Ask-a-planorak #9 - Paul Brocklehurst, Chairman of the Land Promoters & Developers Federation

It’s a time of change for our planning system (or is it?). At any rate, if we want to navigate the choppy waters of our risky and expensive regime to try to get a site over the line, best go to an expert. Enter Paul Brocklehurst. He was, until last year, the Chief Executive of Catesby Estates for 15 years. He remains the Chairman of the Land Promoters & Developers Federation. The LPDF was formed in 2018. It’s become a collection some of the country’s leading lights in land promotion and development. And it has been regularly weighing in on the Government’s proposals to reform the planning system.

But what exactly do land promoters do? How is the planning system working for them? And what does Paul make of the last year’s Cummings and goings in Whitehall? Let’s find out in 10 quick-hit questions…

1. Let’s start at the very beginning: what does a land promoter do?

Land Promoters (try to!) identify suitable land for future development, seek to put in place a legal agreement with a landowner in order that they, the Promoter, can then risk their capital by paying all the costs of promoting the land through the planning system with the aim of getting a planning consent. This is most likely to be by way of a Local Plan process, seeking an allocation and then obtaining a planning consent by way of an application. The time and capital invested can be significant. In return a Promoter will get a share of the sale proceeds from the land to a housebuilder. The landowner in this structure assumes no risk, it is all ‘on’ the Promoter.       

2. How did you make your way into a life of land promotion?

Via the corporate and property banking world, stepping into development (residential, commercial and land) and then making the decision (with the then Chairman) to focus Catesby Estates plc on land promotion. We assembled a great team who displayed all of the qualities noted below in the next question (other high quality land promoters are available - vis all other LPDF members! - and I am always impressed with the quality and professionalism of the people I meet in the sector). I relish the challenge of my interactions with the planning system and am passionate about the need to deliver more homes in this country for the people currently excluded from our housing market.

3. What qualities do you think make for a good land promoter?

Patience, resilience, flexibility, an ability to work in partnership with others (landowners, LPA Officers, agents and housebuilders), dynamism, professionalism and entrepreneurialism.  The latter is an overused word but we are a relatively young sector which has grown quickly and I think we have displayed it in what we have achieved to date. 

4. What are the key things the LPDF is trying to achieve?

We, and our members, wish to play our part in resolving the Housing Emergency that this country has. To do this we want to see an effective planning system, funded appropriately by Government, so that we can deliver the homes and in particular affordable homes that so many people need. There is a generational unfairness that is at work in the housing market and this needs to be corrected. The LPDF is producing a Housing Emergency information sheet which will be available in the next couple of weeks and I commend it to you.  In addition, we aid diversity of delivery with many of our sites sold to SME housebuilders and Registered Providers.

5. In a sentence or two (😬): how well do you think the English planning system is working?

Well, I don’t consider it broken. I just wish that those responsible for managing and implementing it took the tough decisions that they needed to so that it could operate effectively. 

6. How did you feel about last year’s Planning White Paper proposals?

Bearing in mind my previous answer I did not see the need for such wholesale change. I would much rather have seen focussed changes on certain key aspects of the current Framework. The LPDF has produced an Agenda for Action which encapsulates these. To be clear I do not agree with the position reached on the Standard Method in December 2020 (that does not mean I entirely agreed with the earlier SM consulted on in the summer either and we within the LPDF did foresee some of the resistance that the Government encountered) and I see that this could be a brake on the delivery of the homes, and in particular affordable homes, that this country so desperately needs. 

 [If you could do with a refresher on the Standard Method debate Paul’s talking about in this answer: have at it.]

7. What did you make of the change in tone on planning reform at the Conservative party conference?

I think I’ve made my views known on the change of tone. Frankly, it is so disappointing as soundbites have consequences where planning is concerned and we’ve already seen the likes of Welwyn Hatfield and South Oxon react. At present it feels as if there is a bit of a vacuum developing with nobody, LPA or the private sector, knowing in which way policy will actually develop.

8. You’re parachuted into Michael Gove’s office at the brand new DHLUC. What would be top of your agenda?

Implement the LPDF’s Agenda for Action – now! Within this is the need to fund the work done by Local Authority Planning Teams (Policy and Development Control) adequately.

9. What does “levelling up” mean to you? 

I’m not clear at all and I think ‘levelling up’ may mean different things to different people and different regions. Fundamentally for me though I believe everybody should have a home that they can call their own and so many don’t, so to me ‘levelling up’ would correct this. This is not a North / South matter it is often a generational issue. I see ‘levelling up’ in housing as having so many benefits – correcting a social injustice, health (with benefits to wider society and the individual), climate change, social mobility, labour market mobility and economically through the impact that the sector has.  

10. What kind of a stamp would you like your work with the LPDF to leave on the development industry?

We are a young sector and a very youthful (me and John excepted) trade body but I’d be delighted if through our work we helped achieve some of the things I have talked about and that our role as Land Promoters was understood and recognised as a vital and integral part of the model for boosting housing delivery in this country. 

Thanks so much for your answers, Paul! Enjoy Budget day, #planoraks. And, in the meantime, whatever else you do (and whatever the Prime Minister may or may not have implied in his conference speech): #keeponplanning.