Lindsey Richards FRTPI is RTPI President 2024
My time in office is flying by and I am currently embarking on my tour of the nations and regions meeting planners around the country who make a real difference to their communities and support their institute.
Part of my itinerary involves attending the regional RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence events and celebrating the outstanding work that our members do across the UK nations. I have said this before and will say this again, but it is beholden on all of us to champion these examples of planning being the best it can possibly be. And I don’t mean simply amongst ourselves, I mean with your friends, families and communities, so that people can really see the positive impact planning can have.
Speaking of the future, I’m particularly excited while touring the country to meet young planners who have their careers ahead of them when we old hands know that society, technology and the climate are likely to change significantly.
Their commitment to planning and their careers is infectious.
Lindsey with RTPI Ireland Student awards winners Margo Grogan and Fern McCarthy
Lindsey at the Yorkshire Awards for Planning Excellence
However, recognising the changing landscape within which planners will operate over the next five, ten or fifty years is really important. That is why I took the opportunity of chairing my second General Assembly to consult with them on our Education for Everyone project. For those of you who don’t know, this is a piece of work looking at the educational pathways into planning. A thorough review, it seeks to broaden access to pathways into Chartership and attract diverse talent into the profession. It will review the model of entry and learning outcome requirements for accredited planning schools to ensure it fits our new more inclusive reactive model.
As part of this corporate strategy project we are undertaking a comprehensive consultation process throughout this year with a wide range of stakeholders, including planning schools, standing committees and employers both public and private to ensure that everyone’s views are heard.
No decisions on what the outcomes of this review have been taken and we are seeking the widest possible opinions to inform this work. And of course, that means speaking with the General Assembly (GA). It is essential that the deliberative body of the Institute has the opportunity to consider projects such as this. The hope is that GA will be motivated to act as ambassadors for the process and help us promote the various stages of the consultation.
The project was introduced by the Chair of the oversight group, Sue Bridge and facilitated by Research by Design, who are leading the consultation process. The main subjects of debate were accreditation of planning schools, competencies and skills, policy principles, planning experience for APC and accreditation of courses. Members of the GA were asked to share their opinions on as many of those as they saw fit.
The review is being overseen by a group of trustees to ensure that the views of all involved are accounted for at the highest level of decision making within the institute. All the relevant information and updates can be found on our website by searching Education for Everyone on the homepage.
