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Following last year’s successful event we are pleased to announce that this year’s PAS chief planners conference will be held in Nottingham on 26 and 27 September - and this year we are asking that they also bring a rising star along from their planning department as we would like to speak to the next generation of chief planners as well.
We will be covering content from our PAS programmes around strategic planning, local plans, delivery, development management & developer contributions plus tackling issues such as resourcing and large scale delivery. There will be opportunities to discuss issues and answers with sector experts and leaders and hear from Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government's (MHCLG) top planning team.
PAS chief planners and rising stars conference
26-27 September, Nottingham
Places are limited so please don’t hesitate to book your place.
We have run a dozen workshops with small groups of councils preparing their first action plans. We've learned a lot, and have had a fascinating time working through what good action plans include (and what they don't). What's been great about this process is that we have moved from frowning at spreadsheets to talking about how action plans can reinforce delivery strategies.
We are holding two bigger "wrap up" events in July to share what we've learned and to showcase some interesting action plans. Come along to find out more about them, and to see what we have all been up to. Spaces will be prioritised for councils failing (or shortly failing) the housing delivery test. Events are going to be in London and Manchester (depending on numbers).
Find out more and sign-up
What has the biggest impact on delivering good development management services?
What makes a good development management (DM) service? What are DM services doing to ensure that they are delivering one? To answer these questions we’ve produced 13 case studies from a variety of councils that are tackling head-on the challenges of delivering efficient, high-quality development management services under pressure from increased workloads and reduced resources. The case studies include examples of how councils are creating more capacity, plugging skills gaps and getting the whole machine operating more effectively.
We hope they’ll inspire you to develop creative and new ways of working that will help improve the efficiency, quality and delivery of your DM service.
Read the report and case studies
PAS and the LGA are delivering their Leadership Essentials Course for planning committee chairs and vice-chairs in Birmingham on 19 and 20 September 2019 and there are a few places left.
A council's planning committee is a very public window into a council's decision making processes and chairing the committee, and all the preparation and lead-in required for good decision making can be challenging. This course focuses on good quality decision making at planning committee and how a good planning committee is run. Attendees will compare how their committee operates with other authorities and share ideas with other councillors.
Leadership Essentials Course for planning committee chairs and vice-chairs
19-20 September 2019, Birmingham
To find out more or to book a place on this course please contact grace.collins@local.gov.uk
The Government has published its response to reforming developer contributions alongside new draft regulations that should come into effect on 1 September 2019. The regulations will require local planning authorities (including county councils) to publish an annual infrastructure funding statement (IFS). Whilst this will place additional requirements on local planning authorities it presents a real opportunity to work proactively with infrastructure providers and communities to set out in a clear and transparent manner the infrastructure that has been, and may, be funded through CIL and Section 106 planning obligations. Authorities must publish their first IFS by December 2020 to cover monitoring information for 2019/20 and so it is important to make sure that the right mechanisms and resources are put in place now to capture the right information in the most efficient way.
Bill Stevens, Planning Committee Chair at Plymouth, tells us about how to help committee members, particularly the new or less experienced, to remain objective when emotions run high at planning committee. Bill explains how to listen to the cut, thrust and emotion of public speakers, and remain objective and stick to matters of planning when making a decision.
Read Bill's blog
We are updating our councillor briefing modules over the next few months and we are releasing the first couple today.
Others in the series will include:
- Strategic Planning – is joint planning for you?
- Understanding housing requirements: five year supply, the standard method, housing delivery test
- Duty to cooperate and statements of common ground
- Engaging in pre-application discussions
- Design for councillors.
PAS has recently updated all of its training modules to help inform Mineral Planning Authority (MPA) councillors and planning officers about the process of making a planning decision on shale gas or oil mineral planning applications. The overall objective is to support informed and timely decision-making.
The modules look at the reality of shale gas and oil exploration and production, and how local authorities make planning decisions on these highly contentious applications. The modules are available as PDFs and are designed to be used on a self-serve basis. They can also be delivered by an experienced PAS trainer.
MHCLG’s Shale Broker Lonek Wojtulewicz has created an updated planning performance agreement (PPA) and accompanying user guide for use with Shale applications. The PPA template and guide are available on the PAS website.
Finding and Keeping Planners – the Industry Guide - hosted by the Royal Town Planning Institute and Countryside Properties
2 July 2019, 6.30pm, Purbeck Lounge
The resource shortfall of planners in local government planning teams affects the whole development industry, however the lack of qualified and experienced planners is also affecting private sector employers.
The panel of experts at the session will be chaired by Victoria Hills, CEO RTPI and include Ben Derbyshire, President, RIBA, Andrew Taylor, Director of Planning, Countryside, Lindsey Richards, Head of Planning, Enabling and Design at Homes England, and our own Anna Rose, Head of the Planning Advisory Service.
The session will be open to all with refreshments will be served so if you are attending the LGA conference next week please call in.
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