Loading...

PODCAST

50 Shades of Planning

Samuel Stafford

50 Shades of Planning is Sam Stafford’s attempt to explore the foibles of the English planning system and its aim is to cover the breadth of the sector both in terms of topics of conversation and in terms of guests with different experiences and perspectives. 50 Shades episodes include "Hitting The High Notes", which are a series of conversations with leading planning and property figures. The conversations take in the six milestone planning permissions or projects within a contributor’s career and

government politics

All Episodes

01:06:20

Hail To The Chief

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/10/24

One of the most common topics of conversation that Sam Stafford heard at UKREiiF this year was the need for statutory chief planners. There are perhaps three factors behind that interest in building or strengthening leadership capacity within LPAs. First, the impending programme of devolution and local government reform will create larger teams covering larger geographies that will need to co-operate with newly emerging strategic authorities. Second; more authorities being in no overall control

en

01:20:10

Neutral Impact IV

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/10/17

When 50 Shades of Planning first covered nutrient neutrality in February 2021, Sam Stafford described the process of eutrophication as a bit like the podcast itself: a little niche, but very important.When Sam published a second episode on the subject in September 2022 it had grown in significance to the extent that Prime Minister Liz Truss had pledged to “scrap nutrient neutrality rules”. The question that was posed in that second episode, and again in a third episode in June 2024, was how

en

00:55:55

The New Local Plan-Making System

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/10/10

The previous Government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduced the legislative framework for a new system of local plan-making and in March 2026 the current Government introduced the regulations concerning this new regime. The headline changes are that local authorities will be required to complete plans within a condensed 30-month period; conduct three public consultations rather than the two currently required; and pass through three mandatory gateway checks on the way. 39

en

01:05:26

A Framework-Led Conversation

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/09/26

Whilst in London recently Sam Stafford took the opportunity to catch up with old friends of the podcast Simon Ricketts, Andrew Taylor and Mike Kiely.Simon is a Partner at Town Legal, Andrew is Group Planning and Sustainability Director at Vistry and Mike is a former Chief Planner, now independent planning consultant working mainly in the public sector as well as chairing the board of the Planning Officer's Society. In a conversation recorded at Brazen Studios in Southwark they kicked around

en

01:10:00

Meet a MP and an AM - Reform UK

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/09/19

As regular listeners know there is often talk on the 50 Shades of Planning podcast about the role of local councillors in the planning system, in the context of, for example, overturning officer recommendations or a decision to withdraw a local plan.There is talk less often about the role of MPs, which is something that friend of the podcast Andrew Taylor wanted to remedy and this is the third of what he and Sam Stafford hope will be five episodes exploring what it is to be a member of a

en

00:59:06

We Can't Stop Planning

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/09/05

Sam Stafford was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with old friends of the podcast Lisa Tye, Shaun Knights and Jaimie Ferguson.Lisa is a Partner at Town Legal, Shaun is a Senior Planning Officer at Preston City Council and Jaimie is a Company Director at Lucid In a conversation recorded at Reform Radio they discussed, principally, the new NPPF, but also touched upon the current live consultations on standard planning agreements for medium-sized sites and planning

en

01:03:20

Viable Options

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/08/22

The basis of this episode was a series of posts Sam Stafford spotted that Nick Cuff at Urban Sketch had shared on his Prop Views blog about the Parkhurst Road judgement and the implications thereof.Sam asked Nick if he would like to explore the themes that he writes about with another new friend of the podcast Jamie Ratcliff, and old friends of the podcast Gilian Macinnes and Anthony Lee. Jamie co-founded PlaceBase and is chair of the Housing Forum; Gilian advises LPAs on improving planning

en

01:11:42

Why do places look the way they do?

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/08/08

Sam Stafford was at a symposium organised by Create Streets at Hatfield House in June last year called ‘Building for generations’. All of the presentations on the day and the conversations there upon led Sam back to the fundamental question as to why places look the way they do, which, it seemed to him on the train back that evening, would make for a good episode of a town planning-based podcast so he convened some experts in the field of design and placemaking to try to answer that

en

00:56:42

Vibes and Stuff

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/08/01

Sam Stafford was in Birmingham recently and took the opportunity whilst there to catch up with old friend of the podcast Myles Wild Smith and new friends of the podcast Mike Knott, Bart Shirm and Beth Pywell.Myles is a Director at Lichfields, Mike is a Regional Practice Lead at Stantec, Bart is a Senior Planning Policy Officer at Sandwell and Beth is an Associate Director at Nexus. During a good ol’-fashioned, Shades-style ramblechat, recorded at Podhaus studios in Digbeth’s Custard Factory,

en

01:06:10

Hitting the High Notes - Richard Schofield

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/07/25

This is another episode in the Hitting the High Notes series, which, if you have not listened to one before, is town planning's equivalent, nee rip off, of Desert Island Discs. During these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the planning permissions or projects that have helped to shape them as professionals and, so that listeners can get to know people a little better personally, for every permission, project or stage of their career,

