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Andrew Dorian and David Stovell were presented with Outstanding Services Awards.
The RTPI Outstanding Service Award is presented to RTPI members who have served and contributed substantially to the RTPI. This Award recognises excellence in service to the industry, which benefits RTPI members at large.
Andrew Dorian, Senior Transport Planner at Transport North East, became a student member of the RTPI in 2011 and became Chartered in 2013. He joined RTPI London around 2011 and quickly became a highly valued Hon Sec. during which time he organised and whipped the region into shape with spreadsheets and forms and keeping on top of the region so efficiently.
In 2014 he became Senior Vice Chair and assisted in organising the largest London Summit to date. Throughout all of the time that Andrew was with RTPI London he organised countless conferences, seminars and tours. He had a knack of finding the best speakers and putting together really interesting programmes. One of his most notable successes was when he took over as Chair in 2016, he (with the RMB) organised a highly attended and complex London Mayoral Hustings coordinating 8 London based institutes to create a series of London Mayoral Asks to put to the Mayoral candidates. The evening was well attended with over 300.
Throughout his year being London Chair, he based most of the larger events on the Mayoral Asks and his year ended with the London Summit which was attended by many Councillors and James Murray, the then Deputy Mayor for Housing. Again, the event was well attended and a huge success.
Andrew left London around 2017 and moved to the North East where he joined the RMB as Hon Sec/Treasurer and has served in these roles ever since. He is one of the main team players on the North East committee, organising the RMB/RAC Committee meetings/minutes and getting involved with a wide range of projects including the Policy Group as well as assisting locally and nationally with PAE. Andrew has been involved with PAE since 2012 and is also a member of the Nations and Regions Panel.
Andrew was one of the key volunteers assisting with the Planner Live North Conference for both 2021 and 2022, both events a huge success. Not only developing the programme and arranging speakers but also chairing the pre-meet session with a number of the groups. Andrew continues to support, encourage and organise many further webinars and offers excellent practical advice and support to the region.
David Stovell, Director of Stovell & Millwater Limited, has been a corporate member since 1978. Dave has for nearly 35 years actively served both the RTPI’s former Northern Branch and subsequently RTPI North East in several capacities, focusing particularly on CPD. His particular achievement has been the driving forward of the CPD agenda and he was praised by the then regional co-ordinator for his organisation skills and attention to detail, which are essential attributes for this role.
During most of his time on regional committees he has been a sole practitioner and yet still showed considerable interest in the region and its profession: he was often the only sole practitioner we had on a committee. He gave up a considerable amount of time to do this when work as a sole practitioner in the Teesside area was not abundant. His record shows a willingness to devote his considerable talent and energy to the region.
David was on the RAPC (Regional Activities and Policy committee) between 1990 to 2009 (when he became Junior Vice Chair) and 2013 to 2014. He chaired the RAPC in 2010 as Senor Regional Vice Chair. He first joined RMB (Regional Management Board) at the time of his appointment as Junior Regional vice chair of the Region in 2009. In 2011 he was Regional chair and in 2012 the Immediate Past Chair. In 2014 he re-joined the Board as the Region’s rep on the General Assembly.
He joined M&PR (Member and Public Relations Sub Committee) in 2011 and has continued up to the present. Over the years he has been one of the judges for the North East Planning Awards, which is organised by M&PR. This is a key event for the regional branch and essential for its profile.
In 2018 he was appointed as Vice Chair of the Nations and Regions Panel and a Trustee of the Institute.
To our knowledge this is the first time that any of the Region or Nations have had two members awarded Outstanding Service Awards at the same General Assembly and as a region we congratulate both Andrew and David on their well deserved Award, recognising the outstanding efforts for the Region over the years.
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Almost a decade after the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was launched on an unsuspecting world in 2012, with its promise of a ‘less complex’ planning system, we look at Local Plan coverage in the North East.
We are not here examining the full suite of Development Plan Documents (DPDs), some rather long in the tooth, including a (happily diminishing) tailback of pre-NPPF ‘saved policies’ etc - important though these are for day-to-day development management. Our focus is rather on capturing a snapshot of progress on the ‘new generation’ of post-NPPF local authority-wide Local Plans – ‘up-to-date and fit-for-purpose Local Plans’ - and the extent to which these have moved through to adoption across the region.
As can be seen from the table [below], very significant progress has been made in recent years and the picture that now emerges is positive: of the 13 Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) in the region, nine (70%) have now adopted full or strategic-level Local Plans. Examinations in Public (EiPs) relating to a further two plans (Darlington and Northumberland) are currently at an advanced stage. South Tyneside (previously long in the vanguard of up-to-date development plan coverage) is due to submit the Publication Draft of its new generation Local Plan later this year.
