy Farrell and team!

Sarah and Lindsay kindly dropped me off at the station, and I headed for Headingley to watch Leeds Rhinos beat Hull KR in a rugby league match with the Ramus’s, good friends and neighbours from Harrogate.
Right shaped ball but only 13 men, no line-outs or opposed scrums, but excellent athleticism.
The following morning I visited Peter and Anna Wilbraham, to find that Peter was in fine form, coping well with his treatment, and hopefully back in the RTPI Hon Sec and Solicitor saddle by early September.
May I also wish Vincent Goodstadt, Hon Treasurer, a quick return to health?
Both Honorary Officers are much missed.

A rather long train journey back to Somerset, livened up by the train arriving late into Taunton, and my having to run under the lines to catch the train to Castle Cary, where my car was parked - with a parking fine!

C’est la vie…

Martin Willey

All change at the top of the RTPI

2009-08-10T12:48:00.003+01:00

This was an extraordinary week for the RTPI. It ended with Robert Upton’s announcement that he was leaving to become the Deputy Chairman of the Infrastructure Planning Commission. This is a huge feather in his cap and also a comment on his stewardship of the RTPI and the position it holds.

Robert, an honorary planner, has extraordinary expertise and knowledge in planning and is respected throughout the world. He has served us with great intelligence and drive for 13 years and is much loved and respected by staff and member alike. However he is an obvious candidate for a senior position in the IPC seeking to improve the efficiency of dealing with major infrastructure decisions and will bring his considerable expertise to this important work. He leaves a large gap, but filling it will I suspect generate considerable competition to reflect the reputation that Robert has created for the RTPI.
We have a great Team in place with Sara, Sue and Rynd and wonderful staff. The Board is looking forward to appointing someone who will build on the exceptional track record of an always modest Robert.
However, the week started with the RTPI Board Awayday here in Wells, Somerset, where chair Ann Skippers led the discussions about our future.
More will follow as we will be publishing a Corporate and Business Plan in the autumn that will provide a framework for our future.
It was especially nice for Philly and me to share the jewel, that is Wells Cathedral and City Centre, with the Board and Executive Team. It was also nice to see so many attending one of the wonderful Cathedral services.
The next few weeks will see considerable activity both to capture Robert’s knowledge before his departure in September and plan for his replacement.
It is an exciting time to be on the Board of the RTPI.

Martin Willey

Pride of the valleys expressed with language

2009-08-03T10:52:00.009+01:00

I’m 25 per cent Welsh, as you know, except during the Six Nations, when I am 100 per cent English.

My second visit to Wales, nonetheless, demonstrated to me the growing differences between the two nations.
Firstly, the use of the Welsh language is growing exponentially.
In Australia, I was pleasantly surprised by the respect and reverence shown to aboriginal people, emphatically part of that Country’s heritage.
In Wales - rather like French in Quebec, Canada - the Welsh language is not only widely used and expected, but demonstrates a real pride in all things Welsh. To listen to it, it is very attractive and expressive and, in some ways, to those of us who don’t speak it, somewhat exclusive - although translations were always kindly on offer. My visit was therefore definitely different to those to the English regions.
I started with dinner with the Welsh Assembly Chief Planner, Rosemary Thomas. We now have outstanding professional chief planners in Scotland, Wales and England - and Rosemary clearly valued the relationship with RTPI CYMRU, and with an exceptional and committed Minister in Jane Davidson, the planning cause is high on the Assembly agenda.

We discussed, with Dr Roisin Willmott, RTPI CYMRU director, the current use of the RTPI CYMRU Policy group for consultation on planning matters, although I was surprised to find that the Wales Spatial Strategy was managed in another department. We also talked about the scope for the RTPI to take the initiative, as well as provide a professional response. I remain very optimistic regarding the health of Welsh planning, of which more herewith.
Next morning, joined by another impressive Young Planner Chairman, James Hooker, on to Neath Port Talbot planners, lead by Geoff White, for a demonstration of one of the most innovative developments in development management I have seen.
When I was CPO in Harrogate, we introduced one of the first computerised planning application systems, by mapping out the whole process, then using IT, to improve performance and quality of service.
Tim Richards, current Harrogate CPO... do you remember 1981?
What Geoff’s team has done, contributed a further level of sophistication by establishing which processes added value and which did not. Unsurprisingly, registration featured as a problem area.
NPT’s solution is to invest much more resource into the pre-application stage – basically, they see their role as helping applicants get consent unless they are straightforward refusals.
I will not steal Geoff’s thunder, because there will shortly be an article in Planning, but by offering pre-application advice and stakeholder consultation, the improvement in applications has been staggering, also reducing the overall time for dealing with them.

Although much of my recent work has been to encourage housebuilders and associations to co-operate and engage the local community before any housing application is submitted, it has never occurred to me that planning authorities might change their service in the same way.
Well done, Geoff and team!

I last visited Swansea some five years ago, chairing a Regeneration Network event. It has moved on significantly and their cohesive and high design quality approach has resulted in the transformation of the City Centre, especially the waterside “SA1” area.

Bryan Graham, Head of Planning, and the two Daves took us round – of course it rained. But I felt, and the local newspaper headline reflected my view - “City’s 10 year transformation” - that Swansea is up there with the best.
I also had a discussion with his staff, who apparently endorsed the “straightforward, down to earth” approach, that the RTPI is offering with member services, such as Networks, PIWP, Learning Partners and, of course, RTPI CYMRU.
Llandeilo and our guide, the lively Eifion Bowen, Head of Planning at Carmarthenshire, introduced us to members of the CYMRU executive, mainly in a local pub.
Philly and I could not stand the pace - and they apparently finished at 1am the following morning and were great company. We started the day with a walk around a National Trust property and estate, Newton House, where close co-operation between council and Trust had resulted in exceptional landscaping, conservation and tourist facilities. It was lovely just to have a walk in the Welsh countryside.
The CYMRU POS had invited us to their regular meeting, held at Ffos Las - “the largest hole in Europe” - an amazing transformation of a huge open cast mine into the first new racecourse in a hundred years. Very impressive!

The POS was in good heart and shared experiences, some good, some not so good, in particular, the pressure of reduced planning application fees. But there was a sense of shared purpose – once again the “Welshness” of the meeting showed a collegiate approach and it was clear that all arms of the profession in Wales network work together for the common cause of good planning.
Finally, down home to the SWRTPI annual dinner in Exeter, organised by another RTPI loyal servant, Helen Clarke. It was very well attended and great fun, addressed by Andy England - almost a YP - and Wayne Hemmingway, who I have now heard on four occasions. His message is always a good one – keep up standards if you want to create great places.
Those attending also showed huge generosity in raising £630 for my charity, LINK Community Development, for which, thank you! We have almost raised the first £1,900 necessary to send a Young Planner over to Africa, including a very generous personal trust donation from a well known Lord!

A great week!

Martin Willey

Convention had a clear theme, quality control and communicated key messages effectively

2009-07-27T11:44:00.010+01:00

We were quite worried about five weeks before this year's Planning Convention – numbers were down – but a last ditch effort nonetheless resulted in a timely surge in attendees to just over 600, compared to 680 last year. I asked them at the end whether they enjoyed it and was delighted with the huge "yes" - and they had good reason.
The six plenary sessions were excellent - as one delegate put it to me, “extending the mind from a routine job in development control ...” - and the breakout sessions were very good too.

This convention was different, not just because of the last minute surge in numbers, but because the RTPI-Hawksmere teams, led by Trustee Mike Hayes and Director Sue Percy, were determined to establish a clear theme and then apply quality control to all events.
Another important difference was our communications strategy.
We struck it lucky in receiving the Housing and Planning Minister John Healey, and launching "Planning to Live with Climate Change" initiative - special thanks to Director Rynd Smith and Junior Vice President Richard Summers - on the same day, in the same place, as a major launch of the weather forecast for the next 60 years, launched by a minister that confirmed the value of the RTPI’s seven commitments to address Climate Change.

