This is not a drill!
Speech to the RTPI Cymru Wales Planning Conference
Holland House Hotel, Cardiff, 22nd June 2023
I'm here to talk about you.
At last year’s conference my colleague Julie James kicked off a conversation about the health and well-being of people in the planning profession. We really are grateful to the RTPI for conducting their ‘Big Conversation’; and for gathering views on what it means to work as a planner in Wales.
This is a really important issue for us. Because not only do we care about you, but Wales really needs you.
You are pivotal to helping us respond to the biggest challenges we face.
But you’ve told us through the RTPI’s conversation with you, and there is no sugar coating this, that there are planners today working in exceptionally challenging circumstances, and this is taking its toll.
There’s no glib response to that. The workforce has shrunk, and the world load has increased.
In the 12th year of an austerity policy the strain is being felt right across public services.
I know many of you feel worn down.
And as all of us here know, when the Local Planning Authority are under pressure, those submitting applications, those looking to invest, those who will build the houses, the energy schemes get frustrated too.
And the experts and specialists planners you rely on are also under pressure, and that impacts on the system day-to-day as well.
As Max Boyce said, Duw it’s hard. And trust me I know what it’s like to be treated as a punch bag!
I know Julie intends to meet with the RTPI in the coming weeks to get into the findings in the ‘Big Conversation’ report, and discuss what they can do in their role with oversight of the profession; and what she can do in her role as the Planning Minister.
She also intends to meet with stakeholders across the built and natural environments to see what each of us can do to ensure that working as a planner is not something that negatively impacts on well-being and health.
So let me just say a sincere thank you. We recognise what you are facing; we are grateful. And ‘we need you’,
Wales needs you.
The babies being born today in the Heath hospital, and in every community across Wales need you.
A baby born today will be 83 years old in the year 2100.
And unless there are significant reversals in our emissions our towns and cities will be uninhabitable, sea level rises of more than 2 meters will put much of Newport, Cardiff, Swansea, and Llanelli under water.
Heatwaves will be more frequent and long-lasting, causing droughts, global food shortages, mass migration, and increased spread of infectious diseases.
It may sound like something out of Mad Max but this is the consensus of the world’s climate scientists. It may feel unreal but the data is solid and the UN Panel on Climate Change in its last report said that the most recent emissions levels are at the ‘upper end’ of what was projected. This is not a drill!
All the efforts up to know have been to keep global warming within a limit of 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial levels by 2050. This has been regarded as so-called ‘safe’ levels.
And look what’s already happening in the last few months. In April the Mediterranean and North Africa experienced an extreme heatwave with Temperatures up to 20C higher than normal which scientists say was “at least 100 times more likely” due to climate change.
- Cyclone floods in New Zealand
- Droughts in large parts of central South America
Last summer the UK Health Security Agency issued its first-ever level 4 heat-health alert, signifying a “national emergency”. In Wales we didn’t come out of drought until October, and that was followed by the wettest March in over 40 years.
We are currently experiencing one of the most severe marine heatwaves on the planet in the shallow seas around the UK and Ireland
All this when we are within ‘safe limits’ of global warming.
But all the carbon we’ve emitted since the Industrial Revolution is already in the atmosphere. Further temperature rises are locked in.
We’ve not heeded the very clear warnings to date and the 1.5 degree threshold is highly likely to be breached. And we will move beyond safe levels into what the scientists have categorised as ‘catastrophic’ levels of warming.
And I know there are people who say, I don’t mind it being a bit warmer, and I don’t really care about biodiversity. A senior politician said this to me recently. Not only is this staggeringly myopic but it also misses the enormous economic impact of these climate shocks.
An environment that can’t sustain mass food production, wild weather upending infrastructure and provoking mass-migration because people can’t live on their land, is also an environment that implodes the economy.
I’m not trying to depress everyone but we need some honesty about the trajectory we are on.
In my lifetime global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average
More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and likely to be lost within 20 years - the same number were lost over the whole of the last century.
To give just one example that is easy to relate to lets look at corals.
