Connor Sheffield is a Senior Planner at Stantec
As Matthew Pennycook, the Minister for Housing and Planning, concluded in their letter to the former RTPI President on the day of the revised NPPF launch last year: ”It’s an exciting time to be a planner as we shape our places to meet the needs of our communities, to support economic growth and address nature recovery and climate change.”
Despite the excitement, there is a collective understanding across the industry that for the profession to optimise its effectiveness, a number of critical issues need to be addressed, not least those related to the capacity of the industry; both in the public and private sector.
In January this year, the Government released findings from its survey on local authority planning capacity which builds on findings from the RTPI’s own research. Concurrent with its release, the RTPI’s news article captured the essence of the findings, including a range of critical issues such as:
- Recruitment and retention,
- Skills gaps,
- Team size, and
- Differences by type of region and local authority.
In this context, I was therefore honoured to represent the RTPI, and Stantec, in two different, yet important settings to promote the profession.
First, I had the pleasure of attending the Great Marlow School Annual Careers Fair with Roger Kirkham. This event saw over 900 students pass through over three hours from year 9 up to sixth form. Having been invited by the school, who recognise the importance of the profession, we were located next to several easily recognisable organisations, institutions, and global brands from the Police and Army to Heathrow Airport and Mars.
Connor Sheffield and Roger Kirkham attended the careers fair
Reflecting on this after the event, and my own personal experience when I was their age, for younger students who are still figuring out what subjects they enjoy, let alone their future career, its understandable why the Heathrow Airport and Army/RAF stands were the most popular. Nevertheless, we were able to engage with a sizeable number of students, the majority of which did not know what working in planning was or could be.
For me, this emphasises the necessity and importance of continuing to build on the great work of the RTPI to raise the profile and opportunities for the profession across the country.
Second, I returned to Oxford Brookes after graduating in 2022 for my second guest lecture to a group of third year university students as part of their Redevelopment and Regeneration Module. As opposed to the careers fair, these students are closer to finishing their studies, and in numerous cases, had been applying to various graduate schemes across the industry.
In my third year of undergraduate study, it was a guest lecture from a local planning consultancy that opened up the possibilities of a career in planning. As such, having the opportunity now to try and inspire the next generation was something I was delighted to be able to do. The guest lecture highlighted the type of work we do at Stantec but also enabled me to share the lessons I learnt whilst working in the public sector.
Tying this all up, I would encourage anyone within the profession, no matter your seniority, to get out to events like those I have discussed above and promote the value of planning.
While difficult to do so, here are five key benefits of this type of activity for both presenters and the audience in my opinion:
- Being able to showcase the variety of different career opportunities available.
- Offering career guidance and helping to point people in the right direction for their interests.
- Highlighting that there is not just one route into the profession, and introducing the concept of planning apprenticeships and work experience.
- Building relationships with employers and education providers.
- Developing softer skills such as networking and communication
