After a couple of busy months attending many of the regional planning excellence awards and National and Regional visits, I have had a bit of time to reflect on what I have seen and heard. I've also had time to watch a period drama and, of course, the Olympics.
So this month I may come across a little 'Lady Whistledown ' as I report some of the conversations I have had which are quite worrying.
I make no apology for what has probably become my mantra during the Awards and many of the round tables that have taken place as part of my visits. It's simple – Planning and Planners are not recognised for the value we add but maybe that is about to change given 'that' letter last month.
I have talked and heard about misinformation, negative, untrue and inaccurate headlines, salaries that are not competitive, and difficulties in recruiting and retaining planning professionals. All of course backed up by RTPI and Planner magazine research and Campaigns.
We as Planners know what we add, and we know why we entered the profession, but some of the conversations I have had go beyond that and are simply worrying. It's clear we need to build capacity in the profession, especially in the public sector, but to hear members talk about the stress they are experiencing and that they struggle in promoting planning as a career choice, for all and more of the reasons I state.
Until we reverse the trend, and challenge misinformation and those sensational but untrue headlines and toxic social media feeds, we will struggle to attract those young professionals into the profession.
This is a large task and not something that will change overnight. We can see in every other walk of life how misinformation and fake headlines are becoming disruptive and in some cases dangerous. That is not to say that the challenge is too large, but we do have to be clear eyed in our understanding of the situation.
It is important that planners are keeping themselves up to date on the best practices for community engagement and communications techniques to ensure that they are doing everything they can to get the positive messages out into the public domain. Our membership magazine regularly shares articles on story telling techniques which can help with this.
As part of my South West visit in July, I visited Guernsey and Jersey, Crown Dependencies with a different planning system to that in the UK, but aligned with many shared challenges and issues. I was interviewed by a local newspaper, all very positive about the role of planning and some of the local projects, all positive until you get to the comments. I scanned, quickly. I wasn't surprised by the negativity, the misinformation and generally ill-judged comments. I fear even Lady Whistledown would have been horrified!
But I like to think that the tide is changing and the letter to me from Minister Mathew Pennycook is hopefully the start of that change. It's positive, supportive and feels well informed. It doesn't offer a quick fix but Lady Whistledown would be impressed.
So let's move the conversation forward, let's take it outside the profession, let's talk about our successes and what we add as professionals and start targeting planning as an early career choice. This Autumn I will launch an initiative which will support those early career conversations but in the meantime don't forget our It Takes Planners campaign.
Please, also be assured that your Institute takes these issues incredibly seriously and continues to act as your collective voice for the profession and raise these issues with central government as part of our lobbying and advocacy activity on all of your behalf.
Enjoy the summer.
Training courses
The RTPI runs several communications training courses for planners in each year online and locally in person. Please browse our training calendar for the next upcoming dates available or sign up for the waiting list by sending a request to [email protected].
- Giving evidence at public inquiries
- Impactful planning communication
- Written communication skills
- Report writing for planners
- Planning and community engagement
