Candidates for General Assembly explain why you should give them your vote.

Janet Askew

The RTPI has played a pivotal role in driving forward the new agenda, putting planning nearer the centre of government and raising the profile of the profession. If the new vision is to succeed, it needs to take root amongst the full body of planners and other stakeholders who are coming to terms with the scale of change.

I have worked as a planner for thirty years in the public and private sectors in Scotland and England, and latterly as head of a school of planning and architecture. My enthusiasm for planning has never diminished. My experience allows me to contribute to:

• implementing the transition from development control to development management;
• the continuing education of mid-career planners to embrace the new planning system, addressing the capacity gap and skills shortages;
• the design of a curriculum that encourages positive thinking to create a new generation of planners who can lead and inspire;
• promoting inter-disciplinary working between professions and across sectors.

I welcome moves made by the RTPI to draw more heavily on the experience and knowledge of its members in policy formulation. I should like you to give me the opportunity to help carry this forward.

 

Joanne Dutton

I have been involved with the North West Branch since graduating from Manchester University in 2002, including taking over the role of task group leader for the North West Young Planners' Group. During the past 5 years that I have been the task group leader I have organised a large number of young planners' events and helped to organise the annual young planners conference in both Liverpool and Manchester.

I have always been enthusiastic about the RTPI and I have spent the last five years trying to raise awareness of the RTPI through the organisation of young planners' events, speaking to students at local universities and generally promoting the profession to friends and colleagues. I hope that during my time as the Young Planners Representative on ExBo I have managed to highlight some of the issues and concerns of my fellow young planners and given the opportunity I will continue this role on the General Assembly. I have always been, and hopefully will continue to be, interested in the role of young planners within the Institute and the profession, and how this can be enhanced and utilised to promote the profession and the Institute further.

 

Sandra Fryer

Following two years as a member of the General Assembly I am keen to continue and build on my experience to date. I have been one of the few members of the Assembly working in Local Government and feel I have a particular contribution to make around the public sector and governance in delivering good planning.
If elected to the General Assembly the strengths and knowledge I would bring are
• Significant experience in planning, regeneration and sustainability gained whilst working in local government and a brief spell in the Planning Inspectorate
• Knowledge of and advocacy for good quality local government services
• Passionate belief that planning must respond to the pressures of climate change and a real understanding of how we can achieve sustainable development
• A belief that good planning is only achieved through partnership working with all stakeholders from the public, private, community sectors and local people.
• A strong empathy and understanding of the needs of young people and ways in which they might be attracted to careers in the built environment
Commitment to top quality results at all times and to have fun!

 

Clive Harridge

I believe that the RTPI must be much more proactive in influencing Government over planning reform and in promoting planning and the work of planners. Much has been achieved but more needs to be done.
As RTPI President in 2006 my message was ‘Time to get real about sustainable development’ – I wanted a move from rhetoric to action. I called for a PPS on climate change. I ‘launched the ‘Planners in the Workplace’ initiative which provides free advice on employment issues to RTPI members. I campaigned for social justice and called for better integration of planning and health issues.
I have a strong belief in Planning Aid as being vitally important to help individuals, communities and organisations in need.
If elected I will fight hard for the Institute to:
- Achieve a much higher public profile for planning
- Be more proactive in influencing Government over major issues such as sustainable communities, eco-towns and the growth agenda, and resources for local authority planning departments
- Give value for money for membership subscriptions
- Give special attention to the needs of young members and students
- Promote planning as a worthwhile career, particularly in schools
- Adopt a stronger international role.

 

Mike Hayes

The RTPI is dealing with the consequences of its success in:
• repositioning town and country planning as spatial planning at the heart of governments’ programmes for delivering sustainable development and addressing the housing crisis.
• transforming the organisation by addressing member services, Planning Aid, planning education, membership numbers, networks and associations, regions and nations, international links and its internal structures.

There remains much to do:

• managing the expectations for delivery placed on new planning systems, addressing culture change and campaigning for the resources to fill the capacity and skills gaps.
• continuing the Institute’s change programme to become more efficient and effective by:
• matching organisation to outcome and ensuring resources are in place to deliver high quality member services .
• completing Fitness for Purpose to achieve better integration between the Executive, General Assembly, committees and networks and increasing member involvement.
• encouraging young planners in career development and Institute involvement
• developing international networks to ensure planning plays its role in addressing global challenges.

I have been privileged to be at the heart of the reform agenda and seek your support to use my energy, drive and commitment to continue to serve as a member of the General Assembly.

 

Colin Haylock

From the perspective of my longstanding and intense engagement with Institute affairs over more than 15 years the past two years and the immediate future have been and will prove to be extremely important. Important to the standing of planners and planning with Government, and the other agencies professions we work with, important to the standing of the Institute itself and, most importantly, in terms of the nature of change in our environments we are prompting through our work.

