The UN Women UK’s charity launched a campaign to enhance our public spaces in 2020, after they identified, that over 70% of women have experienced sexual harassment in public (physical and online) spaces. Everyone working within the development industry has a duty to enhance the security of our urban environments. The space we give over to movement…

With Rishi Sunak now in place as Prime Minister and Michael Gove returned to DLUCH, there remains work to be done in terms of planning focus and priorities, if the Government is to ensure the development industry plays the role it can in economic recovery, our route to net zero and the growing challenge of social inequality UK wide. Here we bring t…

Everyone is agreed that the same old thinking won’t solve the growing challenges across energy, water, climate change, and transport – we’re facing problems on a serious scale and we need fresh solutions. In this episode, we hear from three recent entrants to the planning and placemaking profession, getting their perspectives on the 21st Century co…

Back in 2017, we hosted a survey and debate alongside the Birmingham Post, on the future ambitions for Birmingham to 2030. Five years on, and five years into Andy Street’s tenure as West Midlands Regional Mayor, how is the ‘capital’ of the region reflecting these ambitions and implementing change? How has the direction for the wider region changed …

It is fair to say the new Planning Bill is a combination of Gove and successive previous Planning Ministers’ (and there have been many) attempts at implementing the Levelling-Up agenda and perhaps rescuing the ‘Planning for the Future’ white paper. From scrapping EIA, housing need, and the duty to cooperate, to implementing changes to the developme…

The Levelling-Up Agenda challenges many of our development sectors to consider the contribution they can make to economic growth and the search for a step change in growth and opportunity for local communities. A recent BPF report has set out the contribution the industrial and logistics sector particularly has to play but also how restricted space…

Town Planning as a profession emerged from a need to enhance health and opportunity for our growing urban populations. Enhance sanitation and living conditions and enact positive change that tackles urban inequality and provides homes for everyone. But today, our Graduate planners are wondering if Town Planners are still able to tackle this challen…

COP26 has sought to bring together governments from across the world to discuss and debate the global response to climate change and the tangible commitments and actions that are required. But how do the topics and decisions being made at this hugely important conference impact the built environment sector and beyond this what are we seeing as the …

Over the last few months, a couple of appeal decisions have once again reignited the debate around greenbelt development and what better way to kick off the new series of our podcast, with a hot topic and well qualified expert views from a leading legal, political developer, and planner, all diving into what at the time felt like a significant deci…

Humans are pack animals and urban centres are a hub for interaction, so with a ‘post-COVID’ world looking uncertain, and tiered lockdowns further threatening the vibrancy of our urban centres, our response in terms of high street regeneration is becoming more and more critical. If the fundamental requirements of our urban centres are to host and su…

The Government has firmly positioned the development industry as the saviour of this potential economic crisis. But in so doing, do they, perhaps unwittingly further reinforce the negative connotations of the industry as fat cat money makers? We know that development is about so much more than simply stimulating or delivering economic opportunity, …

In this, our third and final pod focusing on the Planning White Paper’s proposals, we tackle the brain-challenging issue of viability. A replacement to both CIL and S106 is trailed and scant detail provided, but our panelists had strong views on the proposals and need for a rethink. Risk and profitability, transparency and certainty, mitigation and…

With consultation on Scottish Planning Reform (SPR) ending this week, we brought together voices from across the facets of Scottish property industry, not to analyse the reform proposals themselves, but consider the wider challenges they signal for the industry and specifically relations between the public and private sector. Is the ‘presumption’ r…

The Planning White Paper sets out ambitions for enhanced quality in the development industry, and the ambition that high-quality design can persuade people development is a good thing. The main tool proposed for achieving this is Design Coding, utilised on a more systematic level. But what have we learnt from Design Coding to date to inform this br…

Housing and unmet need has once again hit the headlines and lit political touch papers this month, following the government’s White Paper (Planning for the Future) proposals for centrally established housing targets. For our new term, we convened a statistician - Dan Usher, Barton Willmore, political and planning lobbyists - Catriona Riddell, Catri…

Following the publication of our recent report exploring the future of DCO's with Womble Bond Dickinson, Copper Consulting and Hannah Hickman of UWE, this podcast drives a lively debate. Joined by Andrew Taylor of Countryside Properties, Simon Ricketts of Town Legal, Ben Copithorne of Camargue, as well as authors Hannah and Ben Lewis our Infrastruc…

The inequalities in greenspace access for our urban dwellers has been felt most acutely by many of the UK’s most deprived urban neighbourhoods during lockdown, and a recent National Trust report supported by Greenkeeper has identified some 295 ‘grey deserts’ in particular need of a rethink. But how do we address this systemic under-provision for th…

It has been a hot week for Government announcements on planning, or at least trailing their latest potential proposals! But what sort of reboot does the politics of planning really need? Is it system or operator failure and what role does partisan and short-term politics play? For this latest edition, we were delighted to welcome back Tom Martin of…

With ‘non-essential’ shops set to open this week and the 2-metre distancing requirements under review, our town centres are poised for return, but will they be able to offer a resilient response to the changing retail habits COVID-19 has accelerated in recent months? Are they on the operating table or merely in need of some therapeutic care? Our gu…

COVID-19 has been a fast and effective stick for change, and the locus and radius of our lives has rapidly changed and this has had a huge impact on the regard we have for our homes. In this session, we were joined by designers, a social motivator and modal shift champion, to discuss how our homes specifically will change in response to this. Our g…

During Mental Health Awareness week, this episode brought together a researcher (Josh Artus, The Centric Lab), educator (Mark Southgate, MOBIE), lawyer (Helen Mitcheson, Trower Hamlins), urban designer (Barry Williams, Barton Willmore) and ecologist (Ben Kite, Ecological Planning & Research) to discuss what interventions they would prioritise to ta…

Three willing guests – Tom Martin, Quatro PR, Ghislaine Halpenny, BPF and Sam Stafford Barratt David Wilson - joined us for this, the second in our series of Barton Willmore Uncut. In Conversation. Held the day after the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick’s COVID-19 Planning Update announcements, there was no better time to put ourselves in his shoes and mull o…

In this first episode of 'Barton Willmore Uncut. In Conversation'. Partners Iain Painting and Robin Shepherd are 'finding a way with' Chris Cobbold of Wessex Economics, previously the head of DTZ’s residential team and an MHCLG expert advisor, to discuss our and wider recent proclamations about the depth and significance of this crisis on the housi…