Insights & Reports

With the Prime Minister promising the most radical reform of the planning system since WW2, Mike Jones asks if we need more haste and less speed.

What is the future of plan-making for new unitary authority Buckinghamshire Council? Principal Planner in Bidwells’ Milton Keynes, Robert Love, has all the details.

There’s a growing recognition and desire for a low-carbon 'green recovery'. We ask if a new way of valuing forests could be the real catalyst for a step change in UK woodland creation?

The digitisation of the planning process is an opportunity to engage with groups historically excluded from planning - the disabled, ethnic minorities and the young – as well those who might wish to move in to an area, says Suzi Green.

When the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was launched in 2019, the hopes of many landscape architects were dashed on discovering that neither Green Belt ‘openness’, or ‘valued’ landscape were further explained or defined.

Covid-19 has forced us all to reconsider our view of the world. But I can report that my view of the strategic planning world hasn’t altered. I’m still in no doubt that sweeping changes are necessary. More than ever, the planning system needs leadership on the big issues.

The Inspector’s letter into the North Essex Authorities’ Section 1 Local Plan finally dropped this week and it wasn’t entirely what the authorities were hoping for.

Planners in both the public and private sectors will find their work is massively disrupted over the next few months and the impact has been acknowledged in a letter from the Chief Planner to all English local authorities.

Historic England has issued a draft updated advice note on tall buildings. Interestingly, this guidance highlights that the evolution of skylines is inherent to all towns and cities, and that some of the most important historic buildings were once the tallest within their built environment.

In March 2018, we channelled our inner Mystic Meg and suggested that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was likely to see significant resistance from the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government over his plans to radically reform the spatial development strategy for London.

It’s an exciting time for Milton Keynes. Plans for a new university, incoming significant investment , positive steps in the regeneration of the Lakes Estate and Fullers Slade and -arguably most importantly, the publication of the MK Futures Growth Strategy by Milton Keynes Council (MKC). Mark Harris explains what's next for the growth of Milton Keynes.

The Government has published its policy paper ‘Planning for the Future’. This precedes the Planning White Paper expected in the spring and sets the direction of travel for the current government’s policies on planning and housing. We highlight the key points to come out of the policy paper and her predictions for the upcoming white paper, in our latest planning alert.