All Episodes

Ep224: What the pausing of the local government reorganisation programme means for planners

Ep223: All the planning news from the Reform UK party conference, plus a first-take on the government’s council reorganisation review

Ep222: Why appeal-ready planning applications are on the rise and what it means for applicants and authorities

Ep221: Your 40-minute guide to the rewritten National Planning Policy Framework

Ep220: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep219: A 15-minute first-take briefing on the key changes in the newly updated NPPF

Ep218: Why a judge criticised planning officers when quashing consent for Tottenham Hotspur green belt training ground

Ep217: Why the government is telling inspectors to relax their viability assessment of local plans, plus other key news from last week

Ep216: Andy Burnham’s new-look housing ministry, plus the key policies in the new draft London Plan

Ep215: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep214: The key planning tasks facing the new Prime Minister, plus the latest on the new NPPF and application fees

Ep213: Why the new 250-word limit for written appeal forms has sparked consternation

Ep212: The key takeaways for planners from Burnham's first big speech as a potential Prime Minister

Ep211: What the relentless rise of councils under no overall control means for planners

Ep210: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep209: Starmer resigns with Burnham poised to replace him; plus nine councils placed in planning ‘special measures’

Ep208: The implications of the scaling back of planning committee decision-making

Lord Heseltine: "You’re just playing in toy town”

Ep207: Why a council wants to withdraw from the new towns programme and how the PM has pushed back against it

Ep206: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep205: How Andy Burnham becoming Prime Minister would impact planning

Ep204: The planning highlights from the UKREiiF property conference

Ep203: How far the government has got in recruiting its 1,400 promised new planners

Ep202: What the local election results mean for planning and development

Ep201: The profits, turnover and margins of the UK's biggest planning consultancies

Ep200: The types of development that will and won't be exempt from biodiversity net gain requirements

Ep199: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep198: Why councillor criticism of planning officers in committee meetings appears to be on the rise

Ep197: Inspector tells developer to pay council’s costs for pulling out of green belt housing appeal at ‘extremely late stage’

Ep196: The great CIL repayment - how much could be refunded to developers?

Ep195: Member slams planning officers over grey belt recommendations, a ministerial local plan intervention and final new towns shortlist revealed

Will Whitehorn: “We have to industrialise in space. It is an imperative”

Space-Comm Expo: Jamming, spoofing, FOMO and farming

Ep194: The biggest employers of female planners and why there is pressure for the new NPPF to address women’s safety

Ep193: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep192: What the government has revealed about how the new local plan system will work

Ep191: How the growth in AI objection letters is impacting planners

Ep190: Why a council is set to charge for invalid planning applications plus PINS issues updated AI guidance

Why the business of space is everyone’s business

Ep189: How a court ruling impacts national grey belt rules, plus the lowdown on the government's new pollution mitigation scheme

Ep188: Government reveals proposed geography of new strategic planning system and makes two local plan interventions

Ep187: Six key factors for inspectors determining brownfield appeals in the green belt

Ep186: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep185: Why two landowners have been handed prison sentences for breaking planning laws

Ep184: Your 30-minute guide to the most significant planning policy and legal changes in the next six months

Ep183: Two councils’ planning services hit by cyber-attacks, plus Pennycook’s affordable housing intervention

Ep182: The key takeaways from the latest in-depth report on the planning consultancy market

Ep181: Your 40-minute guide to the new draft NPPF

Ep180: A first-take overview of the new NPPF, plus local plans in peril

Ep179: Why the government’s drive to digitise the planning system is yet to make a meaningful impact on services

Ep178: The key planning takeaways from the Budget and the sudden scrapping of a legal duty for local plan-makers

Ep177: Reed announces plans to ease new home consents around train stations and changes to application call-in process

Ep176: What non-statutory national development management policies would mean for planners

Ep175: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep174: Local government reorganisation in Surrey and a city council goes to court to claim £1m in unpaid developer contributions

Ep173: England's biggest and busiest local planning authorities

Ep172: An important Supreme Court ruling on nutrient neutrality and 'emergency' planning measures to boost London housebuilding

Ep171: How Pennycook has advised inspectors to change their approach to local plan examinations plus the latest planning bill tweaks

Ep170: An important court ruling on green belt openness and our housing delivery test predictions

