Brian Taplin

Planning Enforcement

Braintree District Council

I have to admit I was somewhat sceptical when the idea of being filmed on the job was raised in that there would be no right of approval as to what would eventually be screened on TV. Having seen fly-on-the-wall documentaries where I thought some of the participants were made to look and sound like idiots, albeit perhaps not intentionally so, I did not want to become the butt of jokes and/or comments by my family and colleagues once I appeared on the small screen.

However, I did have on my side some previous experience on TV and radio from my days in the Police Service and have never been known to shirk a challenge. So agree I did!

Preliminary discussions with the film crew (two people with a hand held camera and sound boom) revealed they relished the idea of being out on the ground dealing with the enforcement side of planning due to its potential for the more emotive and sometimes confrontational side of planning which was more likely to make for good TV viewing.

Thus it was that I found myself being ‘miked-up’ with a concealed microphone and knocking on people’s doors with a TV camera poking over one shoulder and a microphone boom over the other. This did have a tendency to heighten the ante.

The oddest experience has to be investigating a business offering off-site airport parking near Stansted Airport. One of lucrative business associates would not talk to me in front of the camera and invited me to sit in his car whereupon he promptly drove off. The film crew didn’t know what to do and thought I was being abducted. Fortunately we didn't go far as he simply wanted to find a spot where he thought the camera crew couldn’t see him – needless to say he didn’t know I had a concealed microphone and the crew could hear everything he said anyway.

The TV crew came to numerous minor jobs but what eventually featured in the programme was an incident involving a member of the public turning a barn into a house. The production company was able to follow the dispute all the way to an Enforcement Appeal Inquiry with the cooperation of the owner. This had the ability to show the enforcement process from all sides – surprisingly the Planning Inspectorate was also extremely cooperative.

I have to say that I have been surprisingly pleased with the resultant programme, including my own 15 minutes of fame. It has shown the planning system 'warts and all' but has been fair in its representations in my view.

Author:

Sophie Stapleton

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

05-Dec-08

Sections:

News & Media

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