This meant that our press releases, put together by Tino Hernandez’s team, secured wide national coverage and added to the broader communications messages we were promoting to the usual suspects, such as Planning Magazine.

Our communications expertise is now spinning out to the membership - through consultancy to Regions and Nations and a vastly improved website, and government and stakeholder strategy.
Certainly, the realisation of one of my presidential aims, to increase the profile of the RTPI and the profession, is being achieved and there is more to come.

The Convention was also used for seven launches and five awards, with special sessions to meet the Communities and Local Government team, led by Chief Planner Steve Quartermain, and the RTPI Presidential Team.

Perhaps my most pleasant Convention task, apart from addressing the delegates, was to award Sunand Prasaad, the Royal Institute of British Architects' President, with an Honorary Membership of the RTPI. Sunand has always been a planning champion, but his performance the previous week, with another honorary member Nick Raynsford, on the Today radio programme, explaining and supporting the democratic planning process in so far as it affected the Chelsea Barracks saga, was fantastic.

Well done Sunand and welcome to the RTPI.
After the Convention closed, with a highly amusing debate led by Kevin Murray, in which he chastised planners for being Guardian readers, not Times readers – I read the Weekend FT, Kevin! – I had one final pleasurable task to perform.

Leonora Rozee, the deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) is retiring and, to celebrate this occasion, and also most importantly, the award of a CBE to our Secretary General Robert Upton, a modest reception of close friends was held just off St James’s Park, on a balmy evening in a quiet garden.
Richard McCarthy described what an important contribution Leonora had made to national planning policy and practice. I provided personal experience of Robert’s intellectual and leadership qualities and introduced a support team:

Paul Farmer, Executive Director and CEO of the American Planning Association, providing an anecdote regarding Robert’s no nonsense and direct approach to decision taking;

Chris Shepley explaining how Robert was to be immortalised in his next book on the Grotton Papers; and

Charles Veal, the RTPI Member Services Manager, giving a touching eulogy about the respect for Robert amongst staff.

I was able to conclude the proceedings by emphasising how much Robert deserved his gong.
Well done, Robert and Leonora!

Martin Willey,
RTPI 2009 President

Planning at the coalface - challenged in every direction

2009-07-22T18:19:00.005+01:00

The visit to the RTPI South East Region covered a lot of ground, from Didcot Parkway to Romsey. My guide was regional chair, Martin Taylor, Director of Humberts Leisure, and our first stop was to South Oxfordshire District Council offices, at Wallingford.

I went to meet Adrian Duffield, Head of Planning there and in the adjoining Vale of the White Horse council - as the 2 councils, one Tory, one Lib Dem, had combined their administration, but not their councils!
Adrian manages the most efficient development management process I have seen with daily and weekly, individual and team monitoring sessions. All of his teams were lively and enthusiastic, clearly keen to perform.
We moved to Abingdon, in the Vale of the White Horse, and there, Mike Gilbert, DC Manager, took us on a tour of the town centre - in particular, to an excellent mixed new and conservation scheme, based on the Old Brewery, as illustrated here.
We then returned for lunch, to meet councillors from all parties and members of the Management Team. Here, the discussion ranged from the problems of delivering a Local Development Framework to the detailed consideration of an urban extension.

Reading was a short journey away and Alison Bell, Head of Planning, took us with members of her team, around Reading Town Centre. Alison has worked here longer than she cares to admit, and I was impressed by her vision and commitment to change the centre. As I am someone who mainly sees Reading from a train, the tour and contributions from her team were inspiring. A clear framework has emerged with proper “grain” and, despite the economy, major parts of the jigsaw were clearly about to emerge, to build on the success in transforming a difficult environment. All credit to you all.

Reading University Planning School, now part of the Henley Business School - brings tears of pleasure to my eyes, to hear that planners are educated in a Business School! - is an excellent new, energy efficient building, in the pleasant parkland campus. Dr Alina Congreve, Dr Gavin Parker and others met us with a lively group of students, from an extraordinary range of backgrounds, who challenged me on the motive and process for me becoming President.
Conversely their motive was a 50-50 mixture of either wanting to change the world, or stumbling across planning and then becoming inspired.
The RTPI is working on material to capture young people’s interest at secondary school level, and there is clearly considerable potential to increase awareness of planning as a career.
The work on display was impressive and DVDs of the best were a good way of spreading the word about the quality of the course.

Planning Aid is one of the many RTPI success stories of recent years, and Dagmar Hutt is the excellent local co-ordinator. She had assembled a diverse group of practitioners to explain their jobs and promote Planning Aid to new graduates. It was helpful to hear such a diverse range of planning careers. One memorable one had moved into planning from dissecting animals for research – lots of relevant experience there, then!!

And now for something completely different….
The new “New Forest National Park Authority”, where newly appointed Director of Strategy and Planning, Steve Avery, welcomed us to offices rather appropriately at the back of a Garden Centre!
We visited a site where his team, of mainly very young planners, is breaking new ground in rural conservation areas that picked up Forest history and settlement patterns, not just buildings.
The other particular challenge concerned local residents' resistance to the proper interpretation of the General Development Order, requiring planning consent for change of use from agricultural to horse keeping - over a thousand objectors! This is certainly planning at the coalface.

Finally, to New Forest District Council Offices, where Young Planner Chair Ed Gerry chaired a meeting on “Managing Pressures on Sensitive Sites”, with offers from Natural England, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and the National Park Authority. After a lively discussion, I was dropped off at Romsey station and managed to stay awake and not miss my change of trains at Westbury, despite a challenging few days.

My personal reflection from this visit is to applaud the efforts of our colleagues in local authorities. Challenged within by non planner representative management teams, politically from government to release a five-year supply of housing land, but locally to delay such releases until an expected change in government might change the figures, from applicants requiring considerable powers of persuasion to submit green proposals, and from objectors determined to slow down or stop development, being a Local Authority planner requires real leadership and professional skills – well done, the South East.

Developer with courage to invest in green future

2009-07-10T13:55:00.010+01:00

First call Cardiff, at a pre conference reception in the City Hall...
RTPI Cymru is thriving under the leadership of their chair, and Director Roisin Willmott has galvanised member interest in the country.
Wales has a National Spatial Strategy and, as was demonstrated at the Conference the following day, ministerial support in Jane Davidson AM (Welsh Assembly Government Minister) in delivering a substantial sustainability and climate change agenda through the planning system.
I understand she also announced yet another review of the planning system in Wales! What we need is a review of the capacity of the development industry to deliver sustainable communities. If better schemes were submitted, the process of stakeholder consultation and approval would speed up immediately.
Next, on to Belfast with Philly, to the Northern Ireland visit. If you recall my last visit, it included an excellent awards ceremony with the RSPB and, at the end of it, I asked if I might visit some of the winners.
First, however, a Young Planners reception at Café Vaudeville, the launch of the Northern Ireland section by its chair – sponsored by the estimable Michael Burrows and Pragma Planning.
A lively debate ensued surrounding the optimism for the proposed local authority restructuring that will create “super councils” to take on planning responsibilities from government. The following morning, an interview with Radio Ulster regarding the importance of planning in delivering a vision for the community; then breakfast with a group of planning consultants, who clearly felt they were the poor relations as far as the RTPI was concerned. I found it relatively easy to disabuse them of this notion, describing where consultants, as 50% of the membership, were actively engaged in governance to mutual advantage. We agreed an agenda of Branch engagement and I look forward to seeing the results shortly.

Brokerstown Village, one of the award winners on the outskirts of the city, is an interesting example of the courage of a local developer to invest in a huge bio mass boiler for a scheme that, in the current market, will take many years to take up the energy capacity of the £2.7 million investment. Good architecture and clearly well thought out scheme illustrated here.
Then off to a hugely important lunchtime meeting with Stephen Peover, the Department Secretary. He is about to be promoted to NI Treasury Secretary and has been a keen supporter of RTPI NI, for example, agreeing to pay for subscriptions for the several hundred planners in his department. We agreed a process of more formal civil service and branch liaison, in particular concerning training for councillors and members.