Warm water coral like red coral can live for hundreds of years. These organisms are highly sensitive to warming. In the 1.5ºC scenario the IPCC projects a loss of 70% of warm water corals. Beyond a 2ºC increase, virtually all warm water corals disappear. And this has knock-on effects for the whole eco-system.
Now I mention all of this for a reason. This all looks quite bleak. But it is not inevitable. The Italian philosopher Gramsci described the ‘pessimism of the intellect, but the optimism of the will’.
It is not inevitable. With will it can be changed.
And you are critical to meeting this challenge. That baby born earlier this morning in the Heath is relying on your profession to secure a safe and resilient place to grow into adulthood into.
Now we know the constraints you operate within – that we all operate within. In fact the Welsh Government has a unique view of the whole planning system.
We see all your local development plans and the issues you face. We see the developments of national significance, planning appeals and call-ins. We see the major regeneration schemes and the investments made by both the public and private sectors.
We discuss planning issues with local authority leaders, developers, industry representatives, communities, academics, students, charities and NGOs. We have inboxes focussing on developments big and small across the whole country.
Taking all of this insight together, and given that I believe we already have the fundamental planning tools in place, the conversation I want to stimulate is how we can mobilise the optimism of the will to make sure we rise to the challenge of our times.
Lets be frank, there are times when schemes come to our attention – at all scales, and in all places – where we at not embracing the thinking required to deliver the change we need to see.
Now believe me I understand it is hard to challenge business as usual and established economic orthodoxies but that is exactly what you as planners must do.
One of the Comps in Llanelli, Bryngwyn school, put out its thought for the week on social media on Monday and it caught my eye, it said ‘Behold the turtle – it makes progress only when it sticks its neck out’.
It isn’t easy to challenge the assumptions and thinking we bring to the plans and schemes we are involved in. But we must not dress up old approaches in new language. We cannot afford a ‘tick box’ approach to planning. We must all face up to the choice between what is right and what is easy.
Think about the day you retire and you are asked to write a letter to that baby being born today, think about what you’d say to them about why when you saw the science you didn’t act
Out of town developments that undermine town centres. Inappropriate new developments in flood plains. Road based, car orientated places that create obesogenic environments that actively discourage cycling and walking. Poor quality housing in the wrong location. Destruction of habitats. Loss of green infrastructure. Drive through coffee shops, look alike town centres and identikit houses.
Is it unfair to blame planners for all these things? Yes, of course it is, because you work in a political environment, with powerful market forces, competing interests and a whole myriad of contradictory opinions.
We recognise that you’re under resourced, definitely undervalued and probably under paid. Nothing in planning is easy and everyone thinks they can do it better.
But - if we are to advocate that the planning system is the best tool we have to address the issues I’ve outlined, I believe we also have to recognise that the planning system has played a part in getting to us where we are. And has a critical part in getting us out if it.
We believe our national planning policy sets out the path we need to follow. It’s all there. The policies say all the right things.
And we’re strengthening them. An updated version of PPW will be out in the Autumn, and Infrastructure (Wales) Bill was introduced in the Senedd last week will create a new ‘one-stop-shop’ consenting regime, where necessary permissions, consents, licences and other requirements can be obtained as one package.
But for all that, we know that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Time and again, the words on a page are not reflected in decisions. That’s what we all need to take responsibility for changing.
It is not acceptable to have developments that have advanced a long way into the planning process that are silent on biodiversity. Or which haven’t properly engaged with the communities that will be most affected. Or which are out of town, with big car parks and no access by more sustainable means.
If listening to me today, you think – we already do this. Good. Do it more.
If you think – it’s easy to say all this, it’s much harder to do – that’s right but we are going to have to do it.
It is not easy. But nor will the future we are heading towards be unless we change.
Just as we have done with our new approach to road building, we need to confront orthodox thinking and apply the lens of future generation thinking.
Lets challenge each other to get things right. What more can we do, what more can you do.
It may not always feel like it but you are valued. Your work is really important. And it has a vital part to play to helping us all navigate the profound challenges we all face.
Remember, it is understandable to be pessimistic. But let us all summon the optimism of the will.
