Where Are We Now?

'Where are we now?' asks Sam Stafford in this episode not in the manner of an exasperated child in the back of a hot car staring out at a traffic jam on the M5, but in the manner of an exasperated planning professional contemplating why, as we hurtle towards the end of the second year of this parliamentary term, the Government’s vision for the planning system, nay the country, remains, let’s say charitably, in embryonic form. A good indication as to where we are now comes from the raft of reports and speeches published and delivered by politicians and think tanks recently, seemingly with the aim of getting things off their desk before the end of term. July 2021 brought: A Robert Jenrick speech to the Local Government Association’s annual conference;A Boris Johnson speech on his vision to level up the United Kingdom;A Written Ministerial Statement from Robert Jenrick on building beautiful places alongside the revised NPPF and National Model Design Code;Place Alliance’s Design Deficit report;The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s report on Post-Pandemic Economic Growth and Levelling Up;The Department for Transport’s Plan for Decarbonising transport: a better, greener Britain; andTransparency International UK’s report: ‘House of Cards – Exploring access and influence in UK housing policy’. Joining Sam to chew over that little lot and to get a feel, as everybody heads either up or down the motorway network for their summer hols, are four friends of, and regular contributors to, the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast. Simon Ricketts (@sricketts1) is a Partner at Town Legal;Shelly Rouse (@rouse_shelly) is a Principal Consultant at the Planning Advisory Service;Vicky Payne (@Victoria_Payne) is a Senior Consultant at URBED; andPaul Smith (@Paul_SLG) is Managing Director at the Strategic Land Group. The 50 Shades of Planning Summer Holiday Reading List. Robert Jenrick’s speech to the Local Government Association’s annual conference https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/local-government-association-annual-conference-2021-secretary-of-states-speech  Boris Johnson’s speech on his vision to level up the United Kingdom https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-prime-ministers-levelling-up-speech-15-july-2021 A Written Ministerial Statement from Robert Jenrick on building beautiful places (published alongside the revised NPPF and National Model Design Code) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-20/hcws21 Place Alliance’s 'Design Deficit' report http://placealliance.org.uk/research/design-deficit/ The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s report on Post-Pandemic Economic Growth and Levelling Up https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/365/business-energy-and-industrial-strategy-committee/news/156781/governments-levelling-up-agenda-risks-becoming-an-everything-and-nothing-policy-say-business-committee/ ‘Decarbonising transport: a better, greener Britain’ by the Department for Transport https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transport-decarbonisation-plan ‘House of Cards – Exploring access and influence in UK housing policy’ by Transparency International UK https://www.transparency.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/publications/House%20of%20Cards%20-%20Transparency%20International%20UK%20%28web%29.pdf The Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2021 seeking a national strategy to improve the health of coastal communities https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chief-medical-officer-annual-report-2021 Some accompanying listening. Holiday by Happy Mondays https://youtu.be/kYRF7qcBMDg 50 Shades T-Shirts! http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html