Sam Stafford was down in The Big Smoke recently and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Matthew Spry, Simon Ricketts, Hana Loftus, Vicky Payne and Mike Kiely.

In a good ol’ fashioned Adam Buxton-style ramblechat they talked about anything and everything. They talked about stat cons; they talked about skills, resources and leadership within LPAs; they talked about the need for efficiency gains in development management to deal with the expected uptick in planning applications; they talked application fees; they talked about power lines; they talked about a national scheme of delegation; they talked about NPSs, SDSs, local plans and NDMPs; and then they talked about a national scheme of delegation again.

There is something in here for everybody.

Some accompanying reading.

Reeves to put £2bn into affordable housing to ‘sweeten the pill’ of cuts

Bureaucratic burden lifted to speed up building in growth agenda

Planning Fees – All Power to Local Authorities?

People living near new pylons in Great Britain could get £250 a year off energy bills

On modernising planning committees

Assistance Required: 'The Snagging List'

Some accompanying listening.

Nas ft. Lauryn Hill - If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)

50 Shades T-Shirts!

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...

'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.

Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here.

Any other business.

Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.