We’re not here for long, so lets make what we do count.
Holland House Hotel, Cardiff, 22nd June 2023
I'm here to talk about you.
At last year’s conference my colleague Julie James kicked off a conversation about the health and well-being of people in the planning profession. We really are grateful to the RTPI for conducting their ‘Big Conversation’; and for gathering views on what it means to work as a planner in Wales.
This is a really important issue for us. Because not only do we care about you, but Wales really needs you.
You are pivotal to helping us respond to the biggest challenges we face.
But you’ve told us through the RTPI’s conversation with you, and there is no sugar coating this, that there are planners today working in exceptionally challenging circumstances, and this is taking its toll.
There’s no glib response to that. The workforce has shrunk, and the world load has increased.
In the 12th year of an austerity policy the strain is being felt right across public services.
I know many of you feel worn down.
And as all of us here know, when the Local Planning Authority are under pressure, those submitting applications, those looking to invest, those who will build the houses, the energy schemes get frustrated too.
And the experts and specialists planners you rely on are also under pressure, and that impacts on the system day-to-day as well.
As Max Boyce said, Duw it’s hard. And trust me I know what it’s like to be treated as a punch bag!
I know Julie intends to meet with the RTPI in the coming weeks to get into the findings in the ‘Big Conversation’ report, and discuss what they can do in their role with oversight of the profession; and what she can do in her role as the Planning Minister.
She also intends to meet with stakeholders across the built and natural environments to see what each of us can do to ensure that working as a planner is not something that negatively impacts on well-being and health.
So let me just say a sincere thank you. We recognise what you are facing; we are grateful. And ‘we need you’,
Wales needs you.
The babies being born today in the Heath hospital, and in every community across Wales need you.
A baby born today will be 83 years old in the year 2100.
And unless there are significant reversals in our emissions our towns and cities will be uninhabitable, sea level rises of more than 2 meters will put much of Newport, Cardiff, Swansea, and Llanelli under water.
Heatwaves will be more frequent and long-lasting, causing droughts, global food shortages, mass migration, and increased spread of infectious diseases.
It may sound like something out of Mad Max but this is the consensus of the world’s climate scientists. It may feel unreal but the data is solid and the UN Panel on Climate Change in its last report said that the most recent emissions levels are at the ‘upper end’ of what was projected. This is not a drill!
All the efforts up to know have been to keep global warming within a limit of 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial levels by 2050. This has been regarded as so-called ‘safe’ levels.
And look what’s already happening in the last few months. In April the Mediterranean and North Africa experienced an extreme heatwave with Temperatures up to 20C higher than normal which scientists say was “at least 100 times more likely” due to climate change.
- Cyclone floods in New Zealand
- Droughts in large parts of central South America
Last summer the UK Health Security Agency issued its first-ever level 4 heat-health alert, signifying a “national emergency”. In Wales we didn’t come out of drought until October, and that was followed by the wettest March in over 40 years.
We are currently experiencing one of the most severe marine heatwaves on the planet in the shallow seas around the UK and Ireland
All this when we are within ‘safe limits’ of global warming.
But all the carbon we’ve emitted since the Industrial Revolution is already in the atmosphere. Further temperature rises are locked in.
We’ve not heeded the very clear warnings to date and the 1.5 degree threshold is highly likely to be breached. And we will move beyond safe levels into what the scientists have categorised as ‘catastrophic’ levels of warming.
And I know there are people who say, I don’t mind it being a bit warmer, and I don’t really care about biodiversity. A senior politician said this to me recently. Not only is this staggeringly myopic but it also misses the enormous economic impact of these climate shocks.
An environment that can’t sustain mass food production, wild weather upending infrastructure and provoking mass-migration because people can’t live on their land, is also an environment that implodes the economy.
I’m not trying to depress everyone but we need some honesty about the trajectory we are on.
In my lifetime global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average
More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and likely to be lost within 20 years - the same number were lost over the whole of the last century.
To give just one example that is easy to relate to lets look at corals.