Ulster University Planning School followed with an excellent meeting, led by their Head, Prof Greg Lloyd, who recently completed a helpful report for government on planning reform. The meeting with students centred on careers and I was able to offer a wider than perceived choice, especially with the likely increase in jobs following reform.
Finally for the day, a delightful dinner, sponsored by Fleming Mountstephen Planning, in the recently refurbished Ulster Hall. This was a lively affair with the “crème de la crème” of Northern Ireland planners where, as a result of their generosity, I was able to bank £150 for my Presidential charity, LINK Community Development.
Up early the following morning, with Gavan Rafferty current and David Worthington, Past RTPI NI Chairs, to Londonderry – firstly, for an interview on Radio Derry regarding the Playhouse Scheme, another Award winner; then via Mary Macintyre’s (Senior Vice Chair) divisional planning office, many of whom joined us for the Playhouse visit. The scheme is exceptional – a dream of Pauline Ross, turned into reality by Niall McCaughan, and now a driving force for arts, theatre and community support in this city, with an extraordinary, and at times terrible history.

Finally, finally back to Queen’s University to meet David Cleland, Head of School, and an excellent team of lecturers, again the discussion with students centring on careers. We finished the day in East Belfast right in the centre of an area which faces many challenges, where students were presenting regeneration schemes to a community representative. Perhaps the most startling contribution from a very enthusiastic and committed group of future planners was that one team had produced a model of their proposals shown here. No problems about how to communicate what planners have in mind. Very well done!
I would be wrong in not admitting to us both being a little tired! Nonetheless, a rewarding and encouraging visit, which I believe will lead to improved communications between Botolph Lane and the branch, especially with our policy officer Brian Sore in place. We need one of him for each of the English Regions!

Martin Willey

RTPI 2009 President

Tribute to Test Valley planning teams

2009-06-30T18:17:00.010+01:00

Sorry this one is out of sequence, but I do want to pay credit to my colleagues in Test Valley Borough Council, who invited me back to see how my team's 1976 Romsey Town Centre Plan had panned out.
The invitation came from Policy Design and Conservation Manager, Steve Lees, one of two heads of service responsible for planning at TVBC - the other, who had just been appointed, being Paul Jackson, Head of Planning and Building, who joined us for the tour.
Steve was a little perplexed at some recent advice on the submitted Core Strategy, but his team was clearly enthusiastic and we briefly discussed the challenges of capturing all stakeholder commitment in a two-tier local authority structure, a common issue for LDF processes.

I met many young planners and those, who weren’t MRTPI, were licentiates or well on the way through their part-time planning courses. I remember well the excitement of securing MRTPI, just before I took up the post of TVBC team leader, Policy and Conservation, in 1973!!
We reviewed the old plan and I was particularly interested in the Bell Street, Romsey, area, where I cut my teeth on understanding the economics of conservation - when faced with a council-owned tranch of land, just behind a line of listed buildings within the conservation area, but in poor condition.

I was advised by a councillor to “go and speak with the enemy”, the local estate agent who gave me advice I have never forgotten.
One scheme would create values where an “accidental fire” might take place to allow comprehensive redevelopment; the next would have no impact at all and buildings would continue to fall into disrepair; the promoted scheme - in what we believed was the first planning “development brief” in the country - was to put parking in and secure ginnals through to the rest of the town centre.
We were also concerned at the general quality of new design, so Colin Stansfield Smith - now Sir Colin, the county architect - was persuaded to provide expert young architects (Huw Thomas, Neil Bradbury, Robert Adam and especially Steve Harte, who designed the car park and landscaping) to illustrate well designed extensions, to again provide the basis for investment in the listed buildings.
Colin also agreed to use Huw to design a housing scheme on the Abbey Garth which the County Council constructed as speculative housing which as you can see is still an outstanding design.
These proposals were put in place and the buildings were refurbished, now 30 years later, as the centre of specialist ladies' shops for Romsey, the ultimate test of “viability”.
We walked round Romsey and, with improvements from Steve over the years, were able to see that all of the Plan proposals had been put in place!
Romsey is a little gem and I must also credit the local conservation society, created to “save” Romsey, when it became part of Test Valley, in 1974 with Andover, whose council had previously demolished about 50 listed buildings in their town centre!
Back for lunch with the Cabinet member, CEO and other staff and old friends.
It was a particular pleasure to meet Bob Gregory, the Development Manager North, who I had appointed in the mid 70s as a trainee and sent off to college to get qualified. He hasn’t aged a bit and still looks youthful - but now has a family!
A real pleasure for me to see what real planning is about.

The following week, with Rynd, Tino and others, I met Phil Kirby, (then) President, David Hackforth, about to be (now) President, and Steven Tapper, Junior now Senior Vice President of the Planning Officers Society.
The RTPI is refreshing a number of relationships and this, with the POS, is an important one. The conversation established potential links between RTPI Networks and POS committees and looked at other issues, where a common agenda might emerge. Those responsible for planning in local authorities are the “face” of planning and the review allowed us to demonstrate how important the RTPI believes they are to the profession as a whole.

Martin Willey
2009 RTPI President

Meeting some unsung heroes in Yorkshire

2009-06-17T11:53:00.008+01:00

Off to Yorkshire to stay - first of all - with Honorary Secretary Peter Wilbraham and his lovely wife, Anna, in Menston, a Pennine village north-west of Leeds, as they had kindly agreed to put me up during my Yorks and Humber visit.
Following a hearty breakfast of kedgeree, kidneys, a full English, porridge, wholemeal toast, croissants and healthy live yoghourt, I left by train for Leeds to meet Richard Crabtree, of Arups, the Regional Branch chair, who was to be my guide.

York City planning department was the first stop, where we received an excellent presentation from Mike Slater’s team, on their emerging local development framework and some major projects within the historic city centre.
York was a poor performer until it received the gypsies whisper from GOYH (the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber), and the newish council invested substantially in new resources, with immediate effect.
Their core strategy is in an advanced form, with a further stage of community engagement about to commence. We discussed the value of a visionary overview and an infrastructure framework to align other public stakeholder investment, and then took a walk around the walls and past a number of hugely sensitive development sites, where archaeological digs were underway.

York has not had an approved development plan since 1956, and the much treasured Green Belt has never been approved. The city has extended its boundaries into adjoining districts, so now has a rural hinterland. It is one of the most beautiful places anywhere and I came away full of admiration for the excellent work their planners are undertaking.

Next, Mr Wilbraham’s annual Cobbetts supported CPD (continuing professional development) conference on Development Control in a wonderful listed building in the middle of a city centre park. The other presentations were very technical and clearly hugely helpful to the 114 delegates. Mine sought to explain what the RTPI was doing for the sector, but - to my horror! - only three delegates have heard of and are members of our Development Management Network (and one of those is Past President Janet O’Neil). More for us to communicate here!

Then back to Leeds for YORnet, a wonderful multi professional built environment professional forum, led by Young Planner Bhupinder Dev, whose energy is staggering! As a consultant, who has gone back into local authority work, he is a good example of how YPs bridge the gap between public and private sectors, without any prejudice. Charles Veal, from RTPI HQ, had also kindly supported my day and managed to raise the first £50 for my Presidential charity, LINK, at a social session in the evening, kindly sponsored by Peacock and Smith Leeds planning consultants - for which, thank you!

Supper chez Wilbraham, then a breakfast the following morning - of tap water, bread and dripping - and back to Leeds Station, from where Richard drove me to Wakefield.
I have fond English Cities Fund memories of the City, where I selected and promoted what is now Merchant Gate - a major mixed use scheme between the railway station and the city centre, that is now under construction.

Of particular note is that, under Ian Thompson’s leadership, they have an approved core strategy, have DC workers transferred into the LDF team, following the drop in applications, seemed to have mastered the “other public stakeholder alignment” challenge and, most significantly, operating within a multi disciplinary department, were quietly using the LDF process to guide the community, sustainability, economic and investment strategies of the corporate plan.
This approach absolutely mirrors my personal aspirations for the LDF to eventually become the sole LA strategy for engaging the community – a one stop “continuing conversation” rather than consultation fatigue from multiple documents – and for a robust public and private investment framework.
All power to your elbow, Ian and team, and despite the rain, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the fruits of your endeavour in many regeneration schemes on the ground.

