On Tuesday, the Government introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to Parliament – alongside which Parliament has published the normal explanatory notes for legislation, and the Government has...

Number of new homes given go ahead last year was lowest since 2014

New Towns: how do we get the public behind them? And is the right data and messaging to do so? Great to start the day our our event with Dan Tomlinson MP…

Officials will be able to rubberstamp development plans without local authority permission under the changes.

The move is part of what ministers say will be a "sweeping overhaul" of England's local planning system.

YouTube video by 50 Shades of Planning

In anticipation of the revised NPPF, which was published on 30 July, Sam Stafford invited some of the 50 Shades alumni to discuss some of the policy areas of most interest to them and how the new Government could and should approach them. Eight conversations were recorded, elements of which formed part of Episode 128 of the podcast, but Sam is publishing them all in full here on the YouTube channel. This is the first of the eight, which was recorded about half an hour after the NPPF emerged, and is a conversation between Paul Smith, Andrew Taylor, Shelly Rouse and Annie Gingell about housing targets. Paul is Managing Director at the Strategic Land Group; Andrew is Group Planning Director at Vistry Group; Shelly is a Principal Consultant at the Planning Advisory Service; and Annie is an Associate Director at Tetlow King. Their conversation takes in the role and value of targets, the merits of a stock-based standard method and, straying somewhat of piste towards the end though all the more enjoyable for that, a national scheme of delegation.

In anticipation of the revised NPPF, which was published on 30 July, Sam Stafford invited some of the Shades alumni to discuss some of the policy areas of most interest to them and how the new Government could and should approach them. Eight conversations were recorded, elements of which formed part of Episode 128 of the podcast, but Sam is publishing them all in full here on the YouTube channel. This is the second of the eight, which is a conversation between Hana Loftus, Andrew Taylor, Pooja Agrawal, Vicky Payne and Ben Castell about design and placemaking. Hana is a Director at HAT Projects, chair of Creative Colchester, and co-chair of the Design South East Design Review Panel and the Suffolk Design Review Panel. Andrew is Group Planning Director at Vistry Group. Pooja is CEO and Co-founder Public Practice. Vicky is an Associate at Jas Bhalla Works and an Independent Consultant (and as you will see Vicky’s camera was not playing ball on the day this was recorded). And Ben is a Director at AECOM. Their conversation takes the need for leadership, national standards and the office for place; design as quality, as place and as aesthetics; stewardship, beauty and what it is to be provenly popular.