On the 29 August, the 75th Planning Summer School convened at St Andrews University. The School’s first segment of four days was for Elected Members who came from all over the UK; from Bournemouth to Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.
The School provides elected members with a unique offer; to discuss current issues with leading practitioners in an informal way under “Chatham House Rules” and the success of this format may be judged by how many elected members return each year to be inspired and exchange experiences.
This year they enjoyed a full programme with the newly appointed Chief Planner, Communities & Local Government, Steve Quartermain presenting the opening address, followed by a wine reception hosted by the Town & Country Planning Association.
Other parts of the programme included animated workshops on enforcement led by Linda Russell, Solicitor, and an equally intense discussion about gypsies and travellers. The half day study tours included a walking tour of St Andrews, a visit to Perth City Centre and a look at regeneration projects in Dundee.
To close Elected Members’ School and celebrate the School’s anniversary. a Civic Reception and Anniversary Dinner was held on 1 September, sponsored by Fife Council. The Provost of Fife, Cllr Mrs Frances Melville co-hosted the event with the School’s President, Alistair Hackston.
In an upbeat and lively opening address to Planners’ School 1, Professor Patsy Healey saw planners being well placed to raise the profile of public servants. Patsy referred to the complexities of modern day planning and how ‘citizens’ are very interested in ‘place’ - perhaps an interesting contrast with the situation some 75 years ago, when the founder of the Summer School, Thomas Adams, suggested that ‘citizens’ did not sufficiently appreciate the effect of good environment and pleasant homes upon the public demeanour.
This address set the scene for the next three days, with contributions on ‘Delivering development’, ‘Caring for the environment’ and ‘A skills update’. Delegates were urged to secure the delivery of sustainable development by forging a greater understanding and synergy between the public and private sector. They were given a graphic and ‘Stern’ warning about the consequences of letting climate change get out of hand and how challenging, but absolutely essential, the task was for planners to secure sustainable development. Delegates were also kept up to date on planning law, with ‘sound’ advice on Core Strategy Examinations and through a master-class on design and design concept statements.
The RTPI President, Janet O’Neill, closed Planners’ School 1 with confirmation of the wider scope and complexity of planning and that a constantly changing context for planners was here to stay. As a result she made a plea for more qualified planners and for the profession to step up its continuous development through relevant training. The relevance and importance of Planning Summer School to contribute to this training is as important now as it was 75 years ago at its inception.
Planners’ School 2 dawned on a bright and clear day. Delegates travelled through flooding and transport delays to hear a lively and enthusiastic opening address from Jackie Sadek, who gave advice about how the public sector can maximise the opportunity for high quality development in the light of the “credit crunch”. This talk sparked many conversations at the ensuing wine reception, which of course provided a perfect opportunity for delegates to meet each other at the beginning of the school.
‘Eco day’ provided a packed agenda of lectures and workshops. The day provided opportunities to learn more about our canals, the practical aspects of renewables and waste management. Howard Liddell from Gaia Architects presented an upbeat workshop on using eco principles in house building. He put forward the idea of ‘eco minimalism’ as opposed to ‘eco bling’, encouraging delegates to think of eco principles in buildings as ‘the norm’ not examples of good practice. He promoted the idea that examples of good practice such as BedZed should no longer be exceptions but what planners should expect from all new housing developments.
Sunday evening gave way to international affairs; the two planners awarded travelling scholarships and the young planner of the year came together to give three excellent presentations. These focused on Las Vegas, Moscow and New York City. Each presentation provided an interesting insight into the planning issues experienced in these cities and delegates thoroughly enjoyed this mini trip around the world!
Monday morning focused on strategic planning with a discussion on the role of the regional plan and area action plans as well as an example of a sound core strategy from Redcar and Cleveland Council.
Delegates had four choices of study tours. The tours were incredibly successful and received rave reviews from delegates. They provided the opportunities to explore the beautiful city of St Andrews as part of a walking tour or to understand the pressure upon the city for golf related development. Others chose to travel wider afield to Dundee or Stirling. It was a beautiful sunny day and all delegates swapped their Scottish stories on return to the University.
Delegates attended special 75th Anniversary gala dinners, with many surprises, an amazing magician who made bottles disappear through tables and a caricaturist who made people look like horses! Much fun was had by all and the Scottish dancing got competitive!!
This year was also the first year that the school provided opportunities for ‘collaborative learning’. Development management and development planning workshops were held, allowing officers to share experiences of good practice within their own planning environments. These workshops created much discussion and delegates continued to discuss the issues raised late into the evening in the bar! I’m sure many good ideas and questions were bought back by delegates to their working environments.
All in all, delegates, speakers and organisers thoroughly enjoyed the 75th anniversary of planning summer school. St Andrews provided a wonderfully stimulating environment with historic buildings and the Scottish coastline in constant view. The line up of speakers and groups of delegates lead to a progressive school which focused on a variety of current planning topics. We all appreciated the step out of the day job to refresh our planning knowledge and now feel prepared to face the world of planning until next September!
