Welcome to the East of England Young Planners page, where we will keep you up-to-date with the latest activities and events for Young Planners in the Region. If you want more information, please get in touch with the Young Planners Liaison Officer, Graham Bloomfield.

East of England Young Planners Update - MAY 2011

An update on all things Young Planner related.

The deadline for preparing this article is well-timed as it falls a couple of days after I attended the Young Planners Network Annual Steering Group meeting on Thursday 12 May 2011.

The meeting included representatives from all Regions as well as RTPI President for 2011 Richard Summers and the new Chief Executive Trudi Elliot. It was chaired by Sara Parkinson who is the Young Planners' Representative on the Board of Trustees. Although this was only my second meeting, to my mind there was quite a different emphasis on the discussions.

Previously there has been more of a focus on the work that individual Regions are undertaking in terms of CPD and social events as well as particular areas such as the always debated APC process. Whilst these were still important facets of the meeting, the current focus was much more on the strategic aims and objectives of Young Planners and the important role they have to play in the future of the profession.

This will see a rebranding of the Young Planners Network and a move away from the current, quite bulky delivery plan to an emphasis on 3 key areas. Fundamentally there is a desire to increase the profile and influence of Young Planners within the RTPI. To this end, YPs are strongly encouraged to be involved in current planning debates such as the Localism Bill.

Also in the meeting, there was confirmation that the 2011 Young Planners' Conference has been awarded to the West Midlands. This will take place on 21st and 22nd October, with the more formal presentation and discussion events based at Birmingham City Council. A number of very good speakers have already been lined up and there will also be visits and social events. The Young Planners Conference is highly recommended in terms of both social/networking opportunities and CPD and there will once again be discounted rates for those that book "early bird" tickets.

One final issue that arose was that whilst the individual regional representatives have lengthy mailing lists of people who wish to be updated on YP events, a number of these are not registered for the National Network. This as a very useful resource providing regular updates on YP issues and you can register at http://www.rtpi.org.uk/young_planners_network/. There are also a range of other networks on particular areas that may interest you.

Finally, consistent with my previous article, I understand there have once again been very high numbers of APC submissions for the most recent deadline of 15th April. We will once again be hosting an APC event in late August / early September ahead of the final APC deadline of the year on 23rd September 2011. Further information will follow closer to the event.

As ever, if you have any particular issues you would like to raise or ideas for events, please contact me at graham.bloomfield@bidwells.co.uk

Graham Bloomfield

Author:

Tina Jessup

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

16-May-11

Categories:

Nations & Regions 

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