Chartered Fellow is the highest professional membership grade offered by the RTPI. You must have made a major personal contribution to the planning profession for the benefit of the public and be a current Chartered Town Planner to apply.

Chartered Fellows use the designation FRTPI.

Why join 

• Most exclusive qualification RTPI offers – join the 1% of members who are in this class.
• Achieve ultimate recognition – join past presidents, leading academics and directors across both public and private sectors.
• Use the post-nominals FRTPI and logo to showcase your knowledge and expertise.
• Access RTPI member benefits and services.

Apply

Applications for Fellowship are considered by the RTPI Nominations Sub Committee. Applicants must submit the following documents:

1. A completed Fellowship Application Form
2. A chronological employment history;
3. A 1000-2000 word statement detailing how they have met the criteria;
4. Nominations from four Chartered Members of the Institute. Nominations must be provided on the Fellowship Nomination Form, in accordance with instructions on the form. The data protection statement on the front page of the form must be completed.

Fellow applicants should demonstrate they can evidence the following four criteria in their personal statement:

1. Leadership
2. Innovation
3. Contribution to others in the profession and community
4. Whether the member’s contribution is above and beyond that expected as an ordinary competent professional planner.

Applications must be submitted by email to membership.applications@rtpi.org.uk on or before the submission date.

Fees

An administration fee is required to process your application. Current administration fees are shown here as well as how to pay.

The annual membership subscription fees to maintain your membership are listed here. A confirmation of fees notice will be issued to you once you have joined and will be pro-rated based on the month you join or upgrade your membership.

If you are rejoining the RTPI please see our rejoin page.

Fellow and Honorary submission dates

Applications for Fellowship and nominations for Honorary membership are accepted four times per year and considered by the Nominations Sub-committee, a sub-panel of the Board of Trustees.

• Applications for Fellowship must be emailed to membership.applications@rtpi.org.uk by midnight on the closing date.
• Nominations for Honorary membership must be emailed to governance@rtpi.org.uk by midnight on the closing date.                                      

Fellow applications will not be considered, if the applicant is currently standing in RTPI elections, until the elections have closed and the results published. If necessary, the application will be considered at the next Nominations Sub-committee meeting. This is to add a buffer between the elections and application, to avoid the impression of any conflict of interest.

Criteria for Fellow membership

There are four criteria that members applying for Fellow membership must successfully meet in their application. They are:

• Leadership
• Innovation
• Contribution to others in the profession and community
• Whether the member’s contribution is above and beyond that expected as an ordinary competent professional planner.

This additional guidance is designed to help members understand what is required by each criterion and provide exemplar ways of meeting them. The list of examples in the table below is not exhaustive and other suitable examples not listed will be accepted. It is also the case that one example could be used to meet more than one criterion.

The Nominations Subcommittee, who decide if a Fellow application is successful or not, use the same measures and criteria to make their judgement. This helps to ensure the assessment process is transparent, fair and consistent.

For more information about applying for Fellow membership please see our website or email the Membership Team at membership@rtpi.org.uk for further information.

Note: It is recognised that a Fellow applicant can cover more than one of the criteria with a single work example.