Phil Williams, President of the RTPI, speaking at its annual planning convention, has urged politicians to value the role of planners and planning, stating that years of reform have ‘undermined the ability of planners’ and failed to deliver better growth.
Mr Williams said:
‘The issues that many people expressed during the EU debate relating to migration and population growth, unaffordable housing, the pressure on health and educational services, the need for economic growth….require planned solutions. In addition, the referendum results highlight the great divisions between the different nations of the UK and the regions of England in terms of their needs and unfulfilled aspirations.’
‘It is time for us to say – as an Institute, and as a profession – in a stronger voice than we have before, that successive governments have been taking us in the wrong direction.’
‘That 30 or so years of planning reform, especially in England, have undermined the ability of planners to deliver [the economic and social benefits the country needs].’
‘That endless reform has not produced better places, better growth, better housing, better communities and more reform along the old familiar lines will not change this.’
‘That we need a fundamentally different approach that recognises, supports and invests in the benefits that planning can deliver.’
‘That it’s time to value planning – after all, there is no better solution.’
Read the press release