Next, off to meet the unsung heroes of planning, those at the regional level in what has in Y & H been transferred from the Regional Assembly to “Local Government Yorkshire & Humberside.” Their planning team, led by Richard Wood and Chris Martin gave me a hard time on how those at regional level in RA or RDA felt forgotten by the RTPI and how regardless of what a new government might do, the regional strategic approach brought huge benefits to communities. We agreed that there was a need to find a language that demonstrated the rationale and outcomes of planning between local and national levels. I await their case and this issue will feature in one of my planning articles later this year.

Finally, back to Leeds for a round table discussion with over 20 heads of planning, academics and others from throughout the region, again addressed by Steve Q and myself. It was a frank exchange of views and it is clear that there are huge political and other pressures on those planners who operate at the coalface.
The academics also explained how the independence and thus status of some planning schools were being challenged by their being brought into multi functional departments. Steve and I were able to explain both what is on offer from CLG (Communities and Local Government) and the RTPI, and how we intend to continue to promote the essential benefits of planning and the need for strong planning schools.

I was particularly impressed by the commitment and stamina of our local authority colleagues. The RTPI must continue to use whatever influence it has, to sustain a properly resourced planning service in local authorities.

So, the end of my first regional visit... with a pint of Yorkshire bitter, before being dropped off at the station by Richard, who had arranged an excellent visit for me. I have to say that I slept most of the way back!

Martin Willey
2009 RTPI President

Robust discussions and greater understandings

2009-06-08T15:27:00.007+01:00

The first of two meetings at Communities and Local Government (CLG) involved our bi-monthly session of co-operative working, where we were shown a map of local authorities’ local development framework (LDF) Core Strategy performance – not a happy picture.
Reasons vary from inadequate reflection of guidance, to political resistance, to problems surrounding the increase in housing, reflected in approved Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS), to lack of professional capacity. The reduction in Housing and Planning Delivery Grant (HPDG) – albeit from a much increased level over the next couple of years – may impact further on performance. However, the Government Office (GO)–Planning inspectorate (PINs)–Planning Advisory Service (PAS) regional task forces had been helpful. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Advisory Team for Large Applications (ATLAS) are also coming in with the expectation that major projects and infrastructure investment will require robust LDFs in place.

The second gathering was of 20 major and two sole trader consultant heads meeting Steve Quartermain, the RTPI team and me to consider more effective methods of engagement for what is now more than 50 per cent of the profession.
The meeting started off with some complaints, but ended with both gaining a greater understanding of the RTPI service offer and a framework for future co-operation with both CLG and RTPI. We will meet again in the autumn to monitor progress. I also hope to repeat these sessions, as part of some of my regional and national visits.

Next, a robust and healthy discussion with the Young Planners’ Steering Group – a baptism of fire for both Ann Skippers (next year’s President) and me. They are a lively and challenging bunch and our debate ranged primarily around why perceptions of planners are so negative. They came up with some good ideas, especially through the use of new technology techniques, such as blogs and twittering (lost me at this point, although my children are always accusing me of wittering on – is this the same, I wonder?)
The evening of 12th May was one of the most pleasurable events to date for me, as President, where I was invited to give the presentation at the 40 years celebration of the accreditation of London South Bank University’s planning course.
As a part time alumnus, who studied for the then RTPI external exams at, firstly, Brixton School of Building and then South Bank Poly, it allowed me the luxury of reminiscing about those wonderful teachers who laid the foundation for my planning career – Shean McConnell (theory), Tony Morris (history), George Chartres (design) and “Fitz” (economics) – never did find out his christian name but he had a brilliant teaching technique of bringing in a newspaper, often the FT, getting us to read and understand a story, then providing the economic theory behind it.

George, on the other hand, taught me to think and present in 3D, an early foundation for what became “place making”, once you added the people! It was great fun meeting past and present lecturers and students.

Next week, the first of my “proper” regional visits, Yorkshire and Humber, returning to one of my favourite parts of the country where youngest daughter Alex was born – in North Yorkshire.

Martin Willey
2009 RTPI President

Enormous convention in American city with a 'golden' boulevard

2009-05-27T18:15:00.009+01:00

Having just about recovered from travelling back from Down Under, it was off to the final major international destination as 2009 President – the

USA

and the American Planners Association Convention.

This year, it was in Minneapolis – a north central USA city, where the temperatures varied from 40 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit!

This is a typical American city, with the grid iron layout, but with some interesting features, including one of the ”best streets” in the USA – a dual carriageway landscaped boulevard, with extremely expensive houses on either side! A trip around the city allowed us to enjoy the beauty of acres of parks and green corridors and Hiawatha Falls – pause for country song!

The Convention itself, as I had been alerted by previous Presidents, is enormous – 4,500 delegates, 1,000 workshops, seminars and plenary sessions – and I was able to present to a number of them, including about 1,500 audience, on “sustainable urbanism”.

It was interesting to compare the “performance” of different countries in dealing with the primary issues of today. I felt that the UK was well ahead on sustainable transport and trams, but some way behind other countries on addressing climate change.

However, we should correct this at our own Planning Convention and the launch of the RTPI’s “Planning to Live with Climate Change” strategy.

We clearly have a deep and effective level of regulation and public sector intervention in the UK, but are less successful in engaging our employers in planning-friendly philanthropy and corporate social responsibility.

One of the best sessions we went to was the Regional Studies Association session, chaired by RSA CEO Sally Hardy, where Sheffield University Professor Gordon Dabinett, MRTPI, spoke about “Mega Regional Spatial Planning”. He drew attention to the need to plan for some issues, such as the economy, transport and energy in areas that crossed international boundaries – not just regional ones. I hope we can use his expertise to devise RTPI advice to respond to the Conservative Party’s decision to remove English regional bodies.

Another memorable presentation was from Scott Shuford, of Onslow County, concerning Local Economic Development and Climate Change. Scott drew attention to fiscal, safety and migration consequences of climate change and, interestingly, the local consequences of a “Green Economy”, including effects on agriculture and, surprisingly, insurance! It demonstrated the need for planners to think and act laterally in addressing this issue.

The Global Planners Network featured, and we hope to announce details of future mechanisms for co-operation at the Planning Convention, to which I invite all readers of my blog to attend.

I have to admit to being a little travel weary, but the next few weeks will see me travelling around the UK on my National and Regional visits, so I hope to meet a number of you then.

Martin Willey

2009 RTPI President

Busy week has yielded many rewards

2009-05-08T14:58:00.008+01:00

What a busy and rewarding week!

Rynd Smith, Tino Hernandez and I held three stakeholder briefing meetings with some really important players - on one day!

First we met David Curtis, Regional Director of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), who had asked to meet us, as the Director with responsibility for dealing with the RTPI (and other professional bodies).

This meeting followed the earlier meeting with Sir Bob Kerslake, mentioned in a previous blog. The conversation was wide ranging and covered the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) accessing our Networks to deliver advice and for consultation; the HCA and Regions, in particular future links, regarding the delivery of HCA Regional Investment Plans; promoting Design Review Panels, a CABE initiative, funded by the HCA; and HCA engagement in my regional visits.

David has an exceptional record of both delivery of the revitalised town centre in Sheffield and co-ordination of all the public and private stakeholders in that process. It’s nice to have an MRTPI in his position!

We then met Huw Morris, Editor of Planning Magazine, to discuss our RTPI campaigns. We pressed Huw as to whether the RTPI pages might feature earlier in the magazine. He surprised us by saying that we were between the two most read pages of Development Control Casebook and the advertisements.
From a recent survey of their 23,000 readers, the RTPI pages had a reading level of between 55% and 60%!

