Government

50 Shades of Planning

by Samuel Stafford

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Latest episodes

Hail To The Chief

October 24, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

One of the most common topics of conversation that Sam Stafford heard at UKREiiF this year was the need for statutory chief planners. There are perhaps three factors behind that interest in building or strengthening leadership capacity…
Neutral Impact IV

October 17, 2026 · 1 hr 20 min

When 50 Shades of Planning first covered nutrient neutrality in February 2021, Sam Stafford described the process of eutrophication as a bit like the podcast itself: a little niche, but very important. When Sam published a second episode…
The New Local Plan-Making System

October 10, 2026 · 56 min

The previous Government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduced the legislative framework for a new system of local plan-making and in March 2026 the current Government introduced the regulations concerning this new regime…
A Framework-Led Conversation

September 26, 2026 · 1 hr 5 min

Whilst in London recently Sam Stafford took the opportunity to catch up with old friends of the podcast Simon Ricketts, Andrew Taylor and Mike Kiely. Simon is a Partner at Town Legal, Andrew is Group Planning and Sustainability Director…
Meet a MP and an AM - Reform UK

September 19, 2026 · 1 hr 10 min

As regular listeners know there is often talk on the 50 Shades of Planning podcast about the role of local councillors in the planning system, in the context of, for example, overturning officer recommendations or a decision to withdraw a…

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We Can't Stop Planning

September 5, 2026 · 59 min

Sam Stafford was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with old friends of the podcast Lisa Tye, Shaun Knights and Jaimie Ferguson. Lisa is a Partner at Town Legal, Shaun is a Senior Planning Officer at Preston City…
Viable Options

August 22, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

The basis of this episode was a series of posts Sam Stafford spotted that Nick Cuff at Urban Sketch had shared on his Prop Views blog about the Parkhurst Road judgement and the implications thereof. Sam asked Nick if he would like to…
Why do places look the way they do?

August 8, 2026 · 1 hr 12 min

Sam Stafford was at a symposium organised by Create Streets at Hatfield House in June last year called ‘Building for generations’. All of the presentations on the day and the conversations there upon led Sam back to the fundamental…
Vibes and Stuff

August 1, 2026 · 57 min

Sam Stafford was in Birmingham recently and took the opportunity whilst there to catch up with old friend of the podcast Myles Wild Smith and new friends of the podcast Mike Knott, Bart Shirm and Beth Pywell. Myles is a Director at…
Hitting the High Notes - Richard Schofield

July 25, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

This is another episode in the Hitting the High Notes series, which, if you have not listened to one before, is town planning's equivalent, nee rip off, of Desert Island Discs. During these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures…
Emerging Planners

July 18, 2026 · 1 hr 17 min

A couple of months ago Sam Stafford saw that Shaun Knights at Preston City Council and national vice chair of the Young Planning Officers Society (POS) had posted on LinkedIn encouraging nominations for POS’ ‘Emerging Planner Award’…
Meet the MPs - Lib Dems

July 11, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

The role of local councillors in the planning system has been a familiar topic of conversation on the podcast in the context of, for example, overturning officer recommendations and the case for a national scheme of delegation. There is…

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About the show

50 Shades of Planning is Sam Stafford’s attempt to explore the foibles of the English planning system and its aim is to cover the breadth of the sector both in terms of topics of conversation and in terms of guests with different experiences and perspectives. 50 Shades episodes include 'Hitting The High Notes', which are a series of conversations with leading planning and property figures. The conversations take in the six milestone planning permissions or projects within a contributor’s career and for every project guests are invited to choose a piece of music that they were listening to at that time. Think Desert Island Discs, but for planners. 50 Shades episode also include the 'All Around the World' series, which is being led by friend of the podcast, Paul Smith. Paul put it to Sam that debates about the planning system in England tend, for the most part, to focus solely on the planning system in England. Planners here very seldom look to other countries for inspiration and ideas. Paul wanted to remedy that and so in this series he chats with planning professionals and academics from a number of countries to find out what works well there, what works less well, and what can be learnt. Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram, and his blogs can be found here. The 50 Shades platforms are expressions of Sam's personal opinions, which may or may not represent the opinions of his past, present or future employers. 50 Shades of Planning is by planners and for planners and so if you would like to use the podcast or the YouTube channel for sharing anything you think that the sector needs to be talking about then do please feel free to get in touch with Sam via samstafford@hotmail.com or the 50 Shades WhatsApp Community. Why Fifty Shades? Well, town and country planning is very much not a black and white endeavour. There are at least fifty shades in between....