Aisling Byrne is a Senior Public Affairs Officer at the Royal Town Planning Institute.

In typical Parliamentary fashion, the run-up to the end of this year is a flurry of report publications, consultations and announcements, as Government departments, Parliamentary Committees, MPs and Peers aim to get through Parliamentary business.

In the past few weeks alone, we’ve had the publication of three key reports from Committees across the House of Commons and the House of Lords:

• The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published their report on improving local areas through developer funding.
• The House of Lords Built Environment Committee (BEC) published New Towns: laying the foundations, the first report in their series of modules as part of their inquiry into new towns and expanded settlements.
• The House of Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee (HCLGC) published the report on their inquiry Delivering 1.5 million new homes: Land Value Capture.

Having submitted written evidence to each of these inquiries and giving oral evidence to two of them, our policy and public affairs team were keen to examine the findings and recommendations.

The common denominator – capacity

Each of the Committee reports highlighted what the RTPI has been ringing the alarm on throughout this year – to deliver on Government ambitions, the capacity crisis within the planning sector needs to be recognised and addressed.

Both the BEC and the HCLGC noted our concerns around the changes in funding for Level 7 apprenticeships, with the latter also flagging our joint letter written to the Minister for Housing and Planning, co-signed by 33 organisations from across the built and natural environment, which called for £6.8million in urgent funding to support Planning Schools.

Reports from both the Committees made recommendations around the reinstating of L7 apprenticeship funding. The HCLGC recommended that access be reinstated for funded L7 planning apprenticeships for students over the age of 21, and the BEC recommended that the Government reverse its decision on L7s as a whole – but at a minimum, do so for all professions related to the built and natural environment.

Citing stats from our 2023 State of the Profession survey, the PAC report also raised concerns around capacity and capability within local planning authorities. Despite receiving oral and written evidence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Committee concluded that they were “unconvinced that the Department is adequately addressing staffing capacity and capability issues within local planning authorities.” They have recommended that write to the Committee setting out, in detail, how the Capacity and Capability Programme will improve the pipeline of new planners and help local planning authorities to retain experienced planners.

Another step towards a national spatial framework

The BEC report into New Towns contained a host of recommendations for the Government to consider, from needing a “compelling national vision”, to flexibility and diversity in masterplanning and design.

What particularly caught our eye was the section on strategic planning. The Committee referenced our evidence, amongst others, raising the point that an English national spatial framework would assist in coordinating the Government’s wider ambitions and set a transparent strategic vision for the country.

Since the Planning and Infrastructure Bill was first presented in the House of Commons, we have been advocating for a national spatial framework clause to be included within the Bill. Our amendment was tabled and debated during the House of Lords Committee stage debate on the Bill, with the Minister assuring the House that the Government were progressing a number of initiatives to achieve coordination between policies, plans and decisions.

We are pleased to see that our ask around a national spatial framework has been picked up and driven forward by the BEC, and they noted that whilst it may be too late for such a strategy to impact the current programme of new towns, it remains a necessity for future phases of the programme and for development more widely. To that end, they have recommended that the Government introduce a national spatial strategy as quickly as possible.

And now we wait…

The Government is committed to responding to reports from Parliamentary select committees.

The Government responses to all three of the aforementioned Committee reports are due before the end of this year and we’ll be keenly awaiting to see how each of the Committee recommendations are addressed and what this could mean for MHCLG’s programme of work next year.

In other news: a late-night debate on statutory chief planning officers

A debate at nearly midnight in the House of Lords on statutory chief planning officers may not have been on your bingo card for this year - but this has been no ordinary year for planning.

Our Chief Planner amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, tabled by Lord Lansley and co-sponsored by Lord Best, Lord Shipley and Lord Banner, had its moment in the third day (night!) of Report Stage debates on the Bill. As Lord Lansley articulated within the debate: “It gives us confidence to feel that a statutory role of chief planner will be the best basis on which to enhance the planning profession and, frankly, to deliver on the planning reforms that the Government rightly say are so important."

MHCLG Minister, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, stated her appreciation for the sentiment behind the amendment and agreed that it’s important for planners to be represented in the leadership of local authorities. Whilst the amendment won’t be pushed further at this stage, the Minister gave the assurance that the issue will be kept under review as the Government progresses with further reforms to the planning system, with the potential for further engagement with local authorities on the topic.

Lord Lansley also noted an opportunity to revisit the amendment when the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which has just finished its Committee stage in the House of Commons, enters the House of Lords.

We’ll be continuing to advocate for statutory chief planning officers, whether that be through engaging with the Government in their ongoing review of the matter, or looking for opportunities within the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and any other upcoming legislation.