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
🏆 The #Planoraks Awards 2022 🏆 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:04
Even by the standards of the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning 2022 has been quite a year. Who better to review it, Sam Stafford thought, than Zack Simons, one of the most erudit…
Call For Evidence - Life on the Front Line II [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:44
It was about a year ago that Catriona Riddell first wrote in Planning magazine about low morale in local planning authorities, which Catriona, Peter Geraghty, Paul Brocklehurst and Sam Stafford followed up with the 'Life…
🎄The 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz - London☃️ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:26
It’s cold, wet and miserable and, alas, there is little in Michael Gove’s recent Written Ministerial Statement to warm the cockles of a planner’s heart. Hopefully then the return of the 50 Shades of Planning Festive Chri…
Catch Up [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:35
This is an old skool, Adam Buxton-style ramble chat 50 Shades episode in which Sam Stafford fills his lunch hour with what he enjoys most: talking about planning with some of his planning friends. Planning being the fast…
What Town Planners Do [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:42
Planning is rarely out of the news these days, certainly in England. It gets mentioned in speeches by party leaders, it garners headlines in the national and local press and has been the focus of multiple reform initiati…
A Home of One's Own [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:32
This episode is published with thanks to Simon Ricketts and his Planning Law Unplanned Clubhouse forum. Simon recently had a Clubhouse chat with Hashi Mohamed about Hashi’s book ‘A Home of One’s Own’ and they kindly agre…
Hitting the High Notes - Peter Dixon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:34
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…
A Stimulating Growth Conversation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:10
It will not have gone unnoticed that the Government published a 'Growth Plan' on Friday 23 September 2022 with implications for the Development Consent Order regime and the introduction of a new Investment Zone concept.…
Neutral Impact II [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:18
When Sam Stafford introduced Episode 38 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast on nutrient neutrality he described the topic of eutrophication as a bit like the podcast itself. A little niche, but very important. Since the…