skills

Skills and training schemes in the UK and abroad


Details of CPD, skills workshops and short courses can be accessed here.

Demystifying design appraisal: helping stakeholders to make better-informed and more thoughtful design decisions

By Rob Cowan

A new emphasis on localism suggests that a wider range of people will become actively involved in decisions about development, with direct impact on design quality. The Qualityreviewer toolkit can help stakeholders to make better-informed and more thoughtful design decisions. By Rob Cowan

Planners to be 'freed' from excessive development control and encouraged to think more about long-term 'placemaking' needs

December 3, 2010 - Localism minister Greg Clark has said that the Coalition’s proposed planning reforms will mean a step-change in the role of planners. In a speech to a Town and Country Planning Association conference, Clark argued that “planners have been the first victims of the flaws of the current planning system. more >

National Skills Action Partnership: members of placemaking professional institutes can access CPD from 11 bodies

October 26, 2010 - The National Skills Action Partnership has announced a new measure that will help improve and widen the learning of up to 300,000 housing and regeneration professionals. See the list of participating partners... more >

Planners' toolkit on climate change launched for policy officers, development managers and elected members

October 24, 2010 - A toolkit has been developed to provide advice on Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Adaptation based on the guidance given in the Climate Change Supplement to Planning Policy Statement 1 (generally referred to simply as the Climate Change PPS). more >

HCA streamlines support package for local authorities seeking technical advice

September 14, 2010 - The Homes and Communities Agency has announced the successful companies appointed to two new framework panels designed to enable local authorities and other public sector organisations to access technical services more quickly and at a greatly reduced cost. more >

Pilot for a new web-based biodiversity planning toolkit launched

August 5, 2010 - A pilot for a new web-based Biodiversity Planning Toolkit is launched. It has been created by the Association of Local Government Ecologists (ALGE) in partnership with a wide range of conservation and planning organisations across the United Kingdom. The toolkit aims to help the planning community contribute to the conservation, enhancement and sustainable use of biodiversity and geodiversity. more >

Councils losing '£1.4 billion infrastructure and development funding due to paperwork and administration issues'

July 2, 2010 - Councils across the country are losing an estimated £1.4 billion between them in potential infrastructure and development funding as a result of the complexities around managing planning obligations negotiated between developers and local authorities – so-called Section 106 agreements, announced information management group IDOX , speaking at the Royal Town Planning Institute conference.

... more >

The human city: research-based manifesto for creating a ‘human’ urban landscape published

May 3, 2010 - The HUMAN CITY institute (HCi), an organisation 'committed to influencing national, regional and local policies to ensure that the vision of the "human" city and neighbourhood can be realised', has published a ‘Manifesto for the Human City’ to mark three successful years of investigating exclusion, promoting progressive solutions and campaigning for better futures. more >

New measures will 'speed up' decision-making, encourage councils to raise funds from developers and create apprenticeships

March 29, 2010 - Planning Minister John Healey has announced new measures designed to speed up decision-making, and encourage councils to use a new power to raise funds from developers to support local development, and promote apprenticeship opportunities in their area. more >
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