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Planning Advisory Service

March 2020

We hope you and your loved ones are all safe and well in what is very challenging times for us all.  Unsurprisingly this month’s bulletin is focusing on how planning services and PAS are responding to the present Covid-19 situation, but we are also taking the opportunity to give our thanks to Steve Quartermain, the Chief Planner, who is stepping down at the end of this month.

As we all try to work out how the rapidly changing circumstances and advice regarding Covid-19 will affect how we safely continue to deliver our planning services now and into the foreseeable future, we at PAS are actively trying to answer questions, give advice and share practices from across the country.

We’d like to thank all our planning officer and councillor peers, suppliers, LGA and MHCLG colleagues who continue to work with us in supporting LPAs in these challenging times.

To you all; stay safe and well.

Kind regards,

Anna Rose
Head of PAS

PAS Continuity

PAS will continue to deliver advice and support as the Covid-19 situation continues. We have compiled and will keep updated a list of Covid-19 planning related FAQs on our website. We also have a very active Coronavirus discussion thread on the Khub where all our forum members will be able ask questions and share responses.

We have had to cancel several upcoming workshops and meetings, but we are looking at reorganising these using online systems and that you will be able to access whilst you are working remotely. We will be in touch with those due to attend to see how this can work best for you.

We were due to deliver a couple of workshops on Annual Position Statements. As the 31 March deadline for LPAs to inform PINs if they plan to submit to PAS approaches fast we will be publishing a video post at the end of the week on the housing supply page of the PAS website.

We will continue to give advice and answer individual questions via our usual routes via our general email pas@local.gov.uk and via the PAS Khub group and our team of planners are will be accessible through their usual emails and telephone numbers.

Messages from MHCLG

Many of you will have seen the Chief Planner’s March Planning Update that came out on Monday 23 March giving some useful advice on a few Coronavirus issues.

The government is presently passing the emergency Coronavirus Bill though the Parliamentary Houses and we expect further legislation to come out over the coming days that will support authorities through this crisis and into the recovery process.

We will continue to try and keep you updated with announcements, information and advice via our regular bulletin and the PAS website and discussion forums.

Steve Quartermain is leaving his role as Chief Planner at MHCLG

On a happier note we would like to say a big thank you to Steve Quartermain, the Chief Planner at MHCLG, who is stepping down from his role at the end of the month.

We will need to postpone the leaving drinks and pause the speeches and accolades until such a time as we can all be together in person. Steve is a planning icon, a face so well-known across the profession who we all rely on to be the voice of reason. Steve has been a fantastic advisor and supporter of PAS from our early days, always generous with his time and insight. He has supported the profession through some of the biggest changes to the planning system. He has encouraged us to be fearless and innovative when presented with new challenges. He has also challenged us when we couldn't see an obvious means of making those changes. Above all of this, however, is his unconditional support of planning and planners. We would like to say thank you to Steve for being a truly great Chief Planner and for supporting PAS and the profession so keenly. We wish him well for the future.