Next, on to the House of Lords, to meet a long time friend of the RTPI, Lord Richard Best, as President of the Local Government Association, with Martin Wheatley, LGA Policy Director.

I’m sure the surroundings helped because we reached an understanding on a number of areas. This included increased co-operation between the LGA and RTPI, to promote Politicians in Planning Association (PIPA) membership to the LGA councillors and cabinet members; discussions with local authority chief executive officers on planning and co-operation on the promotion of Planning Aid.

The rest of the week included the Executive Board (ExBo), which had a huge agenda, upon which others will report, and one of the liveliest General Assemblies in recent years - discussing policy input to Richard Summer’s, Rynd Smith’s and the Planning Policy and Practice (PPP) Committee’s Planning for Climate Change paper that will be submitted to Margaret Beckett MP, the Planning Minister, at the Planning Convention in June.

Specialist groups of the General Assembly (GA) worked before, during and after the GA, to provide clear direction and best practice examples so that the document will provide a clear and wide ranging professional agenda and toolkit on this essential subject.

I also attended the Planning Convention Steering Group, chaired by Mike Hayes. The numbers are holding up well in the current climate, but more delegates would be welcome at the most important RTPI event of the year!

It will be even better this year, with several important policy and guidance papers being launched by the RTPI and others. Also, special awards are on offer, such as that for the Network securing the highest number of conversions of non-members to members, and the Region/Nation that secures the most Learning Partners.

Most importantly, Sue Percy’s quality check of all sessions will ensure that the highest standard of advice will be on offer.

Finally, both CLG and ExBo will be making themselves available to RTPI members for discussion on any issue that concerns you.

Martin Willey

2009 RTPI President

Adventures in Oz

2009-04-24T09:57:00.006+01:00

The Presidential trip to Australia is one of the highlights of the Presidential Year and 2009 was no exception.

The Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) Annual Convention was held in Darwin in the Northern Territories, well within the Tropics, with high temperatures and humidity albeit at the end of the Australian summer.

From our arrival at the airport, and PIA bus to the hotel and conference centre on the edge of the harbour, we found the place beautiful and energetic.

At the convention hotel, we were met by our “buddy” Jane Jose, a senior planner in Sydney, who subsequently received one of the PIA President’s award for a visioning process in Sydney. She and an excellent event organiser, Larissa Hansen, took me through my programme.

This involved my presentation on the Global Planners Network (GPN) international capacity initiative, managed by the RTPI, discussions with colleagues from Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the Pacific Islands on the GPN, and attendance and contributions to events concerning Eco Towns and Affordable Housing.

The President of the PIA is Neil Savery, the state and territory planner for Canberra, whose dry sense of humour was typical of the Aussies. He opened the convention in shorts, open neck shirt and long socks with garters, acquiring the nickname “Akela”.

In his closing speech, he featured an unfortunate incident when my M & S underwear, sent to the laundry at my hotel returned, much to the delight of my wife, as Pierre Cardin for a waist of around 28 inches. Those of you who know me will be aware that my underwear could probably be used as a sail for a 21 foot schooner but sadly I did not recover them! The mind boggles as to the reaction of the unwitting recipient...

Returning to more serious matters, the Australian Institute has around 7,000 members, but there are separate Territorial bodies with their own resources and this structure is also paralleled in Canada.

The country has recently suffered floods and terrible fires but two issues particularly resonated with the UK planning environment.

Firstly, the limits imposed on new development by shortage of infrastructure, especially water supply. I was amazed at how many rural properties rely solely on rainwater, collected during the rainy season, for all their annual water needs – perhaps we should be more ambitious in requiring surface water storage to be a feature in all new development.

Secondly, there are issues surrounding the integration of the indigenous population, the aborigines. The parallels here concerned our UK investment in our own disadvantaged communities, although the aborigine claims for land occupied by them for hundreds of years does not compare. I will write a fuller report on lessons in communication and engagement, but the need for a common language and respect for history drew direct parallels.

Finally, we spent a great deal of time with the Lord Mayor of Darwin, Graeme Sawyer. He wished to learn from the UK experience in a number of areas – affordable housing, tall buildings, the impact of new arts and cultural buildings on the city economy and, most significantly, how to secure optimum benefits from the recent discovery of oil and gas, just offshore from the city.
He may visit the UK and, if so, we will direct him to Aberdeen regarding oil, show him alternative technologies, such as wind farms, that might be funded by oil, but will remain after oil runs out. We will also show him the impact of arts facilities on the local economy.

We left Australia impressed by the number of dual qualified [planners MRTPI and PIA, and by the warmth (and healthy competition) between the two nations.

Martin Willey

International duties in Australia

2009-04-15T12:29:00.007+01:00

On your behalf, I am taking on some international duties in Australia and the USA.

The rationale for international work, by the “premier” professional planning institute in the world, is firstly self interest – we benefit hugely from sharing knowledge with our international colleagues. Getting on for five per cent of our members' work internationally and come together under the International Committee and Network, chaired by Vincent Goodstadt, and managed so well for many years by Judith Eversley. There are also particular initiatives that have a global reach and for which an international effort is essential, through governments and the UN.

Secondly, we have a professional obligation to offer our skills to areas elsewhere, in greater need, and sometimes a joint international approach is a good way of doing this. You will recall that this is one of the reasons I chose LINK Community Development in Africa as my Presidential Charity.

The reason for this long introduction is that my first commitment was to meet Marni Cappe, the President elect of the Canadian Institute of Planners. Marni is a long-standing friend of the RTPI and, when her husband was Head of the Canadian Consulate in London, invited the Board to meet there to demonstrate her support for UK/Canadian co-operation.

At the meeting this week, we discussed the Global Planners Network and, interestingly, one of the global issues where the UK can offer real experience to other countries, which is in “public intervention.”

In many other countries, the private sector rules on development, often operating in partnership at the local level but not necessarily with a national government policy lead. Marni has and continues to work with the Canadian Government and, together, we might offer the Americans and others, an interesting perspective on National Government intervention, not least in the light of the stated aims of President Obama?

My final meeting was with Rynd Smith and Tino Hernandez, when we met Bob Neil, the Conservative Shadow Planning Minister and John Howell, the Conservative Shadow Communities and Local Government Minister. This was one of a series of meetings we are holding with all the political parties. The meeting, inevitably, was confidential, but you will recall that one of my presidential objectives was to increase the profile of planners and planning, and improve our influence. This type of meeting is important and others in a similar vein will follow.

The arrangements for my “Leaders of Today” and “Leaders of Tomorrow” Awards are now in place, thanks in particular to Charles Veal, our energetic Members Services Manager. The details can be found on the RTPI website at www.rtpi.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=2463 – and I look forward to recognising individuals, as well as projects, who have demonstrated “Planning – delivering solutions” - my 2009 theme, during my visits.

Philippa and I left for Darwin on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009, for the Australian Institute of Planners Annual Convention. I will be presenting some of the results of the Global Planners Network international planning capacity exercise, the “Self Diagnostic Tool”, so ably completed by Will French and Lucy Natarajan, and talking about international co-operation.

Above, Darwin city skyline - photo by courtesy of Tourism Australia.

I will report back and I’m sure that, like my regional and national visits, there will be plenty of scope to capture “Planning Solutions” as per my Presidential theme.

Martin

Seeking more attention for rural communities

2009-03-31T13:39:00.011+01:00

I thought I’d start this blog with a question?

What does “mediation of space – making of place” mean to you?

If a comparison is made with, say, the American Planning Association strapline “Creating Great Communities”, they have a message that is clearly understandable to anyone, is positive and might even be measurable.

The reason I ask is that on my trips, from conversations with the membership, the RTPI strapline is regularly questioned, in particular, the “Mediation of Space” element, which seems counter-intuitive and very difficult to explain, not least to the occasional journalist. In this 21^st century age of communications, where the profession is regularly under scrutiny, might we try and discover a message that more effectively reflected what we, as a profession, are about?

My last week ended with Philippa and my attendance at the West Midland Ball in Birmingham.