Ep169: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep168: The planning highlights from the Labour Party Conference, plus a joint local plan fails a legal duty

Ep167: Ministers back the initial recommendations of the New Towns Taskforce, plus the consultancies that allow the most home working

Ep166: Your six-minute guide to the government’s new flood risk planning guidance, plus Labour’s first local plan intervention

Ep165: The most important planning policy and legislation changes to expect in the next six months

Ep164: The new housing secretary's planning track record and highlights from the Reform UK conference

Ep163: The government's ongoing planning battle with a local authority over asylum-seeker hotels

Ep162: Is a council’s bid to reclassify villages as towns to protect them from green belt development likely to be effective?

Ep161: Why Rayner has blocked a council’s bid to allocate a site for 1,250 homes in its emerging local plan

Ep160: Rayner demands answers from Chinese embassy over redaction of new building plans and why a council has urged applicants to avoid ‘chasing’ its planning team

Ep159: When England’s busiest local planning authorities say they will hit key plan-making milestones

Ep158: The key planning takeaways from the planning minister's latest select committee appearances

Ep157: The highest-rated planning barristers and solicitors and the law firms with the biggest planning teams

Ep156: Why a planning committee was found to be ‘severely affecting’ a council’s reputation, plus the devolution bill highlights

Ep155: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep154: How a lack of sewage treatment capacity is blocking applications for new homes across England

Ep153: The Planning Inspectorate expanding the ‘simplified’ written appeal process to speed up decisions

Ep152: The implications of the latest government proposals to increase developer build-out rates

Ep151: Council launches legal challenge and blasts planning inspector over local plan failure

Ep150: What the growth of the logistics sector means for planners

Ep149: Your 22-minute guide to the latest planning blitz on build-out rates, biodiversity net gain and decision-making

Ep148: How Reform councils and mayors will use their planning powers

Ep147: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep146: The lowdown on two important ‘grey belt’ decisions from the secretary of state and a High Court judge

Ep145: The six key lessons from planning inspectors on grey belt appeal decisions

Ep144: How the government is seeking to change the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and a row over a local plan examination

Ep143: The places where the local elections are most likely to impact planning and development

Ep142: The councils with the most grey belt land in England

Ep141: Casebook Extra – the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep140: Why a Court of Appeal ruling means that planners will need to pay greater attention to national guidance updates

Ep139: The planning news from the Spring Statement plus the Planning and Infrastructure Bill's second reading

Ep138: How a council introduced a four-day working week that improved its planning performance

Ep137: Casebook Extra - the month’s key ministerial, inspectors’ and court decisions summarised

Ep136: Your 25-minute guide to the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Ep135: Why developers are predicting a surge in planning applications this year and how the system will cope

Ep134: Your 20-minute lowdown on the new planning guidance on green belt and other policy areas

Ep133: Are statutory consultees really holding up the planning process and how are ministers likely to address the issue?

Ep132: Where the 100 new town proposals are coming from, plus other key news from the past week

Ep131: How compromised is the planning system by developer influence?

Ep130: The chancellor's planning announcements aiming to kick-start economic growth

Ep129: The NPPF's ‘golden rules’ for developer contributions on green belt, plus the return of strategic planning

Ep128: What the housing secretary revealed about the government’s planning intentions when she was grilled by MPs

Ep127: The biggest, fastest-growing and highest-earning planning consultancies and the most desirable job skills

Ep126: What the devolution white paper means for planning, plus the latest housing test delivery results

Ep125: Your 30-minute guide to the new National Planning Policy Framework

Ep124: How Angela Rayner wants to shake up planning committee decision-making

Ep123: What the government's push for more council mergers means for planning teams

Ep122: What the planning minister revealed in his select committee appearance

Ep121: England's 30 busiest local planning authorities – their resource and activity levels

Ep120: The fall-out from the housing secretary's last-minute calling in of plans for an 8,400-home garden village

Ep119: The challenges facing biodiversity net gain six months in and the planning highlights from the budget

Ep118: How much unspent developer contribution cash councils are holding onto

Ep117: What draft NPPF changes on green belt mean for decision-makers, plus the impact of ministerial efforts to speed up plan examinations

Ep116: Why new requirements for the early submission of legal agreements alongside written appeals has prompted alarm

