This year’s annual national young planners’ conference was held on 2 and 3 October in Newcastle Gateshead near the banks of the River Tyne. It was encouraging to see a good turnout from the East of England and I hope everyone who attended enjoyed the event.

The event began on the evening of 1 October at the Pitcher and Piano on Quayside, with a drinks reception event sponsored by Savills. The conference itself began on the Friday morning and north-east young planner representative Nick Pleasant welcomed in the region of 150 delegates. The venue was a converted tram shed with some of the original engineering equipment still intact, proving a good use of an old industrial building. 

The theme of the conference was ‘Participation in Planning’ and how positive stakeholder engagement helps to create better places. The morning session saw four speakers each giving presentations on how important it is to engage the community. These included current RTPI President Martin Willey, Professor Patsy Healey and Kevin Murray. Martin Willey emphasised the importance of using the right language while Professor Healey noted planners have a social and moral responsibility to engage. Professor Healey also stated that planners were a community of experts who understood space/place relations, while demonstrating technical skills in place development and management. Kevin Murray noted engagement means more than just consultation.

Friday afternoon saw delegates given a choice of two of six breakout sessions on a variety of community engagement themes. I attended one entitled ‘Grass roots planning: make friends and influence places’, which was a very good example of how a community has got together to influence the vitality of their market town, Petersfield.

Friday evening was spent at the LIFE centre near Newcastle central station. By day the venue is a life science centre, yet by the evening the place was transformed into a function room with a three-course dinner enjoyed by delegates together with music by a live band.

The following day delegates listened once more to four presentations by a variety of speakers on topics ranging from community engagement at a Pathfinder level through to a regional, national and international level. Hugh Ellis of the Town and Country Planning Association noted concern over how communities could be involved in major infrastructure proposals now the Infrastructure Planning Commission was in place.

The conference concluded in the afternoon with a choice of five walking tours in Newcastle, Gateshead or Sunderland. I chose the Eldon Square walking tour, which focused on reconnecting the retail core. Anthony Greally of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners explained how the retail core had shifted over the years. By permitting an extension to the Eldon Square shopping centre the city was gradually becoming reconnected, together with improved footfall on streets previously neglected.

Photo of the Sage centre from across the River Tyne by Rob Hobbs

Author:

Catherine Middleton

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

02-Dec-09

Categories:

 

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