Well done to public sector planners
It may just be me, but I always feel a little underwhelmed reading posts on how wonderful the?postee?or their company has been. This planning consent has been won or that award secured. It comes over a bit like a?zero sum?game, rather than striving to secure the best outcome for any particular circumstance. I try and avoid, even if subconsciously, falling into that trap.?Sure?I could post some successes and I could also mention some failures, but to find them out you will have to take me for a coffee! (And to be honest you can learn more from your failures than successes in many cases anyway). However, we don’t want to write about those failures for understandable reasons.
I find it much more interesting if posts try and advance our knowledge or express an opinion on an issue of the day. Hearing both sides or indeed all sides of an argument has to be beneficial; in my case for advancing the art and science of town planning, but really knowledge in general.
All that said I want to now praise three public sector planners with whom I have been involved in long running planning issues; two of which were enforcement related and all have been finally resolved in the last month. Due to the very nature of their work such planners are generally not high profile and indeed not expected or encouraged to be.?So, they don’t get the praise generally and on?Linkedin?in particular.
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So?with a little bit of trepidation, I would like to praise and thank, in alphabetical order,?James Croucher?of Peterborough City;?Ian Davies?of Blaby District; and,?Mark Patterson?of Harborough District for providing good old professional service and going more than that extra mile to achieve an outcome as beneficial as possible to all parties. There was no personal benefit to them of devoting extra commitment and not a little skill to these issues; other than the satisfaction of a job well done.
But it meant for me when picking up the phone or receiving an e mail from them it was very likely a positive experience towards resolving a problem. And it was more likely to be a solution rather than another problem.?It was one where one could look forward to receiving a message rather than dread.?
So?thank you so much guys.
Promoting land through planning for self build purposes, to encourage the use of renewable energy in homes
1 年I’d like to say I’m encouraged but really I’d just like to ask any of those individuals to move to my borough. The lack of articles may be due to a rare event. After six years in various processes it’s a rare day you can actually get a phone answered. A question gets relayed to another member of department and the answer is lost in transit. Staff turnover appears high. When even students understand the public sector is failing process, they go immediately to consultancies. Not only can they not compete financially but the probabilty of a mentor staying in position to offer consistent training is low. The public sector needs to be able to boast a secure training situation, or I fear they will lose out. Successful students will head straight to consultancies with graduate programmes. A young planner that makes a foundation in a government planning office could become a rare specimen. Councils will have to embrace the apprenticeship degrees and quickly.
Strategic Growth Manager at Harborough District Council
1 年Thanks for the kind words Peter Wilkinson, always nice to receive some positive affirmation, it makes it all worth while, especially on a scheme such as our most recent one together where we've both had to work to arrive at soemthing which i genuinely believe to be an improvement over the originally consented scheme. I would also say that, despite not always seeing eye to eye on certain schemes in the past, it's always been a pleasure working with you, knowing that you will respect my thoughts on a proposal even if they differ from yours!!
Investor | Developer | Maxi Founder – Transforming Industries with Profitable, Tech-Driven Solutions"
1 年There are some very helpful planners who can make a considered opinion in certain situations , it’s not all doom and gloom.??????
Social Media Manager at Daffodils Social Leicestershire
1 年A great post to read, thank you Peter Wilkinson, and well done Mark Patterson, who I had the pleasure of working with for many years.