Why Planning Education Matters — and How the Community Communications Partnership Is Rebuilding Trust

Last week I had the privilege of speaking again to MSc Planning students at the University of Brighton, giving them a view from the coalface after my twelve years in local government leadership. In two hours, I presented the key arguments and, crucially, the political pressures shaping all of it.

When students ask why politics matters to their profession, the answer is simple: planning decisions are driven as much by communication, trust and democratic tension as by design codes or local plan policy. Understanding what councillors face, how communities respond and how decisions are actually made is essential training for anyone entering the field.

Planning now sits at the crossroads of a profound housing crisis, broken local government finances and a national policy environment that changes direction with every minister. The next generation of planners won’t just need technical knowledge; they’ll need to be mediators, negotiators and translators in a system that desperately needs clearer communication and stronger public engagement.

A Planning System Under Strain

Across England, councils are under enormous pressure from years of austerity which have hollowed out their budgets. Temporary accommodation costs have doubled in five years. Nine in ten planning departments are understaffed, and the number of councils with an up-to-date Local Plan has dropped to a six-year low.

Councillors approve around 90% of applications, while they point to a million unbuilt homes. Meanwhile, national reforms- from NPPF rewrites to expanded permitted development rights- have chipped away at the democratic spaces where communities can shape change.

Planning committees remain one of the few arenas where residents, councillors and developers meet face-to-face. Yet most people misunderstand how these committees work, who makes decisions, or why policy constraints often override local opinion. Councillors face abuse, legal scrutiny and political pressure. Officers are overstretched. Developers feel distrusted. Communities feel unheard.

This is the landscape today’s planning students will inherit- and it is exactly the gap the Community Communications Partnership (CCP) was created to bridge.

How the Community Communications Partnership Makes a Difference

The CCP works where planning, politics, communication and community trust intersect. With more than two centuries of combined experience inside planning committees and council leadership, the CCP helps earlier, more open and constructive engagement.

We have a simple mantra: it is never too early to engage.

And it matters, because the planning system increasingly produces outcomes that satisfy no one- weakened environmental protections, affordable homes lost to viability, local decisions overridden from Westminster.

Empowering Communities Without Blocking Delivery

Too often, consultation is treated as a box-ticking exercise. But real, early communication improves development. It protects councillors from feeling ambushed. It reduces objections fuelled by misinformation. It strengthens applications.

With national policy shifting toward centralisation- stronger mayoral powers, reduced local oversight- people worry planning is happening to them, not with them. Within that reality, the CCP helps restore agency.

Why CCP’s Work Matters Now

Today’s planning challenges demand more than technical competence, they demand trust. In a system like this, communication is not a courtesy- it is a necessity.

The students I met enter a profession where political tension, community suspicion, developer pressure and environmental obligations collide. The CCP is demonstrating what effective planning now requires: clarity and a commitment to demystifying decisions.

Planning will always need technical expertise. But without trust, it cannot function. By rebuilding trust between communities, councillors, planners and developers, the CCP helps planning work for people rather than alienate them. And that is why conversations like the one at University of Brighton matter- they prepare the next generation for the real politics of planning.