Culture and creativity can take place almost anywhere – but many activities need dedicated spaces. For culture and creativity to thrive, we need spaces to make, create, perform, exhibit, take part, visit, and enjoy. Much of our built environment is determined by the planning system. Building strong relationships between senior culture officers and planning colleagues is critical if we want to create, protect, and improve the cultural infrastructure in our cities, towns, villages, and rural areas.

This roundtable brought together an overview of the planning process, exploring the key points when engagement can be most effective, covering planning policy development, planning decision-making, and securing planning contributions.

The case studies demonstrated what engagement with the planning system looks like in practice, and the outcomes we can achieve.

You can watch a recording of the webinar here (1hour 25 mins).

Presentations

• The session was led by CLOA Executive Member Thorsten Dreyer, who currently works in the Greater London Authority’s Space for Culture team, supporting cultural organisations that are at acute risk of losing the spaces from which they operate. Thorsten gave an overview of navigating the planning system and also signposted to useful resources. 
• Gaye Kirby, Creative Programmes & Partnerships Manager, Middlesbrough Council shared how they approached embedding culture in the local plan
• Clare Flowers MRTPI, Principal Planning Officer, Brighton & Hove City Council covered proactively using planning policies to secure public art in new developments.
• There was also a recorded presentation from Tom Clarke MRTPI, National Planning Adviser, Theatres Trust that highlighted how to use planning policies to protect cultural infrastructure, which is viewable at 43:05 in the webinar recording above.