The photo above shows, from left, me with my wife Philippa, Sue Manns and Ian Dove QC.

This is my second visit to the RTPI WM, and they are a challenging and lively bunch, with clear ambitions to see a change in the quality of development in their region. The Region has a very clear identity, one that, as an Institute, we should seek to promote and celebrate.

When I next go up, our HQ communications team will offer some ideas on taking this issue further.

We met lots of members and their guests but it was a particular pleasure to meet a Young Planners married couple – the first winner of the Young Planner of the Year award, Julie Morgan, and her husband, Mark Walton, the Chairman elect of the WM Branch. I wonder if we have any other YP couples. In my inauguration address, I mentioned well known planners whose children had taken up planning. It would be nice to know where a planner had married a planner!

On the Monday, I represented you at a meeting hosted by the sadly about to retire, CEO of the Commission for Rural Communities, Graham Garbutt, where the RTPI, TCPA, LGA and other bodies representing the rural areas are seeking to prepare a Prospectus for Rural Communities that seeks to redress the balance of attention given to urban areas.

Mathew Taylor MP, whose excellent report on rural areas is about to receive a Government response, is a member of the CRC group and is an outstanding champion for the rural cause. The RTPI supports his proposals and I believe that the CRC Prospectus will provide a real opportunity to offer a multi body approach to rural community engagement in planning for our countryside areas and communities.

Finally, a small team of officers and members held the second of what will become a regular series of meetings with senior civil servants at DCLG. We commenced this programme with an open agenda and a broad purpose, on top of other arrangements, of improving professional member communications between the mother department and the Institute. One of the RTPI’s current campaigns is to promote the application of resources to delivering the LDF programme quickly, especially in the current economic climate. The DCLG is already supporting the acceleration of the LDF programme at regional level and we considered how best the RTPI might sustain that objective through our structures. John Baker was there as Chair of the Development Plan Network and offered a clear insight into both the availability of skills and processes but the need for greater investment at the local authority level. The RTPI will continue to offer a leadership role to our members and their employers and, in my regional visits, expect me to be promoting this issue.

A quieter week this one and a good thing I visited Scotland last week! England 25 Scotland 12 at Twickenham…

Martin

Visiting the Land of Scots

2009-03-20T12:13:00.000Z

My wife Philippa and I travelled up to Edinburgh last Tuesday evening to attend a number of events in Scotland on behalf of RTPI members. We have a great affection for Edinburgh and my maternal grandfather was a Mossman, a border Scot! Our youngest daughter, Alex, attended university there so we visited regularly buying up most of what IKEA Edinburgh had to offer (then having to shift it down south when she left)! Ian Rankin and his detective stories of Inspector Rebus show the dark side of this great city but for us, the sun is almost always shining and for this visit it was crisp and bright - Scotland at its best.

We started at the RTPI in Scotland Office run by the enthusiastic and able Director, Veronica Burbridge and her team of Annette, James and Charles. RTPI Head of Research, Jenny Crawford is based at the office too along with Research Assistant Kendra Gracie, who also supports the Commonwealth Association of Planners Secretary General Cliff Hague. They are a smashing bunch and made us feel extremely welcome.

Our first engagement was meeting with officers of the Edinburgh Planning Department, Damian, David and Dorothy (the 3 Ds!) who took us on a walking tour to show us conservation and development schemes around Princes Street (as seen in the picture courtesy of City of Edinburgh Council), the main shopping street overlooking Edinburgh Castle and the Castle Gardens. The area is suffering temporarily because of the introduction of a new tramline from Leith on the waterfront, through the city centre and out to the airport in the west just short of the M8 to Glasgow. However, once complete, the tram will reinforce a spine of communications linking residential areas with employment, culture and education in a safe and attractive form of public transport – what a great initiative.

The design challenges of a World Heritage Site and the motor car has resulted in some good schemes notably St Andrew Square (an award winner the next day) onto which the new Harvey Nichols store fronts. There was much honesty in reviewing schemes and certainly some of the careful mixtures of new and refurbished development proposed will transform Princes Street and give it the design reputation it deserves as the “High Street” of Scotland. This new vision for the city centre, known as the “string of pearls” vision, will rejuvenate the area and see the street divided into distinctive blocks (the so-called pearls – as shown in the attached illustration courtesy of Jonathan Guthrie/Project Edinburgh). I could see why most planners working in Edinburgh either had been there or intended to remain there, for some time. It is a beautiful city with many opportunities for even more good planning. As someone whose career has been throughout the country, albeit in some attractive places, I admire those who give their lives to one place and can see the results of their hard work realised. All power to your elbow Edinburgh City Planning Department!

After lunch I addressed the Scottish Young Planners Conference alongside Simon Pallant espousing the benefits of Planning Aid and Nicola Hay from the Environment Department of the Scottish Government explaining their approach to Place Making and sustainable development, in particular Eco-Towns. The Young Planners are a lively bunch and under the able chairing of Prof. Trevor Davies, ex. Planning Cabinet member of Edinburgh Council, there was a healthy dialogue and exchange of views.

I also remained on the stage to participate in a discussion with David Harding promoting the value of public art and Alistair McIntosh demonstrating people power in planning using the example of the Isle of Eigg, a Hebridean island located off the West Highlands of Scotland acquired by the community through a public world wide appeal. These two sideways looks at the world of planning were both refreshing and humbling; two great men giving up their lives to their chosen causes and enriching the lives of planners by their commitment.

A dinner later that evening with Veronica, the current and ex. Scottish RTPI Convenors John Esslemont and Roger Kelly, representatives from the government and the Inspectorate and Cliff Hague, led to robust discussion on the role of the RTPI and Scottish planning practice. I came away impressed by the ‘planning village’ in Scotland with enormous strengths and close co-operation between central and local government, and between public and private practice.

Thursday commenced with a visit to Heriot Watt University ably led by Prof. Alan Prior where I met students and lecturers from one of the best UK Planning Schools. The students were a lively and confident bunch whose main concern was the availability of jobs once they completed their courses later in the year. (My article for Planning this month seeks to address the issue of the job market in a recession.) On the positive side I drew attention to new planning jobs in social infrastructure – health, education, care – in utilities, the emerging climate change industry and education/research. However the fall out up and down the planning and development supply chain is having a deleterious effect on the traditional planning jobs in local and central government and its agencies as well as in consultancies. The RTPI is now more flexible regarding APC eligible experience and I believe that a combination of voluntary work such as in Planning Aid and earning enough from non planning work could also see some graduates through and beyond the recession and into chartered membership.

(picture courtesy of Tendai Mutasa)

I was delighted to attend another superb planning awards ceremony, this time addressing the Scottish Planning Awards. This encompassed the Patrick Geddes Awards to students, the Designing Places Awards and the Scottish Quality in Planning Awards. The Scottish National Party Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, Stewart Stevenson, an ex. banker, made great play of how he was more popular as a Planning Minister than as a banker!! Both he and the Chair of the main judging panel, the Deputy Editor of the Glasgow Herald Joan Burnie demonstrated great faith in the planning system, although I drew attention to the business value of planning to newspaper profits! The overall winner was a delightful rural regeneration scheme on Lerwick Waterfront in the Shetland Isles. It was a very Scottish solution with good eco and community credentials as well as some sympathetic designs, a worthy winner.

My presentation included reference to Scotland punching above its weight in championing planning and I also thanked Jim Mackinnon, the able Chief Planner, for the influence he applies in sustaining planning interests.

Philippa and I came away pleased that we Sassenachs were allowed across the border to address Scottish Planners. We look forward to our next visit.

Presidential visit to Parliament

2009-03-17T08:54:00.000Z

A busy ten days for me started with the annual ROOM@RTPI lunch at the House of Lords. On the first Monday in March each year, Lord Edmonton (an ex trade unionist) books the House of Lords veranda marquee overlooking the River Thames for ROOM and has done so for the last 10 years. The event originated when ROOM was the National Housing and Town Planning Conference before the National Housing and Town Planning Council (NHTPC) moved under the wing of the RTPI and was renamed ROOM@RTPI. The event includes a tour of Parliament then a lunch addressed by the Lord Edmonton and two other guest speakers. Funds raised from each ticket sold subsidise the London Branch of ROOM each year and the event tends to be attended by contractors and Housing Associations with a few consultants thrown in for good measure.

