Pre-Apps, Puddles and NDMPs

Pre-Apps, Puddles and NDMPs

Author: Samuel Stafford May 10, 2025 Duration: 52:28

When in Manchester recently Sam Stafford took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast David Diggle, Paul Smith, Rebecca Coley and Claire Petricca-Riding and over the course of an hour or so they talked about a few of the hot topics that are exercising the planning profession at the minute.

Those hot topics include the widely anticipated spike in planning applications this year; locally-set fees, pre-apps and PPAs; the Flood Risk Sequential Test, NDMPs, and, very briefly towards the end of their conversation, the Planning & Infrastructure Bill and the Corry Review.

Some accompanying reading.

Data shows an over 160% rise in planning applications 

https://www.lpdf.co.uk/news/data-shows-an-over-160-rise-in-planning-applications

How puddles could stop the government building the homes we need

https://longwall.substack.com/i/160566665/what-planning-policy-says-about-flood-risk

Labour of Love II - Flood Risk Sequential Test

https://youtu.be/g8ObnIeN-fc?si=_5WDBTPFeAxv3-22

How National Development Management Policies Can Boost Economic Growth 

https://www.publicfirst.co.uk/how-national-development-management-policies-can-boost-economic-growth.html

SME sites for SME builders

https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/11/sme-sites-for-sme-builders.html

The Corry Review

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-reforms-to-environmental-regulation-to-boost-growth-and-protect-nature

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/27/abundance-by-ezra-klein-and-derek-thompson-review-make-america-build-again

Some accompanying listening.

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

https://open.spotify.com/show/090wd4VVywMtYCC5PSngvH?si=OWKfRjOiRnWR4az9LKXJFA&nd=1&dlsi=44c4e94d871c4bac

Rain - The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK5G8fPmWeA

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 (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). 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: 100

50 Shades of Planning
Podcast Episodes
NPPF 2023 Update - What Next? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:47
At the kind invitation of Landmark Chambers and Town Legal, Sam Stafford was in London this week to contribute to a seminar on the NPPF update, which, eagle-eyed 50 Shades Listeners no doubt spotted, emerged as part of a…
🏆The #Planoraks Awards 2023🏆 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:01
Hopefully everybody involved in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country has had a restful Christmas and have managed to combine at least a little rest with digesting the cavalcade of announ…
Pre-Apps and PPAs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:09
As far back as Sam Stafford can remember Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs) have been the answer to questions about both how to get more resources into LPAs and how to improve application timescales. As Sam says in i…
A B~~~~~'s Muddle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:55
Before heading to London for the week, Sam Stafford caught up with 50 Shades stalwarts Paul Smith, Katie Wray and Ian Wray for a wide-ranging ramblechat at the Reform Radio studios in Manchester. Paul is Managing Directo…
Going Public [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:59
The RTPI's recently published ‘State of the Profession’ report identified, perhaps unsurprisingly, that planners are increasingly being employed in the private sector, with numbers growing by a third over the last decade…
A Plan for England [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:12
"Regional Spatial Strategies bridged the gap between those planning issues determined by local policy or concern, and those subject to policy goals defined at a national level – such as those for housing or renewable ene…
A LURA LURA Laughs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:59
Whilst in London this week Sam Stafford recorded an end-of-month ramblechat with Ben Castell, Catriona Riddell, Gilian Macinnes and Nicola Gooch. The conversation takes in all manner of things, including the Levelling Up…
Planning is Brilliant [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:24
A few months ago old friend of the podcast Rebecca Coley, Head of Planning & Development at Trafford Council, messaged Sam Stafford suggesting a 50 Shades episode on “the hidden work of LPAs that slows everything down, e…