Red Hot Planning Chat

Red Hot Planning Chat

July 4, 2026 · 1h 3m · Episode 174

About this episode

Sam Stafford discusses current hot topics in the planning profession with several guests in London.

Sam Stafford was in London recently and whilst there caught up with friends of the podcast Hana Loftus , Mike Kiely , Nicola Gooch , Simon Ricketts and Andrew Taylor . Hana is a Director at HAT Projects; Mike is a former Chief Planner and now an independent planning consultant working mainly in the public sector; Nicola is a Partner at Birketts; Simon is a Partner at Town Legal and Andrew is Group Planning & Sustainability Director at Vistry. In a conversation recorded at Soho Radio Studios they chatted about some of the hot topics exercising the planning profession at the minute. They talked about the legal challenge by some London boroughs to the Mayor’s package of time-limited emergency measures to support housebuilding. They talked about planning committees, the national scheme of delegation, statutory chief planners, the designation of LPAs for poor performance, the Nature Restoration Fund, the need for the NPPF as soon as possible, and they talked about S73B. The hottest topic of all though, given that this episode was recorded during a red extreme heat warming, was whether the addition of awnings and air conditioning units are or should be permitted development. Some…

People in this episode

Host: Sam Stafford

Guests: Hana Loftus, Mike Kiely, Nicola Gooch, Simon Ricketts, Andrew Taylor

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: HAT Projects, Birketts, Town Legal, Vistry

Places: London, Soho Radio Studios

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