The Institute has made a great impact in this context:-

• It is increasingly influential with Government.
• It has strengthened its role and its constructive relationships in the area of complex multi disciplinary relationships central to much of our work.
• It has refocused its Committee structure to greatly increase its impact, effect and standing.
• It has actively engaged far more Members and fellow travellers through the Networks and Associate Membership.

The depth and breadth of my experience in public and private sector practice, with Government through CABE and its Planning Forum and within the RTPI has helped me make a strong contribution to the Institute and its work in all these areas.

Great progress, great impact and a great Institute !

I hope I can count on your support for my continued contribution to this work.

 

Kelvin Hinton

Planning's time of great influence continues and it must not be wasted. Huge opportunities exist to work with communities achieving positive and meaningful outcomes on the ground and informing on the role and influence of planning to everyday life. The Institute has a crucial role to play.

There are however many challenges facing Members regardless whether we have an academic, voluntary, private or public sector background. The Institute should be relevant and of benefit to all Members and be a recognised force to lead, inform and influence debate on planning issues both large and small, national and local.

As someone with varied experience, who has come in to contact with many colleagues across the profession, I am aware of the issues we face at a practical level and believe I am well placed to continue to make a beneficial contribution to the work of the Institute on your behalf and representing your aspirations.

If re-elected I will focus my attention on ensuring that:

• the role and influence of spatial planning is championed
• the image and focus of the Institute benefits all Members
• the practical problems/issues we face in day to day planning activity are not overlooked

Kevin Murray

The planning profession and RTPI have progressed in so many ways over the last decade. Yet against a background of skills shortages and sometimes under-resourcing across the sector, we are under pressure to help grow a new generation of practitioners. The diversification of planning across policy, regeneration, design, sustainable development and consultation, means this plurality should be reflected in the RTPI's main bodies.

We need open, creative engagement as the General Assembly is the planning profession's most important crucible for debating planning and institute policy. As someone who has been actively involved in the RTPI since 1983, and on Council from 1993, I fear we have lost the cutting edge of our keystone building block.

I advocate a stronger role for the General Assembly as the main plenary body for the whole profession. It needs to become more relevant, more representative and communicate to all members what is debated and resolved. The GA should become the collective memory and conscience of the RTPI, the 'keeper of the flame.' Who else can perform this role?

Drawing on links with the ASC and education sector, I believe I can bring progressive ideas to the GA and profession. Please support my candidacy with your vote.

 

Hazel McKay

New Mission! New Vision! New Charter!

Our General Assembly was given the freedom to lead the debate about planning policy, having offloaded the burden of running the Institute to a small Board of Trustees.

Is it providing inspired leadership?

NOT in the field of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT where other construction professions are steading a march.

I passionately want sustainability to underpin all Institute activities so that planners can be at the cutting edge.

Sustainability is challenging and complex. But we have to embrace that challenge because we know climate change poses serious long term threats to our environment, both built and natural, and to our own well being.

We need to ensure that all plan making and development control decisions represent best practice as regards sustainable development, which isn't the case at present.

To help our members get to grips with its many complexities, we need to raise the quality and intensity of debate about Planning for Sustainability, and achieve a better appreciation of Sustainable Construction.

We also need better mid career training opportunities in sustainable development, so that sustainability guides the leaders of our planning services.

With determination, our Institute could be leading the way.

 

Glyn Roberts

If elected I will press the Institute to:

• Focus on the new issues and challenges facing planners in coming years
o Effective operation of the statutory system to secure quality
o Initiatives in housing, economic development and regeneration,
o Climate change, environment and transportation;
o Regional/sub-regional working
o Planning gain changes.

• Enhance professional knowledge and standards
My proposal for a training partnership with employers has recently been implemented as the RTPI Learning Partner initiative. 20 major employers have already signed up.

• Promote the interests of young planners
Encourage them in shaping the future and in developing professional knowledge, skills, capabilities and careers.

• Support public sector planners, including those in development management and policy
…whose work is challenged by questionable legislation and a narrow-minded performance culture

• Improve focus on members in the private and voluntary sectors to support networking, standards, ethics and best practice

• Bring specialisms into the mainstream of the Institute
Integrate urban design, transport, environmental management and regeneration into RTPI structures to strengthen the Institute’s credibility and influence.

• Strengthen support for planners in the English regions, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and internationally

 

Leonora Rozee

I have been a member of the General Assembly for the last 4 years. I have found it to be a stimulating and responsible role at a time when the planning profession is facing many challenges. The General Assembly has a key role in ensuring that the Executive Board is well informed about the issues facing the profession as a whole and the general direction that the profession should be taking. I bring to the GA extensive experience as a former Inspector and in my role as Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Policy at The Planning Inspectorate. I am also passionate about planning and an active member of Summer School Council. My involvement with planning education as Visiting Professor at Newcastle gives me an insight into, and some influence over, the future of the planning profession.

