🏆The #Planoraks Awards 2025🏆

🏆The #Planoraks Awards 2025🏆

Author: Samuel Stafford December 27, 2025 Duration: 1:22:58

This is the second of Sam Stafford's seasonal offerings which serve as a review of another exciting year in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning.

Once again Zack Simons kindly bestowed upon Sam the honour of announcing Zack's 2025 #Planoraks Awards on the podcast.

Sam met Zack at Soho Radio Studios where and he handed him six golden envelopes, which you will hear opened during their conversation.

They contain the winners of the following awards:

  • Policy of the Year;
  • Missed opportunity of the year;
  • Catastrophe of the Year;
  • Delay of the Year;
  • Stat of the Year; and
  • Consent of the Year.

Some accompanying reading.

The #Planoraks 2025 - the new NPPF

The Proposed London Housing Emergency Measures Package Is Underwhelming

Grey Belt – A Game Changer for Planning and Housing

Some accompanying viewing.

Exploring the new NPPF draft

Some accompanying listening.

The Black Keys – Year in Review

Any other business.

If you enjoy the episode do please consider bolstering Sam's fragile self-esteem by leaving the podcast a nice rating and a nice review wherever you listened to it. Obviously though if you have not enjoyed it then please do not leave a review.

If you have enjoyed to the extent that you feel compelled to share the podcast on one your social platforms then, if you tag Sam, you will be entitled to an exclusive and much-sought after 50 Shades of Planning mug.

If you are a new listener do please check out the back catalogue where you will find episodes on myriad planning topics, as well as the Hitting The High Notes and All Around the World series, and remember that by subscribing new episodes will magically appear in your phone as soon as Sam has published them.

50 Shades of Planning is the podcast by planners and for planners and so if you would like to use it as a platform for sharing anything you think that the sector needs to be talking about then you are very welcome to get in touch with Sam via samstafford@hotmail.com.

Sam is grateful to Richborough, Town Legal and Tyler Grange for supporting the podcast; to Vistry for sponsoring the 50 Shades mugs; to Adrian Meehan and Soho Radio Studies for recording this episode: and to Rachael Cooper at ViralTribe for editing it.

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
Some Things Just Take Time [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:24
Sam Stafford was in London recently and took the opportunity to catch up with old friends of the podcast Mike Kiely, Annie Gingell, Andrew Taylor and Iain Thomson, and new friend of the podcast Claire Tester. In a conver…
New Towns: Practicalities & Placemaking [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:18
New Towns are back in the news because the Government has announced the first formal step in creating the next generation of them with the launch of a public consultation on the draft New Towns Programme and its environm…
All Around the World - The Netherlands [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:40
This is the third of a series of episodes being led by the oldest friend of the podcast, Paul Smith. Paul put it to Sam Stafford that debates about the planning system in England tend, for the most part, to focus solely…
Appeal Ready [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:44
Sam Stafford was in Manchester last week and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Lisa Tye, Andrew Johnston and Louise Fountain to discuss some of the issues of the day. In a conversation recorded…
Hitting the High Notes - Catriona Riddell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:22:25
Strategic planning, as Sam Stafford said in the introduction to episode number 157, is back. That episode looked at what shape it is in right now. What have authorities been able to do whilst awaiting the consolidation o…
We❤️Planning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:31
Sam Stafford was in Birmingham recently and took the opportunity to record the first ‘catch up’-style episode with some of his friends working in the West Midlands. In a conversation recorded at PodHaus studios, Kathryn…
How Does Bad Policy Get Made? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:34
In October 2025 Sam Stafford came across a blog by Jack Airey, who is now a Director at Public First but was the Head of Planning at Policy Exchange and subsequently spent a few years inside Number 10 as a Special Adviso…
The Return of Strategic Planning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:29
Strategic planning is back. What do we know? We know that Policy PM1 of the revised draft NPPF anticipates the move towards national coverage of Spatial Development Strategies (SDSs), as promised by the end of the parlia…
🎅🏻The 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz🎄 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:33:17
This episode sees the return of the 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz. Sam Stafford got together with friends of podcast Mike Kiely, Catriona Riddell, Annie Gingell, Andrew Taylor, Nicola Gooch, Shelly Rouse,…
Discretion Advised [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:19
Sam Stafford was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with old friend of the podcast Charlotte Leach and new friends of the podcast Andrew Johnston and Lisa Tye. Over the course of an hour so they…