I have visited the Houses of Parliament a number of times including chairing a couple of events but have never experienced the tour which was fascinating. The history of Black Rod, the opening of Parliament and the Queen’s presentation of her government’s proposals for the following year provides a rich tradition. Both Houses were much narrower than they appear on TV, two swords lengths apart for the front rows. There are not enough seats for all Members to sit at the same time so I guess it can be quite a scrum!

I was invited to the lunch by John Harvey, the “Association’s” (now included in Networks) representative trustee on Executive Board, who wanted the President to talk about the links between housing and planning especially in these troubled times. I was able to refer to the current problems surrounding Section 106 Agreements relaxations on affordable housing to promote development and also talk about the RTPI-CIH Planning for Housing Network, a joint initiative launched last year with the Chartered Institute of Housing. Another important issue I raised is the need to sustain quality and sustainability standards alongside volume in the current environment. I feel strongly about this issue as there are enough bad examples of short term fixes to housing problems over the last 60 years for planners to be cautious about relaxing standards in a poor market! It was an enjoyable event although there is still much to do in improving links between housing and planning professionals.

On Thursday I briefly joined in on a telephone conference organised by the Global Planners Network (GPN), administered by RTPI’s Judith Eversley, which brings together representatives from planning bodies in Australia, Canada, the Commonwealth, USA, France and ourselves, looking to share knowledge of planning best practice internationally. The challenge for the GPN is how to resource and manage an initiative where the wealthier bodies can contribute resources but the less wealthy, in relative terms, have the greatest need both to own the GPN and benefit from it. More to follow as my year progresses.

Later that day I joined a distinguished panel at the EcoBuild Conference and Exhibition to discuss, amongst other things, EcoTowns. The event was chaired by Sarah Montague of Radio 4 fame and consisted of Maxwell Hutchinson (architect), Christian Wolmar (transport commentator), Kelvin McDonald (strategic policy consultant), Toby Lloyd (consultant) and myself. There is understandably a great deal of suspicion regarding EcoTowns especially in the current economic climate. However, the Panel did not entirely reject them but felt that there would almost inevitably be a need for substantial public investment upfront and so they would have to take their chances with other schemes. The truth is that we all felt that EcoTown standards should be applied to all major development and that urban extensions were more likely to deliver sustainable communities in the short term!

Keep track of my blog next week when I will report back on my Presidential visit to Scotland.

Martin.

My first meeting with Mayor Boris

2009-03-06T10:46:00.000Z

Ireland 14: England 12…………… and 2 more England yellow cards!

Nonetheless we had a lovely weekend and Ireland is the only side unbeaten with the potential to win the 6 Nations Rugby Trophy 2009 so we will support them in their remaining matches.

Back to the RTPI, the first event I attended on your behalf was the London Planning Awards where for the first time I met London Mayor Boris Johnson. He was extremely funny introducing City Hall as one of the worst buildings in London with an impossible interior then having to give an award to the developer of the site next to it thus demonstrating his impartiality and lack of influence over the judging process! I spoke briefly with him and Sir Simon Molton his planning advisor where they both explained that one of the most enjoyable aspects of their jobs was a two hour weekly session to review planning applications submitted to them. The Mayor has a genuine interest in the impact of planning on the lives of Londoners and we should find a way of engaging him again.

The Mayors Award, reflected the RTPI Planning Awards Silver Jubilee Cup winner went to the Channel Tunnel Rail link and other awards included a beautiful garden in South London bringing peace and tranquillity to a difficult area – quite delightful. The Awards allows the RTPI to stand alongside others in promoting high quality and sustainable development in the Capital city. Afterwards at the awards drinks reception on the 9th floor we enjoyed wonderful views across the River to Tower Bridge and beyond, which was an enjoyable experience with other built environment professionals from London.

I also ended up doing a small piece for the Guardian Arts section (published on 3rd March) owing to the excellent network of our new(ish) Marketing Team led by Tino Hernandez, but this time following a link through Sophie Stapleton our New Zealand Communications Manager (best not to talk about rugby!) She persuaded a Guardian journalist to send me to the Le Corbusier Exhibition at The Barbican Art Gallery and then interview me regarding my impressions of it as a Town Planner. The interview was then turned into a first person piece and although a little journalistic licence was used by the journalist, it reflected my views well. I was always aware of the Le Corbusier foundation for the delightful two storey, white, flat roofed dwelling design from the 1930’s but was not so aware of his master planning work in places as far afield as Marseille and India. Also, for me with my interest in art (my Paternal Great Grandfather was a 19/20th century engraver) his pictures and tapestries were full of colour and life. If you want to read the article the click here.

Martin Willey
2009 President

Presidential visit to Northern Ireland

2009-02-25T14:50:00.000Z

Maybe being 60 isn’t quite so bad? I had a lovely birthday weekend with my family and friends where the young went to bed first and appeared to recover slowest!

My first commitment of the week was meeting with the RTPI Executive Board. We are delighted to welcome three new members - Janice Morphet and Mark Southgate, Corporate Members elected for 2009-2010 and Young Planners representative Charlie Collins – I’m looking forward to working with them over the coming year. As an Institute we are approaching 23,000 members and are seeing the gender structure change from 70/30% male/female currently, to a 60/40% female/male intake of youth which is good to see. There are only three female trustees out of 15 although the RTPI General Assembly (GA) is moving towards a better mix. Nonetheless, 2008 RTPI President Janet O’Neill and future 2010 President Ann Skippers are female and I expect to see the trend of greater female involvement in the RTPI’s governance continue. A good example is the election of Leonora Rozee, a long standing member of GA as vice president of the Town and Country Planning Summer School, to be President next year.

However, I regret that we are not being so successful in addressing ethnicity with a very small percentage of members in comparison to the community we serve. Last year, the Board had two members from non white groups; this year none. This is one of the reasons I have chosen a presidential charity that concentrates on Africa, the largest of our Commonwealth friends. LINK Community Development http://www.lcd.org.uk is an educational charity that raises money for Black education. Their CEO Steve Blunden is an enthusiastic and able leader, growing the organisation to help promote understanding of the African issues in the West and bring about an improvement in educational attainment in Africa itself. We are discussing projects within RTPI Botolph Lane but I hope to raise enough money to provide a placement for one or two RTPI Young Planners to go out and promote better dialogue between planners and educators in local authorities and perhaps participate in a project such as building teachers housing in the rural areas to attract teachers there. Watch this space and expect me on my RTPI Presidential Regional and National visits to ask you to raise cash for this outstanding charity.

I also had my first Presidential engagement in the wonderful community that is Northern Ireland. My wife Philly and I visited Belfast and represented the RTPI at two events, both at Stormont, the most spectacular government building I have visited. The first was the RTPI-RSPB Northern Ireland Sustainable Planning Awards 2009 where we were treated to a wonderful series of presentations varying from a 60 hectare community to a small lock keepers cottage based centre providing visitor services as part of a tourist attraction. The winners included a Theatre in Derry that had been refurbished to provide community support of a truly sustainable nature. The link between the RTPI and RSPB is one of great synergy and may I thank the Director Aidan Lonergan, his team and the RTPI Northern Ireland (NI) Branch team for their excellent organisation.

The second event was the RTPI NI Branch Annual dinner addressed by the sometimes controversial Minister for the Environment, Sammy Wilson MP MLA. It was a memorable experience. Sammy was a kindred spirit, clearly hugely enthusiastic about planning and the RTPI. His after dinner speech was highly amusing but most importantly, extremely supportive of the RTPI NI Branch. At the moment, Northern Ireland is undergoing a Review of Public Administration including new District Councils with planning powers, previously applied solely from the centre. In my reply to Sammy I offered thanks on behalf of the RTPI for his support and extended the possibility of sharing with his department, perhaps at a Convention later in the year, some of our English experience of change and in particular lessons learned from our 2004 Act. Northern Ireland has a special opportunity to learn from English experience, good and bad, and commence a new period of sustainable and spatial planning that might be a catalyst for all the change the community is seeking. I wish them well.

