President of the Royal Town Planning Institute visits Shropshire Council planners

Richard Summers, president of the Royal Town Planning Institute, took time out of his busy schedule this week (Tuesday 12 September 2011) to meet with Shropshire Council’s planners.

The visit was in response to the Coalition Government’s proposals to overhaul the planning system, simplify it and make it more relevant to local communities which are included in the Localism Bill and the much talked-about draft National Planning Policy Framework.  

Keith Barrow, Leader of Shropshire Council, pictured here with Richard, Mark Walton the current Chairman of the West Midlands Branch of the RTPI, and Jake Berriman, said:

“There has been much talk for some time about the future direction of planning, but here in Shropshire we feel we are leading the way and have been getting on with what we are calling a LOCALised approach to planning.  Through our plan-making we have worked very hard with communities to ensure that they have a proper say in the policies we develop and the shaping of their areas.   It is hardly surprising that the Government is a little fed up with planning authorites as they have been asking them to get on with producing a Core Strategy since 2004, and to date less than third of councils have done so.  

“We have made this a priority and this has put us in a much better position to properly guide development in Shropshire.  It is our understanding that because we have an Adopted Core Strategy, the much talked-about presumption in favour of sustainable growth will not trump our Core Strategy policies.  What is more, our polices really do now put communites in the driving seat; for instance, saying whether they want  growth in their village, how much and what form it should take.  I am not saying that there won’t be challenges ahead, but we are in a good position to weather them here in Shropshire.”

 Jake Berriman, head of strategic delivery at Shropshire Council, added:

“What singles us out here in Shropshire, and why the RTPI and others are interested in what we are doing, is how we have built up a clear picture of what our communities want to see through an extended dialogue, helped by our Community Toolkits.  We have taken what they have told us and committed as part of our new operating model to help them to deliver on their own priorities and aspirations.  We have captured this information in Shropshire’s 18 Place Plans, and are using the new Community Infrastructure Levy to create local funding pots to make things happen.  We are also working with five Shropshire communities to develop neighbourhood plans which could see town and parish councils developing their very own planning guidance which will have to be taken into account when decision-makers consider future planning applications.”

Richard Summers, RTPI President, said:

“I was delighted to visit professional planners and councillors at Shropshire Council as part of my visit to the RTPI West Midlands.  The council is at the forefront of making the Government’s proposals for localism and neighbourhood planning work effectively in practice.  I was pleased to meet Councillor Keith Barrow, the Leader of the Council, and discuss a wide variety of planning issues with his colleagues and planning advisers.”