Strategic planning, as Sam Stafford said in the introduction to episode number 157, is back. That episode looked at what shape it is in right now. What have authorities been able to do whilst awaiting the consolidation of the Planning & Infrastructure Act, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill?

What the sector did not know just a few weeks ago, but do now, are the new strategic geographies outside of areas governed by a mayor and where some work on Spatial Development Strategies (SDSs) is already underway. Just last week though, at the time Sam prepared to publish this episode, a consultation was launched on all of the areas to be tasked with producing SDSs.

So the podcast has looked at where things are now, but what do those tasked with consolidating the Planning & Infrastructure Act, the NPPF and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, and those producing SDSs, need to know about the last time planning was being undertaken strategically given that some time has now passed since the revocation of the Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs).

Now then seemed like a good time for Sam to publish the latest episode in the Hitting the High Notes series, which he recorded with strategic planning doyenne and old friend of the podcast Catriona Riddell at Soho Radio Studios in London back in September 2025 (just after the reshuffle that saw Steve Reed become Secretary of State, which there is mention of).

Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that listeners can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career Sam asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period.

Unlike Desert Island Discs listeners will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water so there accompanying YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist below.

Catriona tells Sam about making the switch from architecture student in Glasgow to strategic planner in Surrey; how she became the ‘most hated woman in Guildford’; and how she shed a little tear upon reading the Devolution White Paper.

They talk about old wine, including SERPLAN, RPG and RSSs (and the real reason RSSs were scrapped), and whether the Duty to Cooperate was bound to fail, and they talk about new bottles, including what, based upon Catriona’s not inconsiderable experience, will be the keys to SDS success.

Some accompanying listening.

Catriona’s Spotify Playlist

Waterfront – Simple Minds

We’ve Only Just Begun – Carpenters

Respect – Aretha Franklin

Starting Over – Chris Stapleton

What Difference Does It Make? – The Smiths

Landslide – The Chicks

The Return of Strategic Planning

Some accompanying reading. 

Sub-Regional Strategic Planning

Areas for producing spatial development strategies

Spatial development strategies and devolution: letter to council leaders

Housing Quick Wins: Call for Evidence

Identifying the delays and barriers experienced in the planning applications process

Planning in the Pub

Some accompanying viewing.

When Podcasts Collide: Sam Stafford, Managing Director at the LPDF (S18, E1)

Any other business.

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