Warm water coral like red coral can live for hundreds of years. These organisms are highly sensitive to warming. In the 1.5ºC scenario the IPCC projects a loss of 70% of warm water corals. Beyond a 2ºC increase, virtually all warm water corals disappear. And this has knock-on effects for the whole eco-system.
Now I mention all of this for a reason. This all looks quite bleak. But it is not inevitable. The Italian philosopher Gramsci described the ‘pessimism of the intellect, but the optimism of the will’.
It is not inevitable. With will it can be changed.
And you are critical to meeting this challenge. That baby born earlier this morning in the Heath is relying on your profession to secure a safe and resilient place to grow into adulthood into.
Now we know the constraints you operate within – that we all operate within. In fact the Welsh Government has a unique view of the whole planning system.
We see all your local development plans and the issues you face. We see the developments of national significance, planning appeals and call-ins. We see the major regeneration schemes and the investments made by both the public and private sectors.
We discuss planning issues with local authority leaders, developers, industry representatives, communities, academics, students, charities and NGOs. We have inboxes focussing on developments big and small across the whole country.
Taking all of this insight together, and given that I believe we already have the fundamental planning tools in place, the conversation I want to stimulate is how we can mobilise the optimism of the will to make sure we rise to the challenge of our times.
Lets be frank, there are times when schemes come to our attention – at all scales, and in all places – where we at not embracing the thinking required to deliver the change we need to see.
Now believe me I understand it is hard to challenge business as usual and established economic orthodoxies but that is exactly what you as planners must do.
One of the Comps in Llanelli, Bryngwyn school, put out its thought for the week on social media on Monday and it caught my eye, it said ‘Behold the turtle – it makes progress only when it sticks its neck out’.
It isn’t easy to challenge the assumptions and thinking we bring to the plans and schemes we are involved in. But we must not dress up old approaches in new language. We cannot afford a ‘tick box’ approach to planning. We must all face up to the choice between what is right and what is easy.
Think about the day you retire and you are asked to write a letter to that baby being born today, think about what you’d say to them about why when you saw the science you didn’t act
Out of town developments that undermine town centres. Inappropriate new developments in flood plains. Road based, car orientated places that create obesogenic environments that actively discourage cycling and walking. Poor quality housing in the wrong location. Destruction of habitats. Loss of green infrastructure. Drive through coffee shops, look alike town centres and identikit houses.
Is it unfair to blame planners for all these things? Yes, of course it is, because you work in a political environment, with powerful market forces, competing interests and a whole myriad of contradictory opinions.
We recognise that you’re under resourced, definitely undervalued and probably under paid. Nothing in planning is easy and everyone thinks they can do it better.
But - if we are to advocate that the planning system is the best tool we have to address the issues I’ve outlined, I believe we also have to recognise that the planning system has played a part in getting to us where we are. And has a critical part in getting us out if it.
We believe our national planning policy sets out the path we need to follow. It’s all there. The policies say all the right things.
And we’re strengthening them. An updated version of PPW will be out in the Autumn, and Infrastructure (Wales) Bill was introduced in the Senedd last week will create a new ‘one-stop-shop’ consenting regime, where necessary permissions, consents, licences and other requirements can be obtained as one package.
But for all that, we know that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Time and again, the words on a page are not reflected in decisions. That’s what we all need to take responsibility for changing.
It is not acceptable to have developments that have advanced a long way into the planning process that are silent on biodiversity. Or which haven’t properly engaged with the communities that will be most affected. Or which are out of town, with big car parks and no access by more sustainable means.
If listening to me today, you think – we already do this. Good. Do it more.
If you think – it’s easy to say all this, it’s much harder to do – that’s right but we are going to have to do it.
It is not easy. But nor will the future we are heading towards be unless we change.
Just as we have done with our new approach to road building, we need to confront orthodox thinking and apply the lens of future generation thinking.
Lets challenge each other to get things right. What more can we do, what more can you do.
It may not always feel like it but you are valued. Your work is really important. And it has a vital part to play to helping us all navigate the profound challenges we all face.
Remember, it is understandable to be pessimistic. But let us all summon the optimism of the will.
We’re not here for long, so lets make what we do count.
Comments