Landmark report launched to shape a new era of strategic planning in England

Planning Positively for the Future

The Strategic Planning Group (SPG) today announces the publication of its highly anticipated report, “Planning Positively for the Future”, marking the culmination of an intensive programme of work beginning in November 2024.

This milestone follows six expert-led workshops and extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from local government, the Planning Advisory Service, ADEPT, District Councils’ Network and County Councils’ Network and other bodies such as the British Property Federation and the Royal Town Planning Institute.

The report has also seen the SPG work closely with government officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), from the Planning Inspectorate and the National Infrastructure Commission (now NISTA, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority).

The report arrives at a key moment as the government’s approach and policy on strategic planning continues to evolve. The SPG’s work has been in real-time, running in parallel with these developments, ensuring its recommendations are both timely and relevant.

The report sets out clear recommendations, structured around five core themes:

• Purpose and objectives;
• Focus, approach and scope;
• Setting vision and ambition;
• Evidence, testing, examination and monitoring;
• Leadership, skills and capacity.

These recommendations provide a comprehensive blueprint for embedding Spatial Development Strategies (SDSs) at the heart of a reformed, plan-led system. Headlines from these recommendations include:

• SDSs must remain highly strategic and digitally enabled, planning for much needed homes and infrastructure, and supporting nature restoration and health equality;
• The sum of a new network of SDSs must add up to a clear spatial investment framework for the whole of England;
• To be effective, SDSs must be delivered at pace – within a two-year time horizon;
• The evidence base and examination requirements must be streamlined for this to be achievable;
• Government investment will be required to upskill the industry and enable transdisciplinary teams;
• Digital technology will be critical to the success in the effective preparation, implementation and monitoring of plans.

 

Key conclusions and vision

SDSs must remain highly strategic and digitally enabled, planning for much needed homes and infrastructure. However, they should also go further to ensure a resilient natural environment, enabling net zero and fully embedding health and wellbeing principles.  At their core, these strategies should be ambitious, place-specific, and based on meaningful engagement. Streamlined evidence and examination processes will be crucial to delivering SDSs at pace, with strong leadership, diverse and transdisciplinary teams, and proper funding all vital for success.

Shaun Andrews, Director of UK Planning Strategy at Prior + Partners, highlighted the report’s potential impact:

“The report makes a compelling case for the return to strategic planning, positioning SDSs as the right tool to deliver sustainable, equitable growth. It echoes the Government’s call for the rapid establishment of a universal system of strategic plans, considering them the centrepiece of a reformed planning system, and essential to securing the critical infrastructure and targeted investment the UK requires.  The report also supports the case more generally for a return to a plan-led system, calling time on a decade or more that might be better described as ‘reacting’ as opposed to ‘planning’ and which has too often failed to deliver development in the right locations and without the critical infrastructure needed”.

Catriona Riddell, the SPG chair, noted the importance of using the new system of strategic planning to support the Government’s ambitions for long term, resilient growth. She said:

“The Government rightly sees the plan-led system as being vital for supporting long term growth, providing certainty for everyone, whether a developer, infrastructure provider, local business or resident.  Strategic planning will play a key role in making the plan-led system work effectively again. Universal coverage of spatial development strategies will also provide a much clearer national picture of how we want the country to grow, bridging the gap between national priorities, including infrastructure and new towns, and those at the local level. This will aid a welcome return to a planning system that works for everyone.”

The SPG stresses the urgent need to integrate strategic planning with the existing Local Plan system, ensuring current progress on Local Plans is not disrupted during a period of devolution, significant local government reorganisation and the establishment of new (Mayoral) Strategic Authorities. The report highlights the challenge of overcoming persistent negative perceptions of planning and the lack of understanding about the value of strategic planning as the ‘ringmaster’ of sustainable and equitable growth.

A seamless transition is essential to ensure that current progress on Local Plans remains uninterrupted while enabling a shift toward the adoption of SDSs. By acting decisively now, we can embed the new SDS layer effectively within a new plan-led system and lay a central plank for future success. As part of the report, the SPG has outlined practical next steps to support this transition to the new planning system and initiate work on the new SDSs as soon as possible.

For more information or to arrange a meeting, please contact the Strategic Planning Group at strategicplanninggroup@priorpartners.com

You can download the full report here: Planning Positively for the Future.

With the ambition of re-establishing strategic planning in England, the Strategic Planning Group was launched in November 2024.  Founded by placemaking consultancy Prior + Partners and Chaired by Catriona Riddell, the group is represented by a diverse mix of planning professionals, local authorities, academics and technical experts, and attended by government advisors.

The group’s formation aims to support the Government’s ambition to deliver the next generation of Spatial Development Strategies. These strategies will serve as a foundation for cohesive, cross-boundary planning to deliver homes, drive sustainable economic growth, restore nature and improve health outcomes across England.

As well as helping Government shape this new era of plan making, the move is aimed at supporting Combined Authorities and other relevant local authority groupings as they begin to prepare plans and address the complex and integrated issues around housing, infrastructure, climate, health, and economic growth in a coordinated and sustainable way.

In addition to Catriona Riddell as Chair, the Strategic Planning Group consists of the following esteemed individuals:

• Pooja Agrawal, CEO, Public Practice
• Mark Dickens, Assistant Director Planning & Building Control, Manchester City Council,
• Paul Frainer, Director, Olive Branch Consulting
• Peter French, Senior Policy Advisor, County Councils Network
• James Harris, Senior Policy Advisor, National Infrastructure Commission
• Hannah Hickman, Associate Professor of Planning Practice, University of the West of England School of Architecture and Environment,
• Bev Hindle, Former Oxford-Cambridge Arc Partnership Director
• Alexandra Notay, Chair and Commissioner, Radix Big Tent Housing Commission
• Vicky Payne, Director: Planning and Urban Design, Jas Bhalla Works,
• Simon Ricketts, Town Legal LLP, Partner
• Anna Rose, Local Government Association, Head of Planning Advisory Service
• Peter Studdert, Peter Studdert Consulting, Founder
• Judith Sykes, Senior Director Expedition / CEO Useful Simple Trust
• Graham Thomas, Head of Planning & Sustainable Development, Essex County Council
• Andrew Wood, Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission, Senior Engagement & Impact Officer
• Laura Wood, South West Herts Joint Strategic Plan Lead
• Richard Wood, Richard Wood Associates, Founder
• Alex Yendole, District Councils’ Network / Stafford Borough Council, Planning Policy Manager

The following members of Prior + Partners – the consultancy who founded the group – also form part of the SPG:

• Shaun Andrews, Planning Director;
• Polly Barker, Economics Director;
• Simon Mattinson, Planning Director;
• Jason Prior, Masterplanning Director;
• Chloe Rutland, Senior Urban Planner;
• Tom Venables, Planning Director.