Ep115: The issues raised by council planning teams’ widespread use of agency staff, plus highlights from the Tory conference

Ep114: All the planning news from the Labour Party conference

Ep113: What the draft NPPF changes would mean for affordable housing and brownfield land development

Ep112: High Court overturns secretary of state approval for coal mine, inspectors tell council to withdraw local plan, and voters reject neighbourhood plan

Ep111: What the proposed cutting of 'beauty' references in the draft NPPF would mean for planners, plus other key news

Ep110: Why councils faced with hikes in housing need are accelerating plan preparation, plus other key news

Ep109: The five most important exceptional circumstances used by plan-makers to justify releasing green belt

Ep108: Council reveals £826K planning budget overspend, local plan delays over NPPF changes, and Miliband threatened over solar farm approval

Ep107: Why a council is investing £1m in its planning service and how the NPPF revisions would change housing need assessments

Ep106: How the new standard method will affect councils' housing need levels and ministerial announcements on local plan preparation

Ep105: Your 30-minute guide to Labour’s proposed National Planning Policy Framework revisions

Ep104: What the new government's first King's Speech means for planning and why a national newspaper opinion piece has prompted sector fury

Ep103: What you need to know about planning for data centres

Ep102: Labour's historic election victory, its housing department appointments and early planning announcements

Ep101: How the government's own planning performance measures up

Ep100: A Supreme Court ruling on an oil drilling project, a council's procedural error halts its legal challenge, plus planning applications fall to record lows

Ep99: The planning promises in Labour's election manifesto, plus housing delivery test predictions

Ep98: Councils delaying local plan work over general election and the Tory and Lib Dem manifestos

Ep97: The planning proposals we can expect from Labour’s first 100 days in power and how the election announcement impacts policy and legislation

Ep96: Labour's new towns policy, the general election announcement, plus a council accusing a charity of local plan 'misinformation'

Ep95: What the new metro mayors mean for planning, plus the fallout from a councillor accusing planning officers of 'lobbying for developers'

Ep94: The latest local authority to be placed in planning special measures, planning decision bribery allegations, and the best-paid council planning leads

Ep93: What planners need to know about using social media and the secretary of state's attitude to countryside solar farms

Ep92: Why councils are cutting their local plan home targets, new housing affordability data and the latest on Labour's green belt policies

Ep91: The implications of a legal change that aims to make it easier for developers to amend planning permissions

Ep90: Biodiversity net gain comes into force for small sites, plus changes to planning enforcement and compulsory purchase rules

Ep89: The implications of the government's proposed new 'accelerated planning system'

Ep88: Why a Tory council was removed from special measures after just three months and the latest on Labour's planning policies

Ep87: The implications of the proposed new presumption in favour of brownfield development

Ep86: EXTRA The lessons learned by the pioneers of the mandatory new authority-wide design codes

Ep85: Your ten-minute guide to the Budget announcements, plus two more councils placed in special measures

Ep84: How cost-saving management consultants are impacting planning services, plus a roundup of the Budget announcements

Ep83: The High Court's quashing of Gove's M&S decision and a government-commissioned report on housebuilding

Ep82: Why a court ruling that permissions cannot be split retrospectively will make it more difficult for developers to modify large schemes, plus this week’s key news

Ep81: Your 20-minute guide to the government's latest consultations on permitted development rights and brownfield land policy, plus a row between Gove and Khan

Ep80: The policy and legislation that Sunak, Gove and colleagues could change before the next general election

Ep79: New government guidance on housing land supply and yet another ministerial local plan intervention

Ep78: What the revised NPPF means for meeting housing need and housing land supply targets

Ep77: Resident ‘offered lap dance club visit in relation to planning application’, plus the date for the launch of biodiversity net gain is finally revealed

Ep76: A reported further delay to the launch of biodiversity net gain, plus a scathing review of a council's planning service

Ep75: Your 40-minute guide to how the new National Planning Policy Framework changes the system, plus news round-up

Ep74: The councils paying out the most in appeal cost awards, plus the week's key stories

Ep73: The council that kept more than £100k it owed to applicants, plus the week's other key stories

Ep72: The big planning announcements in the chancellor's autumn statement, plus the week's key stories

Ep71: Rowley's return to the ministerial hotseat, and when the Levelling Up Act will take effect

