“Framework Phooey”

When the NPPF was launched way back in March 2012, I was asked if I would play the role of ‘Rosemary the telephone operator’ and don a headset to answer some queries  (for anyone unfamiliar with the Hanna-Barbera cartoon canon,  Rosemary  is from the 70’s classic  ‘Hong Kong Phooey’). Naturally, I accepted.

As far as I am aware there’s not previously been a help-line set up to deal with queries on a new Government policy document. The intention was clear. Anticipate the cries of  ‘what does this all mean’ and provide instant access to information through dialogue – not through a sheet of answers to questions no-one was asking anyway.

The NPPF and a way out of the mist

Do you watch the TV show QI, now in its umpty-something series? They’ve recently introduced a new feature, called ‘Nobody knows’ where the panel wave a sign if they think Stephen Fry has asked a question to which there is no known answer. I’d wave this if I was asked ‘what does the presumption in favour of sustainable development mean?’

A lot has already been written and said about it. From my perspective

Wake up to planning

Is now the time that planning will flicker across the radar of Leaders and Chief Executives? We know that some senior executives and politicians are very involved in planning and take it seriously as a tool for managing development and change within their areas. For others, though, it is boring, regulatory, obstructive, and causes problems.

Planning is changing and it can’t have passed Leaders and Chief Execs by. The publication of the draft NPPF has triggered lots of press coverage in the mainstream newspapers.  Latterly this has reflected the ‘National Trust’ row and commentators views that it is the end of open space as we know it, because amongst other things, the presumption in favour of sustainable development.  Capitalise on any awakening interest and talk to them about both the changes and how planning is working now and in the future.

We’ve been thinking about some of the key (printable) questions in response to the draft NPPF.