Planning Aid was first started in the United Kingdom by the Royal Town Planning Institute in 1973 to provide free, independent and professional planning advice and support to communities and individuals who cannot afford to pay planning consultant fees.
In 1978 South Wales Planning Aid was established as an independent charity providing advice and support on the planning system in Wales. This depended totally on the commitment and support of a small number of committed volunteers.
In 2005, with core grant support from the Welsh Assembly Government, Planning Aid Wales was established to provide a service for the whole of Wales.
Planning Aid Wales maintains close links with the Planning Aid services in other parts of the UK.
Conception
The 1970s were a time of great change in South Wales with the redevelopment of Cardiff city centre, the slum clearance improvement programme for older housing, and the scrapping of the Buchanan Plan. This led to a number of practising and student town planners being involved in various community action-based activities in South Wales. RTPI members Ian Horsburgh and Richard Essex became aware of a Planning Aid service that had been established by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), managed by David Lock, around 1973 in Cardiff.
Against this backdrop, in 1974, Richard Essex wrote a paper, which he presented to the South Wales Branch Committee of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), outlining the need for a planning aid service. Initially, there was some significant opposition to the proposal, both from public sector and private sector members, but this was later overcome. The paper became the catalyst for the establishment of South Wales Planning Aid.
Following its publication, a sub-committee (Ian Horsburgh, Richard Essex, Margaret Evans and Paul Williams) was set up within the RTPI to run a voluntary service providing planning advice. Shortly after, the RTPI sub-committee agreed to fund administrative and publicity costs to manage three home-based volunteers, coordinated by Richard Essex. These volunteers were: Sue Essex, Kath Coleman, Anne Leonard and Margaret Evans.
The Early Days
In 1979, Richard Essex handed over coordinator duties to Ian Horsburgh, now a long-standing Planning Aid Wales trustee and volunteer, and a steering group was set up.
In 1983, using annually-agreed RTPI funding and funding from the Manpower Services Commission for workers (a government job creation scheme), we were able to rent a workspace within the offices of the Community Design Service (CDS) in the Splott area of Cardiff. Two staff were employed, one of whom was John Drysdale, former vice Chair of the Cardiff Planning Committee.
He was concerned that the service was not targeting those most in need of planning aid and drew up our first eligibility criteria to prioritise those in most need. Today, we still use eligibility criteria with three levels of need to help us help those most in need of planning aid.
VIP Visitor
A highlight during our time in the offices of CDS was a visit from Prince Charles, who looked at our work and commented,
‘Planning, hmmm a bit of a maze isn’t it?’
On the Move
Several years later, we moved to Cardiff Bay (as it was to become known) where we rented a room in the office of the Prince of Wales Committee, an environmental charity, in Empire House. By this time, we were employing a planning advisor for several hours a week to respond to the more straightforward requests for help. Allan Hambly, a retired Cardiff Council Development Control officer, was the first post-holder.
We wanted to move beyond dealing solely with helpline calls and being a reactive force, towards being proactive and trying to help individuals and groups to ‘help themselves’. This decision has had a lasting impact on Planning Aid Wales and continues to guide our outreach work with target communities in Wales. We currently operate at our office in Whitchurch Road Cardiff with 5 staff and 30 volunteers (Board of Trustees, office & casework).
Seeds of Growth
Examples of our innovative work during the early days of Planning Aid Wales include:
In 1985, the steering group produced a promotional video explaining our work with the help of Chapter Art Centre’s ‘Community Video Workshop’ run by Terry Dimmock. Ian Horsburgh and volunteers, Marion Davies and Graham Oran worked on the video over seven months. This was in the pre-digital age and progress was slow. The introduction was a cleverly put together piece using a Constable painting (The Haywain) which was redeveloped as an urban jungle using cartoon imagery.
Expansion
In the late 1980s, an informal meeting between Ian Horsburgh and the Chief Finance Officer at the Welsh Office led to our video being played at a private viewing for the Secretary of State (Nicholas Edwards MP) and the Chief Planner at the Welsh Office. Shortly after, in 1990, an environmental fund was established, which South Wales Planning Aid was encouraged to bid for. We were successful and went from an income of less than £10k per year to £50k per year for three years.
Becoming an Independent Charity
Questions on funding were asked at the South Wales RTPI branch executive meeting following the funding award. A debate followed as to whether South Wales Planning Aid (SWPA) could still be a part of the RTPI. A meeting was called for SWPA volunteers and a decision taken for SWPA to be independent from the RTPI, though retaining close ties through mutual Board membership. In addition, it was decided that the new organisation should become Wales-wide and a company limited by guarantee. In 1990, Planning Aid Wales was born, and charitable status was obtained shortly afterwards.
When the three-year Welsh Office funding period came to an end in the early 1990s, we returned to being predominately voluntary. Fortunately, the South Wales RTPI branch had continued to fund the now independent all-Wales service, and this once again became our largest source of income and received little outside funding. During this time, we produced our Public Handbook of the Land Use Planning System, following a commission from Welsh Community and Town Councils; this was the only general handbook on planning for the public in the UK.
Change in Direction to the Present Day
At this time, difficulties began to arise. At one point we were forced to make arrangements to dissolve. However, a turning point in our fortunes came against the backdrop of devolution. Following the general election in 1997, the new Labour government in Westminster made a commitment to fund planning aid in England in a serious way, and a short time later the new Welsh Assembly Government announced that it would provide funding for a study entitled ‘Shaping the Future of Planning Aid Wales’, looking at the potential for a larger-scale planning aid service in Wales.
While we have grown in terms of geography and staff and have developed our services a great deal over the years, misconceptions about who we are and what we do remain, including:
Since 1997, as the legislative framework for planning in Wales developed, funding initially kept pace with inflation and enabled PAW’s work to develop in parallel. However, the past 10 years have been more challenging, with cuts in funding presenting real challenges. With Welsh Government support for our work continuing, and years of superhuman effort by Trustees, volunteers, and staff, we have managed to” keep the show on the road”.
Using media channels and technology, Planning Aid Wales has extended its reach through the helpline service, training, newsletters, dedicated websites, and a broad social media presence. Indeed, the staff team has been recognised for its outstanding teamwork by being selected as a finalist, and being awarded a commendation, in the RTPI UK Planning Awards for Excellence 2020.
