"A leading US planner wants to put people, fairness and creativity at the heart of a reinvigorated planning profession" (he's never been to Barnet)

Link to The Guardian: Society

"Undeniably, planning in England has become weighed down with development control functions, by design or accident. Consequently, the ideals of place-shapping embedded in the groundbreaking 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, which created the modern planning system have been forgotten.

"While the profession is on the back foot, with few innovative thinkers, it has not been helped by a disproportionate level of cuts, with the Audit Commission reporting that council planning departments have been hit substantially harder than elsewhere in town halls.

"According to Guardian research, councils are slashing as much as 58% from their planning budgets between 2012 and 2014."