en

01:16:46

Emerging Planners

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/07/18

A couple of months ago Sam Stafford saw that Shaun Knights at Preston City Council and national vice chair of the Young Planning Officers Society (POS) had posted on LinkedIn encouraging nominations for POS’ ‘Emerging Planner Award’ (EPA).“I’ve already seen some genuinely impressive submissions that show the amazing day‑to‑day work young planners are doing and the fresh ideas they’re bringing into LPAs”, Shaun wrote. Sam was interested in the amazing day‑to‑day work that young planners are

en

01:03:43

Meet the MPs - Lib Dems

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/07/11

The role of local councillors in the planning system has been a familiar topic of conversation on the podcast in the context of, for example, overturning officer recommendations and the case for a national scheme of delegation. There is less talk about the role of MPs in the planning system, which is something that friend of the podcast Andrew Taylor wanted to remedy. This then is the second of what he and Sam Stafford hope will be five episodes exploring the role of a member of a parliament by

en

01:03:25

Red Hot Planning Chat

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/07/04

Sam Stafford was in London recently and whilst there caught up with friends of the podcast Hana Loftus, Mike Kiely, Nicola Gooch, Simon Ricketts and Andrew Taylor. Hana is a Director at HAT Projects; Mike is a former Chief Planner and now an independent planning consultant working mainly in the public sector; Nicola is a Partner at Birketts; Simon is a Partner at Town Legal and Andrew is Group Planning & Sustainability Director at Vistry. In a conversation recorded at Soho Radio Studios

en

01:09:19

All Around the World - New Zealand

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/06/27

This is the fourth of a series of episodes being led by the oldest friend of the podcast, Paul Smith. Paul put it to Sam Stafford that debates about the planning system in England tend, for the most part, to focus solely on the planning system in England. We very seldom look to other countries for inspiration and ideas. Paul wanted to remedy that and so in this series he is chatting with planning professionals and academics from a number of countries to find out what works well there, what

en

01:03:46

Hitting the High Notes - Peter Soulsby

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/06/20

Sam Stafford was invited to a ProCon Leicestershire event in Leicester in October 2025 and also on the panel that evening was his old friend Grant Butterworth. Grant, Head of Planning at Leicester City Council, kindly invited Sam down early for a tour of the city, and whilst so doing suggested that Peter Soulsby would make a good podcast guest.Peter has been a politician for over 50 years. He was first elected to Leicester City Council in 1973, but lost his seat in 2003. In between he served

en

01:22:54

The Shard Inquiry

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/06/13

This episode features the recording of an event hosted by Lorenzo Pandolfi and Simone Pagani in February 2026. Lorenzo and Simone invited Chris Katkowski and Russell Harris to tell the story of the Shard inquiry. Chris and Russell, two of the most prominent KCs in the country, share their recollections of one of the most consequential planning inquires of modern times. They talk about the characters involved, what it is like to be a part of an event of that scale, and lessons that they

en

00:56:00

The Tip of the AIceberg

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/06/06

"The second (epochal change) is the technology revolution led by developments in artificial intelligence, which will change everything. I mean everything. There is no point in debating whether this technological revolution is a good or bad thing. Just know it is a ‘thing’. In fact, it is ‘the thing’. It will displace jobs, though creating new ones, but no one yet knows the full consequence. Companies and countries will rise or fall on the back of it. It will revolutionise the private sector and

en

01:05:12

Meet the MPs - Labour

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/05/30

The role of local councillors in the planning system has been a familiar topic of conversation on the podcast in the context of, for example, overturning officer recommendations and the case for a national scheme of delegation. There is less talk about the role of MPs in the planning system, which is something that friend of the podcast Andrew Taylor wanted to remedy. This then is the first of what he and Sam Stafford hope will be five episodes exploring the role of a member of a parliament by

en

00:57:16

Reform, reform and more Reform

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/05/23

Sam Stafford was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Charlotte Leach, Katie Wray, Claire Petricca-Riding and Paul Smith.Their conversation, recorded at Reform Radio, was a good old fashioned 50 Shades-style ramblechat. They started with the local elections and then from Reform got on to planning reform and back again and before they knew it an hour had passed by. Some accompanying reading. Housing and Planning Minister speech to UKREiiF

en

00:59:36

LGR

50 Shades of Planning ·

2026/05/16

The 2026 local elections will likely turn out to be significant for a number of reasons. Westminster psychodrama aside though, one area of immediate interest, for example, is what the increased number of councils under no overall control will mean for local plan-making. That is a topic to which Sam Stafford hopes the podcast will return in due course. Of similar immediate interest is the possible impact upon local government reorganisation (LGR), the whys and wherefores or the pros and cons of

en

186 results

Similar Podcasts

El Orden Mundial

OndaCero

Lignes de défense

RFI

PreAccident Investigation Podcast

Todd Conklin

50 Shades of Planning

Samuel Stafford

Big Cabbage Radio

Mike Chmielewski