About this episode
When in Manchester recently Sam Stafford took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast David Diggle, Paul Smith, Rebecca Coley and Claire Petricca-Riding and over the course of an hour or so they talked about a few of the hot topics that are exercising the planning profession at the minute.
Those hot topics include the widely anticipated spike in planning applications this year; locally-set fees, pre-apps and PPAs; the Flood Risk Sequential Test, NDMPs, and, very briefly towards the end of their conversation, the Planning & Infrastructure Bill and the Corry Review.
Some accompanying reading.
Data shows an over 160% rise in planning applications
https://www.lpdf.co.uk/news/data-shows-an-over-160-rise-in-planning-applications
How puddles could stop the government building the homes we need
https://longwall.substack.com/i/160566665/what-planning-policy-says-about-flood-risk
Labour of Love II - Flood Risk Sequential Test
https://youtu.be/g8ObnIeN-fc?si=_5WDBTPFeAxv3-22
How National Development Management Policies Can Boost Economic Growth
https://www.publicfirst.co.uk/how-national-development-management-policies-can-boost-economic-growth.html
SME sites for SME builders
https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/11/sme-sites-for-sme-builders.html
The Corry Review
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-reforms-to-environmental-regulation-to-boost-growth-and-protect-nature
Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/27/abundance-by-ezra-klein-and-derek-thompson-review-make-america-build-again
Some accompanying listening.
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
