Planners are everywhere!

Traditionally, local authorities (city, district and county councils) in England, Scotland and Wales have been the employers of choice for planners in the UK and continue to be the destination for many newly-qualified professionals. Local authorities are responsible for enforcing statutory planning regulation; for example, you need planning permission from your local authority to construct a new building or to change an existing building or your local environment. Local authorities are also responsible for producing local plans and development frameworks that take into account community involvement and sustainability in the local spatial planning process and for implementing national policies on development. Local authority planners can be found in various council departments such as development control, regeneration, policy and forward planning. In Northern Ireland, the Planning Service of the Department for the Environment performs similar functions to local authorities in other UK nations. the Online Planning Directory (theplanningdirectory.co.uk) lists local authorities with their contact details.

The Planning Inspectorate which deals with refusal of planning permission and inquiries into local development plans in England and Wales is another important employer of planners. Planners can also be found working for the Scottish Government and the National Assembly for Wales which are responsible for the planning systems in Scotland and Wales. In London, planners are found not only in the borough council planning departments, but they also play a crucial role in the overall city-wide strategies for regeneration and development initiated by the Mayor’s Office.

Planners work for public bodies such as national park authorities, the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Natural England, all responsible for protecting the natural environment, the Highways Agency, responsible for operating, maintaining and improving the road network of England, and British Waterways, responsible for managing the canals and rivers of England, Scotland and Wales. Planners have a crucial role to play in organisations involved in urban regeneration such as the regional development agencies in England (e.g. Yorkshire Forward, South East England Development Agency, One NorthEast, etc) and English Partnerships and those involved in transport such as Transport for London. The Planning Advisory Service which helps local authorities to provide fairer, more efficient and better quality planning services is another employer.

The private sector is also an important source of jobs for qualified planners. Some planners work on their own as independent consultants while others work in small or large companies. Some private consultancies may specialise in specific areas of planning such as planning law, urban design, transport, tourism, environmental management, waste management, sustainable development, regeneration or the historic environment. Others, usually the larger consultancies, may specialise in more than one area in planning and often have professionals from other related disciplines such as architecture and surveying working together with planners on large projects. Other private sector organisations such as house builders, water, gas, electricity and telephone companies and major retailers also employ planners for assessing suitable building locations and to prepare and submit planning applications. The RTPI’s directory of consultants provides contact details for many of the companies operating in the UK.

Planners also have a role to play in the work of campaigning organisations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Campaign to Protect Rural England and charities such as the National Trust and environmental and community groups involved in engaging local people and ensuring that their aspirations are respected in the planning process. Planners employed by the public and private sectors can also volunteer their services to individuals, community groups and charities who cannot afford to hire planning consultants. This may be through Planning Aid, the charity providing free and independent advice and support on planning issues to people and communities in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Not least, academia provides an inspiring and productive home for planning graduates who wish to study and research their discipline in greater depth and to pass on this knowledge to future generations. Many of the UK’s universities have active programmes in planning, often sitting comfortably within departments or schools specialising in and offering a variety of subjects such as architecture, surveying, environmental and landscape studies, human geography, sustainable development, housing, property development and tourism in addition to planning. The RTPI accredits planning courses offered by a number of universities in the UK and abroad. Planning is a highly interdisciplinary activity and these universities offer you the opportunity to understand the interactions between society, economy and environment and to become a competent practitioner able to reflect on the relevance of your work not just to your local community but in a larger 21st century global context.

Author:

Dushy Large

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

10-Jan-07

Categories:

Planning as a Career 

Sections:

Education & Careers

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