Planning matters

It is trite to say that we are working through unprecedented times, but the COVID-19 pandemic is a perfect storm: a crisis in public health, acute economic change, in parallel with barriers to maintaining the normal way of life and doing business.

Lichfields is a planning and development consultancy with a network of nine offices. Our immediate response has revolved around the wellbeing of our staff (we are an employee-owned business and thus direct our organisation in the interests of its people) and ensuring our agile working systems were resilient for when the whole business is operating remotely (testament to our great technology team, they are).

But like any consultancy, we have a symbiotic relationship with our clients, and our ultimate focus is on them, helping navigate through this crisis and providing a strong platform for the recovery. We have done this in three ways:

First, keeping the wheels turning: progressing planning applications, lodging appeals, working with local authorities on local plan preparation, and advising on strategy for projects. Our day-to-day work has been largely unaffected even if we are executing it differently and some clients have taken some time to evaluate and adjust their operations. Consultations have been successfully carried out and applications submitted for major schemes up and down the country, ranging from the well-publicised conference centre at Gateshead Quays through to new housing on a former Green Belt site in Cambridge.

Secondly, we have been closely monitoring how the operation of the planning system is affected, including how local government adapts itself to delivering planning services. We formulated our COVID-19 Business as (un)usual tool: an online repository for our guidance, research and thought leadership, it includes a live tracker of how local authorities are delivering planning services. We partnered with the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) so that both organisations use our networks to track change as it happens, and PAS can direct support to where it is needed. Some of the innovations on development management have been welcome and will sustain; delays to plan-making is emerging as a concern.

Finally, we know COVID-19 will have lasting impacts on planning and development: an accelerant to some existing trends; a ‘stop-and-think’ moment for others. Our people are active participants in debates (internally and externally) on what the pandemic means for the future, developing tools and insights to help our clients respond positively to what lies ahead. We are currently working with a number of LEPs and Councils to shape local responses to the economic crisis, applying our Economic Recovery Framework. We have used our role within REVO – the retail property network – to develop practical solutions for the future of the high street. And we are engaging with those in the residential sector about how the increased prominence of public health consideration will influence what future local plans will say about the location and form of new communities.

Whilst recognising the pandemic means awful personal costs for many, our perspective is that - working in a fantastic business with great clients – planning has a central role in society’s response. That is simultaneously exciting even as it is challenging.