🏆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: 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…