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
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‘Vital and Viable’, the good practice guidance that accompanied the old PPG6 included a large survey of planning authorities. A fifth of town centres in 1995, it was reported, were then thought to be ‘declining’, while o…
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“At the moment, some local authorities can duck potentially difficult decisions, because they are free to come up with their own methodology for calculating ‘objectively assessed need’. So, we are going to consult on a n…
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A place, in the urban context at least, is its buildings, the spaces around them and the hustle and bustle of people making their way betwixt and between them. The only place that many people have known for a while thoug…
A Conversation with Chris Findley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:39
In a piece written during a recent period of furlough leave Sam Stafford posited that a career is like climbing a mountain in that the real reward is at the top when you can sit back, with the greatest possible perspecti…
Planning Reform Day [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:12
The decorations have been taken down, the uneaten party food has been frozen for next time and all of the summary emails from planning consultants have been diligently saved in the ‘Government Policy’ folder. Another Pla…
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‘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 gree…
DCOs, NPSs and NSIPs. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:39
Will the Government's much vaunted radical reforms to the planning system allow Development Consent Orders (DCOs) to apply to large-scale, residential-led development proposals? It is an idea that has been around since D…