Jet Zero

Jet Zero

Author: Samuel Stafford August 7, 2020 Duration: 55:10

‘This moment gives us a much greater chance to be radical and to do things differently’, said the Prime Minister with typical understatement in his Dudley speech at the end of June. ‘To build back better, build back greener, build back faster.’

Who could possibly disagree with that? Nobody, which is probably why the phrase was drafted like that. It means all things to all people, but the creative ambiguity, nee intellectual incoherence, is illustrated by the catchy ‘Jet Zero’ reference in that Dudley speech and lofty ambitions for the world’s first zero emission long haul passenger plane. The short-term priority is to try to save jobs and livelihoods, but that means restoring high-carbon sectors such as aviation.

The reduction of net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero by 2050 became law in the UK in June 2019. As the Committee on Climate Change recently noted though, whilst “initial steps towards a net-zero policy package have been taken this was not the year of policy progress that the Committee called for.”

The pandemic is a chance to reset the economy and to bring together the seemingly dichotomous nature of greener versus faster, but what would ‘building back better’, if it isn’t just vacuous sloganeering, mean for planning.

Sam Stafford puts this question to Hugh Ellis, Director of Policy at the TCPA; Jon Lovell, co-founder of Hillbreak (@Lovell_Jon); and Claire Petricca-Riding, Partner & National Head of Planning and Environmental Law at Irwin Mitchell (@PetriccaRiding).

Some accompanying reading:

'The sustainable, responsible and impact investment landscape', by Caroline McGill at Hillbreak

https://www.hillbreak.com/impact-finance-part-i/

The Future Homes Standard: changes to Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations for new dwellings

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-homes-standard-changes-to-part-l-and-part-f-of-the-building-regulations-for-new-dwellings

The TCPA responds to the Prime Minister’s ‘Build, build, build’ announcements

https://www.tcpa.org.uk/news/press-release-the-tcpa-responds-to-prime-ministers-build-build-build-announcements

Reducing UK emissions: 2020 Progress Report to Parliament

https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/reducing-uk-emissions-2020-progress-report-to-parliament/

Some accompanying listening.

Big Jet Plane by Primal Scream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMpY-vjLjTM


Samuel Stafford hosts 50 Shades of Planning, a podcast that digs into the often perplexing world of the English planning system. Rather than offering dry policy lectures, these conversations embrace the sector's inherent complexities and occasional absurdities. The aim is to provide a wide-ranging view, bringing in diverse voices from across the fields of planning, property, design, and development. You'll hear from practitioners, thinkers, and critics, each sharing their unique experiences and perspectives on how places are shaped. A recurring series within the podcast, titled 'Hitting The High Notes', features in-depth discussions with leading figures, examining pivotal career moments and influential projects. These talks are structured around six key planning milestones, offering a concrete framework for understanding professional journeys and systemic challenges. By weaving together themes from government, business, arts, and social sciences, this podcast reveals how planning sits at a crowded intersection of politics, economics, and community life. Tune in for thoughtful, sometimes surprising, explorations of the forces that decide what gets built, where, and why.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 164

50 Shades of Planning
Podcast Episodes
An Esoteric Discussion about the Planning System [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:38
Sam Stafford revisits the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill with regular 50 Shades contributors Claire Petricca-Riding, Vicky Payne and Paul Smith. Their conversation explores what the Bill is and is not, what it may and…
Housing People [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:00
Housing, 50 Shades listeners, will know, is slap bang in the middle of the intersection between planning and politics and nothing offers both the illustration and impact of this than affordable housing. Research commissi…
A Gentle Conversation about Density [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:16
Where should we build 300,000 new homes every year? We could build tall buildings, which can have transformative effects on city centres and their skylines, but might not necessarily match delivery with need. Or we could…
LURB [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:23
50 Shades listeners are a perceptive bunch and will have a spotted that the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill (LURB) was introduced to Parliament on 11 May. Whilst the word planning does not appear on the front of the bil…
Hitting the High Notes - Anna Rose [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:32
Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects…
Place, Politics and the Piece Hall [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:36:41
When Sam Stafford saw that Create Streets and Onward were bringing their 'Restitch' conference to Halifax's Piece Hall, his favourite building, he could not have been more excited. He was though even more excited when th…
Leading From The Front [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:24
‘Is there a local authority staffing crisis', Sam Stafford asked Catriona Riddell, Peter Geraghty and Paul Brocklehurst in Episode 60. That episode, regular listeners might recall, was informed by a 'Call for Evidence' a…
Hitting the High Notes - Pete Swift [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:38
Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects…
Call for Evidence - Three Things [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:24
Sam Stafford's Twitter friends might have spotted that he had dinner with a DLUHC Minister last week. The conversation during dessert turned, with a set piece Planning Bill now off the agenda, to the three most impactful…