What does a Town Planner do?

TOWN PLANNERS IN ENGLAND

Guided by the National Planning Policy Framework, planners in England must seek to achieve sustainable development. They do this by considering economic, social, physical and environmental issues to determine the best course of action in each case.

England has a town and country planning system that is set up for the public interest. There are often conflicts between those promoting development and those who may be affected by it. Part of a planner’s role will often be helping to determine where the ‘planning balance’ should be in each case.

The stereotype of a town planner in England is one who works for a Council giving or refusing planning permission. However, the work of a town planner can differ greatly from this. Local authorities, developers, businesses or pressure groups, stakeholders and local communities all have a role to play in the planning process.

Town planning is a varied profession and can be extremely rewarding, whichever role you take up. Not all planners do the same job.

Perhaps when people refer to ‘planners’ they will be referring to the ‘generalist’ town planners, operating across a range of disciplines and specialities and with particular experience and knowledge in the English town and country planning system, how it works and where its loopholes lie.

However, there are also many ‘specialist’ planners who may have particular expertise and experience in a focused discipline, such as:

development management
planning policy
housing
transport planning
retail planning
heritage and conservation
minerals and waste planning
environmental planning and EIA
sustainability and energy
urban design
landscape design
development economics

The list is almost endless.

WHERE DO TOWN PLANNERS WORK?

Planners have plenty of choice when it comes to choosing where they work and who for.

PUBLIC SECTOR TOWN PLANNERS

Due to the regulatory role of town planning and the wider public benefit in promoting good development across a nation, there are many opportunities for a town planner to work in the public sector. You could get a job with local government departments, national government or a Quango for instance.

In the public sector, planners assess planning applications and provide advice to elected representatives who make decisions and sometimes make decisions themselves. Planners also prepare policies to manage development.

PRIVATE SECTOR TOWN PLANNERS

There are also plenty of opportunities in the private sector.

This could be as a consultant giving advice to those needing help with their projects, either working self-employed or for a company.

A common example of a work stream in a consultancy for planners would be the appraisal of potential development sites against policy and the giving an opinion on the chances of getting planning permission and then advice about how to go about it.

Following on from an appraisal, the planning consultant would often coordinate planning applications or local plan representations for their clients (such as house builders, developers) and they prepare the evidence base and assessments necessary to support an application and see it through to determination. If things don’t go as planned, further work can be secured through the appeal process and maybe even through a judicial review.

Private sector planners may also have roles directly within housebuilding, development, or engineering companies. Some work within architect practices, for energy companies or those that deal with minerals and waste matters.

Private sector planners can assist those objecting to development, not just those promoting it. Planners can also work for lobbying or public consultation consultancies.

Again, the list is almost endless and these are just some examples.

THIRD SECTOR TOWN PLANNERS

Planners can also get roles with ‘third sector’ organisations such as universities, think-tanks, charities and aid organisations, working in support of their agendas and resisting development proposals or potential changes to planning policy which aren’t aligned with their organisation’s principles.

WHO DO TOWN PLANNERS WORK WITH?

Now this is where things can get a bit blurry.

Town Planning involves a wide range of disciplines and expertise working together. Where the line between a planner, an urban designer and an architect lies, for instance, is not always easy to determine depending on the role and project. Sometimes there can be a little (friendly 🙂 ) conflict between the professions. The main professions town planners work with include:

Architects
Builders
Engineers
Surveyors
Environmentalists
Conservationists
Designers
Lobbyists

Again … guess what … yes, the list is almost endless.

WHAT IS A CHARTERED TOWN PLANNER?

Many of the disciplines listed above have their own professional institutes which set codes of practice for their members who can only join having undertaken the necessary exams, gained experience and passed the often stringent entry criteria.

Examples are:

Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB)
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA)

ROYAL TOWN PLANNING INSTITUTE

In England a Chartered Town Planner will be a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (or RTPI).

Becoming a Chartered Member of the RTPI (which was given its title by Her Majesty The Queen) means you are fully qualified, can officially call yourself a Chartered Town Planner and put the professional letters ‘MRTPI’ after your name.

You don’t have to be a Chartered Town Planner to work as a planner in England, but becoming Chartered will help as it:

is a hallmark of your professional expertise and integrity with a requirement to meet the entry criteria and practice within the terms of the RTPI Code of Practice
is an achievement that is recognised around the world
is a way for potential employers to assess employability
is a means of achieving and demonstrating continued professional development
helps with credability when giving evidence as an expert witness
provides direct access to the Bar

There are many other benefits of being a member of the RTPI. See their website for further information.

www.rtpi.org.uk

A REWARDING CAREER

Planners help to physically shape the world for the better, in the public interest (mainly), and it is an incredibly satisfying profession, particularly when a scheme you have worked on gets built.

The work of Planners helps to improve and support communities, giving people access to homes, transport, schools, shops, leisure, open spaces, and so on. Done well, the profession can deliver places within which people love to live, work and play. The work is endless as places evolve and regenerate and planners have an ongoing responsibility to evolve and think hard about how to work well and deliver sustainable development.

It is (for the most part – there are times when not!) an incredibly rewarding career.