 

Ann Skippers

The RTPI has to move with the times – and what exciting times they are! Never before has it been so important to have a forward thinking Institute representing our profession. But something is wrong; planning and planners are still not valued highly enough. There are still misconceptions about our work and our role. The RTPI needs to take the lead and become stronger and bolder.

The priorities should be to;

 create a stronger RTPI that is regarded as the leading organisation for spatial planning by strengthening membership and becoming more publicly influential

 provide valuable and useful services which support members in their day to day work

 encourage young and talented people to join our profession through proactive work with schools and planning schools

 take and fight for robust policy stances based on well founded and relevant research

 instil a sense of pride in planning ensuring the profession is valued as the way forward for sustainable development

 enhance the reputation of planning and planners by ensuring we are at the leading edge of policy development and are valued by all sectors through positive media coverage and dissemination of best practice.

 

Alistair Stark

All of our UK planning systems are reforming and modernising in their own distinct fashion, each with a characteristic blend of strengths and weaknesses. If the RTPI is to benefit from this diversity, it must have strong and authoritative voices from the nations and regions in its key structures.
The RTPI in Scotland has been particularly successful in influencing moderisation north of the border. I believe that my local authority and private sector experience, together with my training in mediation, helps me to play an active role in the excellent team that is achieving so much.
The General Assembly, with its responsibility for the RTPI’s corporate policy, plays a pivotal role in debating the development of planning policy and practice. In my two years on that body, I hope that I have demonstrated that it is possible for all parts of the UK and further afield to learn from each other and to reinforce the welcome signs that planning and planners are now regarded as essential players in the quest for sustainable development.

 

Andrew Taylor

Having been elected to the General Assembly for the first time four years ago I have been a part of the ‘new process’ that greeted the changes to the governance of the Institute. I have enjoyed contributing throughout the last four years and consider that the General Assembly is slowly becoming what it was intended to be: the central debating chamber for planning in the UK.

I wish to continue to be part of this evolving process and to help guide the Institute in this journey.

I have worked in a number of different authorities, currently as Development Control Team Leader in Kent and therefore am acutely aware of the pressures in local government.

If elected I will continue my fresh, open approach to decision making. I want the Institute to continue to address issues regarding member services, supporting planners within the workplace and offering ideas and policies which lead and drive, rather than react to debate.

Make sure that your decision counts and ensure that you use your democratic right to elect those who govern your institute.

 

David Twigg

The General Assembly needs to provide a forum for debate with diverse voices so that ideas about policy and practice can be challenged and refined. Engagement with the wider membership is an essential aspect of this task.

The debate about the role and image of planning is of critical importance. We need to avoid the narrow focus on the planning process and what planners stop people doing. We need to celebrate what planners can do to ensure that place shaping is sustainable and responsive to a changing global context. We need to celebrate the success of the profession in bringing together diverse interests to create places that people enjoy and in enabling communities to flourish while protecting the environment.

The General Assembly needs to help the profession to get more evidence into policy and practice. The challenge is to make evidence more useable for planners in their workplace, especially when it is in competition with everything else claiming their attention.

We need to tackle the issues of being and attractive career option for young people. Attracting a high calibre input of young people into the planning profession is a key priority.

Please give me your support.

 

Richard Williamson

Hi. Society generally is increasingly (re)discovering what Chartered Town Planners have long know - Planning has the potential for driving positive change, both in the UK and internationally. Two examples, from the 2007 Planning Convention. Dr Anna Tibaijuka called for planners in the developed world to help tackle poverty while Nick Raynsford noted that in performing a mediation role, planning is a crucial element in our democracy.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve the RTPI both regionally (RTPI SW - chair in 1988) and nationally (Planning Summer School). With that and other RTPI experience (eg. Education and Life Long Learning Committee) and extensive planning practice expertise (at national, regional and local levels) I seek your support to apply my energy through the General Assembly,

If elected I would work, in particular, to help develop:

• RTPI’s increasingly respected position statements on key planning issues (such as housing and regeneration);
• The dissemination and publication of good planning practice (there’s a lot Chartered Town Planners can be proud of, but still more to do);
• The important role played by RTPI regions / nations and networks;
• An increasingly international dimension to planning.

Thanks for reading.

The election for General Assembly members will take place during the month of November. All Fellows and Members are entitled to vote, and ballot papers will be delivered in late October.

Author:

James Taylor

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

26-Oct-07

Categories:

Governance 

Sections:

The RTPI

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