Report calls for urgent action on planner shortages

Michael Donnelly, PlanningResource, 24 July 2008

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee says there is a significant risk that major government targets for house-building and regeneration will be missed because the local government planning system is unable to manage the volume or variety of tasks required between now and 2020.

It says wider economic well-being could be hindered simply because the system cannot cope.
The Committee heard that the drastic shortage of planning officers was likely to affect nearly half of all local authority posts by 2012.

Even among planners within the system there was a significant and growing skills gap.
And despite these problems being recognised for more than a decade, little has been done to rectify them.

Chair of the Committee Dr Phyllis Starkey said: "When we began this inquiry we intended to look at the skills shortage in modern planning departments but we quickly discovered the problem went further and that there was a shortage of planners themselves.

"What is perhaps most surprising, and frustrating, is the fact that these shortages have been in evidence for well over a decade but despite numerous reviews nothing has been done.
This must change if we are to get communities which live up to the new environmental and house building needs of the 21st century."

The Committee calls for:

 - The government to raise the general status of planning within local government.
 - The government to produce long-term assessments of the number of people employed in planning and other key sustainable communities professions so that it can anticipate skills shortages likely to arise.
 - More to be done to promote planning as a career, such as its promotion in schools or in advertising campaigns and a recruitment drive targeted at universities offering accredited qualifications in planning.
 - A more flexible attitude to the ages at which planners can be considered for promotion to more senior posts.
 - More conversion courses for mid-life professionals who may wish to switch careers to planning, on the model used in teaching and the legal profession.

A Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "We have taken significant action to boost planning skills including funding 513 bursaries for students to train as planners with over 300 more to follow.

"Since 2003 we have provided £605m Planning Delivery Grant to local authorities and increased planning fess so they can invest in training and staff.

"Our new £510m Housing and Planning Delivery Grant for the next three years will continue this incentive and ensure the planning system provides suitable land to help the housebuilding industry rapidly recover from the current economic challenges.

"We have also appointed Steven Quatermain as our new chief planner who will take a leading role in championing the profession. We will look at these recommendations carefully before responding in detail."

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