Ten people who made their mark on the planning world in 2011

We’ve put together a list of ten people who we think made a name for themselves in planning over 2011. Find out if you’re on the list…

Mary Portas – The self-styled ‘Queen of Shops’ made headlines when she was appointed the government’s ‘High Street Tsar’ back in May. Announcing the appointment Prime Minister David Cameron said Portas’ “straight talking, no nonsense approach” would help create vibrant and diverse town centres.

“The high street should be at the very heart of every community, bringing people together, providing essential services and creating jobs and investment; so it is vital that we do all that we can to ensure they thrive,” he said. Portas’ review was published earlier this month to a mixed response.

National Trust director general Dame Fiona Reynolds – The government got more than it bargained for when the National Trust mobilised its considerable forces against the draft National Planning Policy Framework in July. Central to the campaign was the National Trust director-general Dame Fiona Reynolds. Reynolds’ comments that the NPPF could lead to “unchecked and damaging development in the undesignated countryside on a scale not seen since the 1930s” ignited a powder keg of protest across middle England and led to planning minister Bob Neill saying the campaign against the framework was a “carefully choreographed smear campaign by left-wingers based within the national headquarters of pressure groups”. Reynolds’ campaign was backed by the Daily Telegraph which launched its ‘Hands off Our Land’ campaign against the NPPF.

Planning and decentralisation minister Greg Clark MP – While the planning minister was by no means unheard of at the start of 2011, the year saw Clark rise to challenge of defending his draft national planning policy framework from attacks from all directions and seeing the successful passage of the Localism Act through Parliament. Unlike some of his DCLG colleagues, Clark’s handling of the NPPF row was mostly calm, considered and good-humoured, gaining him respect, even from those who disagreed strongly with his position. The planning minister leaves 2011 in a strong position.

Policy Exchange senior research fellow Alex Morton – Morton ruffled more than a few feathers in the planning world this year with his controversial right-of-centre suggestions on planning reforms. In March, a report authored by Morton urged changes to planning rules to allow vacant commercial units to be turned into housing without the need for planning permission”. Morton said councils were holding back the conversion of vacant and under-used urban space into housing and relaxing the planning rules to make it easier to convert commercial property would encourage investment, increase regeneration and create large numbers of jobs. The government announced a review of the use class system shortly after. Writing in Planning again in March, Morton argued that the Prime Minister’s criticisms of planning were “correct and should be used to catalyse change in our bureaucratic system”, while in June he argued that government “must use the new national planning policy framework to move away from development planning by councils”. Planning’s letters page saw a surge in activity.

Basildon Council leader Tony Ball – Ball had a busy year as tensions around the illegal Dale Farm traveller site escalated. Ball’s indefatigable line in his numerous live TV news interviews that the issue was purely a planning matter about an illegal development on green belt land and not about racial intolerance gained him as many admirers as critics. In the end, after countless legal challenges, last minute surprises and many millions of pounds of tax payers’ money, the council won the day and the site was finally cleared in October.

Shadow housing minister Jack Dromey MP – The shadow housing minister started the year leading Labour’s scrutiny of the Localism Bill as it edged its way through the committee process. Dromey’s grasp of planning and housing was demonstrated in his regular press statements haranguing the coalition, in particular the housing minister Grant Shapps, whilst defending the previous government’s record on housing delivery and regeneration. Following his appointment to Labour leader Ed Miliband’s shadow team in October, Dromey revealed his old Labour roots pledging a “decent home for all at a price everyone can afford”.

RTPI president Richard Summers – The RTPI may not always be known for being outspoken against government policies but this year’s present Richard Summers has been an, at times, outspoken critic of the government’s planning reforms. Following the Budget in March, Summers slammed government proposals to ensure that the default answer to development is ‘yes’. In a statement Summers said: “If sweeping changes announced to the planning system result in the default position being ‘yes’ to development then there is real danger that within a decade we will end up with an England of tin sheds, Lego land housing and US-style shopping malls. “Where will the incentive be in the future for developers to address issues such as climate change, environmental protection, design quality and affordable housing, if they know that the Government has tied the hands of local councillors who will be required to nod through most development projects? This could mean developers building what they like, where they like, and when they like. It’s a policy that finally buries localism.” Later in the year Summers launched a campaign to “dispel planning myths” in response to what the RTPI described as “a great deal of recent misinformation and misunderstanding about planning”. Days later the government launched its own ‘myth busting’ document to tackle criticism of the NPPF.

Planner, walker and blogger Tim Stansfeld – Planning’s latest blogger made a name for himself in July when a walked the length of the proposed high-speed rail route between London and Birmingham. Writing exclusively in Planning in August Stansfeld reflected on his journey: “Why did I do it?…well, I was looking for a new challenge after being made redundant, and writing about High Speed 2 (HS2) from the perspective of a pedestrian seemed perfect. Oh, and nobody else appeared to be doing it.”

Later adventures for his regular ‘On the Ground’ blog saw Stansfeld visit Rochester, Margate and Southampton. He is putting his feet up over the Christmas period.

Chancellor George Osborne - With an economy in the doldrums, Osborne looked for new ways to unleash the slumbering ‘forces of enterprise’ and, unsurprisingly, targeted the planning system. In his March budget speech Osborne echoed the Prime Minister’s ‘enemies of enterprise’ comments saying the planning system was a “chronic obstacle to growth”. Planning reappeared again in his autumn statement in which he announced a second wave of planning reforms scheduled for next spring. “We need to go further to remove the lengthy delays and high costs of the current system, with new time limits on applications and new responsibilities for statutory consultees”, he said.

John Rhodes, director, Quod – Last year, John Rhodes made waves in the planning sector when he traded in a nine-year career running multidisciplinary consultancy RPS’s London planning office to set up Quod, his own firm based in the capital. But it was 2011 that saw Rhodes really make his mark on the planning sector. He was a member of the practitioners advisory group that drafted a suggested version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for the government. He later appeared in several Daily Telegraph articles, described as the man “who helped write the draft NPPF” and was called to give evidence before the communities and local government select committee. Rhodes’ consultancy, Quod, also went from strength to strength in 2011, acquiring regeneration consultancy Hunt Dobson Stringer in April.

Have we missed anyone? Make your suggestions below.