Me pontificating in Planning Magazine on Labour’s planning reforms, complete with the usual wild stabs in the dark and a regrettable reference to pumping big shots of adrenaline. It’s all going to be embarrassing if the polls are badly wrong…. planningresource.co.uk/article/187889…

Prefacing today’s headline promising a Green Belt ‘building blitz’, The Times and The Sunday Times on Friday included granular analysis and comment from Rachel Clements and the Lichfields team in a piece by Martina Lees on how Labour’s planning reforms might shape up thetimes.com/article/618fb4… (£)

A new dawn has broken, has it not? A change of government prompts thoughts about what Labour means for planning and development. My Lichfields blog with some (dodgy) speculation on what NPPF reforms might be needed to achieve 1.5m homes. lichfields.uk/blog/2024/july…

My comments on the need to act quickly to deliver on the 1.5m home challenge feature in this Planning Magazine run through the sector reaction to the new Labour Government planningresource.co.uk/article/187978… (£). My words drawn from this morning's Lichfields blog lichfields.uk/blog/2024/july…

I’ve written some nonsense for The Times and The Sunday Times on the planning policy challenges facing the Government in the race to deliver 1.5m homes in this parliament thetimes.com/article/e2a80d… (£)

Great to host Lichfields client event this evening at British Museum receiving a guided tour of the Greek galleries without the crowds

A welcome reminder of this important fact from @paul_slg as also recorded in this very droll 2016 @lichfieldsuk blog from Owain Nedin here: lichfields.uk/blog/2016/augu…

The Lichfields analysis of the Government's proposed reforms to the NPPF and other changes to the planning system is here lichfields.uk/proposed-refor… Analysis of the NPPF and proposed Standard Method (including interactive maps) is up and further content is on its way

Pleased to see this Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Gov blog on the question of the Standard Method make use of Lichfields maps and analysis. Makes a serious point about how the proposed approach is benchmarked in making local and regional comparisons - points also made here: x.com/mspry_/status/…

New Lichfields blog from yours truly on the New Towns Taskforce and how it might go about its mission to identify these largescale new communities: lichfields.uk/blog/2024/july…. It digs into some questions around local support and additionality. And has a nice map.

ICYMI The suite of @lichfieldsUK analysis of the Government's two-day blitz of planning reform changes (in the form of interactive maps on 'housing targets', and commentary) can be found here: lichfields.uk/proposed-refor…

Amidst this week's planning changes, the most important news for me are these v. pleasing and well-deserved Lichfields promotions (incl 8 from London team): lichfields.uk/content/news/2… Highlights the strength and depth of our team, and points to a bright future. Well done to all

It’s a hill I will die on, but it is not ‘reducing housebuilding in London’. Its ‘need’ estimate is greater than the one it replaces (before the latter was arbitrarily uplifted by 35%) and is hugely stretching, more than any London Plan + more than double historic delivery rates

For what it’s worth (not that I posted much on here), but my pedestrian contributions to debate are available over there: