Helping London authorities deliver with a Placeshaping Capacity Survey
To deliver Good Growth local authorities need capacity to manage, create and plan built development in London. It’s not just about processing planning applications. Capacity is also needed to shape and plan good growth in local areas and communities.
Since 2014, the Mayor of London has surveyed London boroughs every two years, to see what place shaping capacity they have. The results have helped us to develop new programmes to support boroughs, such as Public Practice, and is crucial to the delivery of the Good Growth by Design programme.
This survey goes beyond asking about capacity, and also asked about design review. This reflects the fact that design review is a key part of the National Planning Framework, as well as the London Plan, and aims to ensure the quality of built schemes.
Placeshaping Capacity Survey 2022 Key Insights
- Capacity is stretched: Team sizes have reduced in size since 2014 by 21% and have plateaued at this low level. Furthermore, this capacity is precarious with 93% of authorities finding it difficult to attract suitably qualified or skilled candidates, 90% of authorities finding the lack of funding towards placeshaping roles a challenge and 21% of placeshaping roles being temporary in nature (compared to 6.4% of all Londoners).
- Capacity is not aligned with areas of growth: Some of the authorities with the largest housing targets have relatively smaller planning development and regeneration teams than those authorities with smaller housing targets. Team sizes range from as large as 122 to as small as 23.
- Specialist expertise is declining while planning development management rebounds: Statutory functions such as planning development control remain steady or even growing, at the detriment of non-statutory functions such as regeneration and high streets and public realm expertise.
- Authorities are most concerned about the economic crises: Authorities are most concerned about economic impacts on their teams, projects and budgets. These issues include the impact of inflation, the cost-of-living crisis, the impact of Brexit and the expected downturn in the wider economy and impacts on high streets.
- Sustainability expertise is in greatest need: Authorities listed environmental and sustainable skills and retrofit knowledge as the expertise they had greatest need for. Authorities list the challenges around climate change as the issue they feel least prepared to handle.
- Skills to support high streets and economic regeneration have reduced: There has been a steady decline in the skills required to support high streets and local regeneration (45% since 2014), an important part of the response to economic challenges.
- Dedicated inclusive design and accessible environment specialisms are under-resourced: Of an average placeshaping team of 70 there would be only 0.46 dedicated inclusive design and accessible environment experts. There are only 10 FTE dedicated officers embedded in placeshaping teams in London.
- There is huge demand for knowledge sharing and upskilling existing teams: Authorities value GLA resources that upskill or assist in knowledge sharing, notably Urban Design London, Good Growth by Design and Transport for London guidance.
- Gender and ethnicity pay gap data is improving but there is further progress to be made: While there is growing evidence of representation being paramount concern there is still a lack of data on the makeup of London’s placeshaping teams. The gender and ethnicity pay gap responses shows many authorities are not communicating whether these are tracked.
- London’s design review sector is going from strength to strength: 32/35 authorities now have or are in the process of establishing design review panels, up from 29/35 in 2020. Where there is no design review panel existing the London Review Panel can and has been used.
Download the Placeshaping Capacity Survey Report 2022
Need a document on this page in an accessible format?
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of a PDF or other document on this page in a more accessible format, please get in touch via our online form and tell us which format you need.
It will also help us if you tell us which assistive technology you use. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.