Ep70: Gove urges councils to consider flexing local plan policies, plus the week's key stories

Ep69: The habitats developers won't need to enhance under new biodiversity rules, and the 1,000-home scheme threatened by water supply concerns

Ep68: How the Levelling Up Act will affect planning, and how to prepare for biodiversity net gain

Ep67: The latest changes to the Levelling Up Bill, as it nears royal assent, plus other key news

Ep66: All the essential points for planners from the party conferences, plus other key news

Ep65: The planning implications of shortening HS2, plus other key news

Ep64: The implications of Angela Rayner’s appointment as shadow housing secretary, examining Michael Gove’s new planning ‘super squad’ to help struggling councils, plus other key news

Ep63: Lords kill off government plans to boost housebuilding by relaxing water pollution controls in the levelling up bill, plus other key news

Ep62: The government’s decision to extend its new requirement for second staircases in tower blocks to a much wider range of buildings, plus other key news

Ep61: How the government plans to relax rules on water-polluting housebuilding and wind-farms, plus other key news

Ep60: Will the rise in planning application fees help improve the planning system, plus other key news

Ep59: Why development that leaves buildings’ exteriors unchanged can still harm an area’s character, a new government tool for calculating housebuilding’s impact on school provision, plus other key news

Ep58: What Gove’s stay of demolition for M&S’s 1930s Oxford Street building means for decision-makers and applicants

Ep57: Your 20 minute guide to government plans for application fees, extended permitted development rights, new plan-making and NSIP systems and a raft of other proposals

Ep56: How May’s election results will influence parties’ planning policies, plus this week’s key news

Ep55: When we can expect the government’s national planning policy revisions to eventually appear, why a parliamentary committee thinks the revisions would put the government’s annual 300,000-home target out of reach, and much more

Ep54: Can we expect the government’s stalled planning changes to move forward, and if so, when?

Ep53: The implications of Labour’s green belt plans, why a clergyman’s wife was referred to police, and plans to boost council planning recruits

Ep52: How new plans to relax change of use rules for vacant high street sites could work, and what this could mean for your local pub

Ep51: How Gove is factoring design considerations into his decisions, more fallout from the May local elections and government promises of more planning support for farm diversification

Ep50: Will the government really strip planning powers from ten councils, and what are the implications of the London mayor’s new push to secure social housing from developers?

Ep49: The government’s proposed new high street permitted development rights, Labour’s plan for cheaper compulsory acquisitions and the grants threat to neighbourhood planning

Ep48: Deep dive into Labour’s planning pledges and the implications of the May election results

Ep47: Planning powers of ten councils potentially in jeopardy after Gove’s warning, plus an inspector’s decision to allow 100 homes on the Surrey green belt

Ep46: Do Jeremy Clarkson’s criticisms of the planning system stack up? Plus Gove’s threatening letter to councils, and other key news stories of the past week

Ep45: Labour’s planning promises, tougher penalties for slow-building developers and the elusive replacement for the duty on councils to cooperate

Ep44: Why councils need to consider future development when assessing infrastructure applications intended to support it, plus key news from the past week

Ep43: The government’s new plans for short-term lets and why some councils and developers have been getting into trouble with inspectors and in the courts

Ep42: Your guide to the government’s new Infrastructure Levy plans, plus what our research reveals about the consultancies with the highest proportion of female planners

Ep41: More levelling-up bill amendments, planning applications plunge to new lows, and the government outlines how it will implement developer planning prohibitions over unsafe buildings

Ep40: How national planning policy changes would affect the potential for denser development, plus the key news of the past week

Ep39: The government’s latest plans for replacing section 106 agreements, the developers on Gove’s ‘planning prohibition’ hit list and the spring Budget

Ep38: How working from home is affecting council planning teams and what our latest research tells us about councils’ five-year land supply positions

Ep37: How councils could raise fees by 35 per cent under government proposals, what we know about Labour’s intentions for the planning system, and the implications of a court ruling for prior approval of upward extensions

Ep36: What the appointment of new planning minister Rachel Maclean means for the industry PLUS the implications draft changes to national planning policy requiring the promotion of ‘beauty’ and energy efficiency, and restricting farmland development

Ep35: The government postpones some biodiversity net gain requirements, the levelling-up department’s new director of planning is leaving and more councils delay local plans