At the end of the evening, the RTPI NI Branch Presidential chain was passed from Fiona McCandless to Gavan Rafferty, both clearly at the younger end of the profession! For Philly and I, it was a special visit as two of our children have recently married into Northern Irish families. We were both looked after with great kindness and courtesy by the RTPI NI Branch team for which we thank you. We love the Northern Irish community, although this coming Saturday when Ireland play England at Croke Park, Dublin, we will, of course, be supporting England!!!

Finally, many of you have visited this blog but nobody has responded to the issues I have raised. I encourage you all to do so, so that the blog becomes both a Presidential communications service to members and an opportunity for you to ask questions or raise issues for wider discussion.

All the best

Martin
2009 RTPI President

Green Planning Awards in Northern Ireland

2009-02-20T17:54:00.000Z

left to right (front row): Declan Hill from Todd Architects representing the Woodbrook Project, Lisburn; Niall McCaughan from the Playhouse, Derry; Hugh McCann from Orchard Acre Barn, Fermanagh.
left to right (back row): Aidan Lonergan, Director RSPB NI; Martin Willey, RTPI President.

A shot of the finalists from the Awards.

The second week was if anything busier than the first week!

2009-02-11T17:03:00.000Z

I started my second week as RTPI President with the SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers) Annual Dinner, an impressive event which provided me with the opportunity to meet their President, Trish Haines and a number of SOLACE officers and to meet old friends including Sir Michael Lyons, Chair of the BBC Trust and my erstwhile Chair of the English Cities Fund. He informed me that one of the schemes I helped identify outside Wakefield Railway Station was just starting on site 6 years after we started discussions! Make sure you go and see it – an exciting combination of mixed use and good design, linking the railway station with the city centre. I have to say Brindley Place eat your heart out.

Most importantly, SOLACE is an important potential partner for the RTPI in promoting the status of planners in Local Authorities. They need to be persuaded that a planner should ALWAYS be on a Local Authority Management Team, planning should ONLY be delivered by Chartered Members, and we need them to resource Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) as a matter of urgency in these difficult times. I will be discussing this issue further in my column next week in Planning.

I was part of a small RTPI team who met Sir Bob Kerslake, CEO of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) during the week. We met to discuss the scope for planners to be part of his "Single Conversation" with Local Authorities not least in the promotion of LDF resourcing, I am pleased to report there was a great deal of constructive dialogue. We also discussed the scope for a closer relationship between RTPI and HCA Regions. The issue of planners skills also emerged and Sue Percy's excellent work with the HCA Academy, previously the Academy of Sustainable Communities, will clearly continue. We will be holding further discussions shortly to see how relations might develop but it is clear that the RTPI's offer of support for the work of the HCA, through our Networks and Regions, might bare fruit. Watch this space!!

Next I met Steve Quartermain the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Chief Planner. We discussed, amongst many things, the possibility for higher levels of co-operation between our Regions and Government Offices (GOs). This will feature in my Regional visits this year. Some Regions invite a GO rep occasionally to their meetings, some do not. If we are to increase our influence as a body, perhaps we need to maintain regular correspondence with our GOs, collectively in the Regions, as well as for individual purposes? Steve is a great ambassador for the profession and we need to deliver results for him at CLG, particularly through the provision of practitioner experience and solutions. The RTPI Networks offer a ready made source of expertise here and Rynd Smith, RTPI Director of Policy and Practice will lead on this.

If you need reminding, my Presidential theme is "Planning Delivering Solutions" – The 2008 RTPI Awards ceremony, my last engagement of week 2, was a brilliant platform to expand on this message and provided dozens of "solutions" from throughout the UK. The event was a success due to the high calibre of award winners and superb organisation skills of Judy Woollett and her RTPI team. With the arrival of the National Policy Statements and the Infrastructure Planning Commission, it was a great joy to see the Channel Tunnel Rail Link: High Speed 1 win the Silver Jubilee Cup - a major infrastructure project delivered on time, on budget and with optimum, economic, environmental and community benefits. This surely bodes well for the planning process. For me personally, it was wonderful to meet so many friends from throughout the country, and to be approached by many colleagues with the phrase "Do you remember me" - difficult to miss me with the chain around my neck but impossible for me to remember everyone I have had the privilege of working with - and to hear "Do you remember me? You gave me my first job."

I’m celebrating a milestone this week – I’m turning 60 and I’ve got to say I am beginning to feel my age. But I’m not alone as two other RTPI colleagues share a birthday on Valentine’s Day - Janet O'Neill, RTPI President 2008 (but who of course is many years younger than me) and Rynd Smith. It’s bad enough having my surname but apparently my grandmother also wanted to call me "Valentine"!

Catch up soon,
Martin.

Photographs: © Haymarket

My first week as RTPI President

2009-02-04T12:03:00.002Z

I’ve just passed the one week mark into my year as RTPI President after a wonderful inauguration at the Royal Society of Arts, with lots of friends from my previous life joining me on the evening, together with the RTPI General Assembly and last years’ excellent RTPI President Janet O’Neill, who all attendees congratulated on a terrific year. Any delusions of grandeur I might have had however were quickly erased by grand daughter number 1, Caissie, who said in a loud voice during the ceremony: “Why is Grumpy wearing a big necklace” of course referring to my RTPI Presidential chain!

My first engagement as President was acting as an RTPI representative at the annual RTPI West Midlands Region multi professional “Great Debate”. This was held at Arup’s excellent eco friendly offices in Solihull where the RTPI WM Regional chair Sue Manns resides. I’ve attached a photo to my blog showing most of the panel and despite representing planners, engineers, architects, surveyors and the new Homes and Communities Agencies (HCA) three of us were planners - myself, Paul Spooner (HCA) and Louise Brooke-Smith (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors - RICS). The big issues were coping with the credit crisis which I plan to talk about more in my monthly column in Planning but we were also challenged on sustaining design quality and delivering Local Development Frameworks (LDFs). John Baker, chair of the Development Plans Network, gives a fascinating presentation on LDFs entitled “What are you waiting for?” and I share his sentiments!

Although many Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) have benefited from the injection of Planning and now Housing and Planning Delivery Grant (HPDG) to accelerate the LDF programme, large numbers are still some way off Core Strategy approval. It is absolutely essential that we deliver LDFs as quickly as possible and if we are short on capacity then we should look to capture the surplus delivery skills out there and available I suspect at reasonable rates? It may be that we have to persuade the department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) that HPDG should be made available on a more flexible basis to achieve this?

There is much good advice available from the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) and the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) and some Government Offices (GOs) are running mentoring schemes to share knowledge of efficient approaches without losing “local distinctiveness”. A number of us met the top team at CLG a week or so back and they are hugely supportive of the Spatial Plan Led process. At the RTPI we will continue to look at ways of disseminating best practice and encouraging the Regions and Nations to take a supportive lead. If we can identify additional sources of finance we will signpost them.

Design quality also emerged at my second presidential engagement at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) concerning Design Review Panels (DRPs) supported by The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and all of the design professions. Experience of DRPs was generally good, but there were issues regarding increasing councillor and community awareness of the importance of good design and also making sure our professional members are properly trained at University and through Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the principles of good design. I know that Colin Haylock, RTPI Executive Board trustee, CABE commissioner, Chair of the RTPI Urban Design Network and Chair of the Urban Design Alliance is taking a lead in this area. The DRP team are also looking at increasing accountability of DRPs with Annual Reports and Councillor Briefings on the agenda.

I sign off my first blog in Somerset, snowed in, but a beautiful day nonetheless and look forward to hearing from you.

Martin

Picture: Katrina Sealey LBIPP

Inauguration night.

2009-01-23T08:39:00.000Z