Planorama

Planorama

Author: Samuel Stafford October 25, 2025 Duration: 1:04:21

In between movin' and shakin' in The Big Smoke recently Sam Stafford took the opportunity to meet a few friends of the podcast at Soho Radio Studios to pick out the highlights from another exciting few weeks in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning.

Sam caught up with, and the episode features, old friends of the podcast Simon Ricketts, Annie Gingell, Shelly Rouse and Hana Loftus, and new friend of the podcast Hayley White.

Over the course of an hour or so they talked about affordable housing delivery, specifically the constraints on the use of grant funding by RPs and the (then) rumoured changes to affordable housing thresholds in London. They talked about C.G. Fry and the implications of that Supreme Court decision. They talked in the context of a second letter from the Housing & Planning Minister to the Planning Inspectorate about local plan coverage and whether stepped trajectories should be seen a pragmatic response to changing circumstances or an exercise in cynical can-kicking. And towards the end they touched on National Development Management Policies.

Some accompanying reading.

London Stalling

Will Labour’s London housing boost plan work?

Residential development in London

Local Plan examinations: letter to the Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate (October 2025)

Why stepped housing requirements aren’t justified and should be avoided

What does planning permission *really* get you: CG Fry in the Supreme Court — #planoraks

Autumn Budget 2025 - LPDF submission to HMT

Some accompanying viewing.

Panorama – The race to build 1.5 million homes

The Planners are Coming

Some accompanying listening.

The Rolling Stones -Jigsaw Puzzle

Any other business.

50 Shades T-Shirts!

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...

'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.

Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here.

Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram. His blog contains a link to his newsletter.


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
Doing Someone's Bidding [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:06
"We appreciate that these funds bring challenges to local councils and we want to ensure there are fewer competitions in the future and more consolidated opportunities to access government funding." So said former Secret…
A Fairway to Solve the Housing Crisis [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:00
This episode explores two crises, one of which is a very public one and the other a more private one. There is a housing crisis. Millions of people live in unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable homes; young people are liv…
Hitting the High Notes - Paul Barnard [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:45
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…
Our Friends in the North - Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:22
This is the second of two 50 Shades episodes that Stephen Gleave has put together. Stephen is an urban designer and town planner and has been based in the North West of England for nearly 30 years. Stephen was invited to…
Our Friends in the North - Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:53
For both this episode and the next one Sam Stafford hands over the 50 Shades reins to Stephen Gleave. Stephen is an urban designer and town planner and has been based in the North West of England for nearly 30 years. Ste…
Where Are We Now? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:12
'Where are we now?' asks Sam Stafford in this episode not in the manner of an exasperated child in the back of a hot car staring out at a traffic jam on the M5, but in the manner of an exasperated planning professional c…
Aging Well In Place [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:44
Hidden in the conclusions of the December 2020 Household Resilience Study (a Covid-specific follow-up to the English Housing Survey) was the striking statistic that 39% of households are under-occupied in that they have…
The Bin Lorry Effect [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:52
‘Well-intentioned highways department rules and guidance have had a devastating effect on new housing developments over the past 80 years. Many have led to roads not streets, units not homes, and ‘could-be-anywhere’ hous…
A Conversation with Clive Betts [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:53
Death, taxes and reform are the three certainties that accompany planners along life’s endless cycleway. Insofar as the latter is concerned, this is one of the more turbulent periods. White Papers come and White Papers g…
Some Are More Equal Than Others [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:42
What is town planning for? The Royal Town Planning Institute champions the ‘power of planning in creating prosperous places and vibrant communities’. The Town & Country Planning Association ‘works to challenge, inspire a…