Ep34: The timeline for implementing the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and what the revisions would mean for councils in England’s biggest urban areas

Ep33: What planners need to know about the government’s new Environmental Improvement Plan, plus Gove’s plan to force developers to fix unsafe buildings

Ep32: National Planning Policy Framework draft revisions deep dive – how the tests faced by councils on housing delivery, site allocation and local plan preparation would change

Ep31: What’s behind councils’ recent rush to withdraw local plans, more reports of low morale in planning authorities, and why one hallowed planning course has stopped recruiting students

Ep30: Your 20-minute guide to recent amendments to the government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill

Ep29: Your 30-minute guide to how the proposed National Planning Policy Framework changes would alter the system, plus news round-up

Ep28: How the government is responding to the backbench levelling-up bill rebellion, and what our latest survey reveals about the UK’s planning consultancy market in 2022

Ep27: The Tory levelling-up bill rebellion, England’s biggest 50 local planning authorities, and what you need to know about the government’s autumn statement

Ep26: What we know about new planning minister Lucy Frazer, how the Supreme Court has cast doubt on the validity of old consents, and why a council error over heritage harm sank a big housing scheme

Ep25: What new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the return of Michael Gove as levelling up secretary mean for planning, and will investment zones survive the end of Liz Truss’s administration?

Ep24: How the government will incentivise communities to accept housebuilding, rumours of relaxation of affordable housing demands on developers and the council that ‘epitomised unreasonableness’?

Ep23: Yet another new planning bill, the implications of the government’s promised investment zones and what we learnt at the Labour Party conference

Room 106 sponsored excerpt: the implications of Liz Truss’s installation as Prime Minister, sponsored by Shoosmiths

Ep22: Simon Clarke’s appointment as housing minister, introducing the other new ministers with planning responsibility, and what’s behind the latest spate of local plan delays PLUS the implications of Liz Truss’s installation as Prime Minister

Ep21: Liz Truss’s planning priorities, how a councillor ‘brought his council into disrepute’, and the legal advice that led a council to drop its defence of a 900-home planning refusal

Ep20: The implications of more plan-making delays, why a man cave has landed an accountant in jail, and what is behind the latest spate of big consultancy takeovers

Ep 19: The Tory leadership hopefuls’ latest planning proposals, the government’s attempts to unblock permissions stalled by water pollution, and a ‘disgraceful’ local plan

Ep18: What changes in the Tory government will mean for planning

Ep 17: The council that withdrew a sound local plan, Gove backtracks on the NPPF revision timeline PLUS the guidance on limiting water pollution that is blocking housing permissions explained

Ep16: Implications of next month’s promised NPPF ‘update’, Gove’s plan to rein in PINS on housing need and the levelling-up bill’s proposals to change strategic planning

Ep15: More Levelling Up Bill analysis, the councils granting the least self-build permissions and PINS’ goals to speed up decision-making

Ep14: Your 30-minute guide to how the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will change the planning system

Ep13: Pollution concerns hold up 100,000 new homes, a council takes drastic steps to clear an applications backlog, and more of the latest planning news

Ep12: The reported demise of section 106, government proposals to change planning for energy and the rest of the week’s key news

Ep11: Councils go slow on plan-making, miss housing land supply targets, and the rest of the week’s key news

Ep10: Chilterns decision-making frozen, areas where housebuilding is limited by water pollution double, plus other key news, plus other key news

Ep9: The Planning Bill’s reported demise, the crisis at Calderdale Council and another authority under cyber attack

Ep8: Why Uttlesford is the first council to be stripped of planning powers for poor decision-making, what Stuart Andrews' appointment as planning minister means for the sector, plus more of the last fortnight’s most important news

Ep7: What the levelling up white paper means for planning, the challenges facing planning authorities in 2022-23, plus more of the last fortnight’s most important news

Ep6: The councils whose planning position has been weakened by the housing delivery test results, plus more of the last fortnight’s most important news

Ep5: Council officers in crisis, housing delivery test result forecasts and newly permanent PD rights

Ep4: How the new legal duty to boost biodiversity can be met, plus the key news from last week

Ep3: DLUHC’s emerging approach, Environment Act implications and the Planning Consultancy Market Report 2021

Ep2: The key planning news, plus the PM’s greenfield pledge

Ep1: Welcome to Room 106