Not reflected in the table are the more detailed planning frameworks for some of the strategic development zones in the region - notably the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) Area Action Plan (AAP), adopted 2017, covering land to the north of the existing Nissan complex within Sunderland and South Tyneside, and the South Tees Area SPD (adopted 2018) - both employment sites of national as well as regional strategic significance.
Looking back over the last decade, timescales for examining local plans have increased significantly since the advent if the NPPF. Whilst Government has frequently trumpeted its commitment to a plan-led system, the uncertainty resulting from constant tinkering with the planning system - from the 2017 Housing White Paper through to the 2020 and 2021 Planning White Papers - has inevitably had - indeed continues to have - a delaying effect on plan preparation and review. And of course, it’s confusing for local communities and dispiriting for planning policy teams. Certainly, blood, sweat and tears have been expended in the production of many of the region’s Local Plans!
In association with Kings Chambers we are holding a webinar Updating Local Plans – where next? A NE perspective on 16 November at 12.30 which you may find of interest.
Richard Arkell
Chair, Regional Policy GroupNORTH EAST LOCAL PLAN UPDATE 2021 LPA Plan Status Darlington Darlington Local Plan EIP May - June 2021 Durham County Durham Plan Adopted 2020 Gateshead Core Strategy & Urban Core Plan Adopted 2015 Making Space for Growing Places Adopted 2021 Hartlepool Hartlepool Local Plan Adopted 2018 Middlebrough Middlebrough Local Plan New Preferred Options 2021 (Housing Local Plan to 2029) adopted 2014 Newcastle Core Strategy & Urban Core Plan Adopted 2015 Devlopment & Allocations Plan Adopted 2020 North Tyneside North Tyneside Local Plan Adopted 2017 Northumberland Northumberland Local Plan Submitted 2019; EIP in progress National Park National Park Local Plan Adopted 2020 Redcar & Cleveland Redcar & Cleveland Local Plan Adopted 2018 South Tyneside South Tyneside Local Plan Publication Draft late 2021 (Allocations Plan 2012) Stockton on Tees Stockton on Tees Local Plan Adopted 2019 Sunderland Core Strategy & Development Plan Adopted 2020 Allocations & Designations Plan Publication Draft late 2021 -
Firstly winning the North East Awards for Planning Excellence 2020 and then the national Excellence in Planning for a Successful Economy Award represented the ultimate accolades for The BIS in Hartlepool, coming as it did at the respected Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence 2021.
Councillor Shane Moore, Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, said: “The prestigious RTPI award is a ringing endorsement of the work carried out to transform what was a run-down, derelict building into a vibrant and dynamic centre for business start-ups in the creative industries sector.
“This award, along with others The BIS has received in recent times, is deserved recognition for the hard work of everyone involved to create a fantastic environment in which small businesses can flourish and grow.”
“With the recently announced success of our Town’s Fund Bid, which has secured £25 million, we are looking forward to further regeneration of the town centre and transforming other derelict buildings to continue the regeneration of Hartlepool.”
Commenting on the winning projects for the North East in 2020, Timothy Crawshaw, RTPI North East Chair, said:
“Whilst the standard of the entries this year was really high we had identified two clear winners. Both at different scales and with a contrasting range of issues to overcome the judges decided that both demonstrated high levels of planning skill, judgement and vision, and that this year there would be joint overall winners. Both schemes showcased the core role of planning professionals in leading on challenging schemes and being central to the delivery of regional game changers. Both teams should be rightfully proud of their achievements this year.”
Following on from this, the development of The BIS also attracted positive comments from the judges on a national level
“The BIS successfully demonstrates the role of the public sector in looking to the future and how town centres will recover. This project represents confidence in town centre development and a strong emphasis on the role of creative industries with 75% of spaces filled in the first year of the project.”
And RTPI President Wei Yang FRTPI acknowledged the quality of all of the winning projects.
“I would like to congratulate all of the winners at this year’s RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence who have demonstrated how planning is an essential public service for our community. The winners have acted beyond boundaries to make positive and impactful changes - a perfect way of showing the world the positive role planners play in our society.”
Hartlepool Borough Council, the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority and The Northern School of Art have all worked in partnership on the project which is part of a wider on-going Council initiative to develop an Innovation and Skills Quarter around the Church Street area of the town.
Further information about The BIS is available by telephoning (01429) 363150 or by emailing [email protected]