What Town Planners Do Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of abbreviations
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Introducing contemporary planning practice
- 2 Southwell: the privatised local authority
- 3 Simpsons: the values-driven global consultancy
- 4 Bakerdale: a ‘traditional’ local authority commercialising under austerity politics
- 5 OIP: the ‘regular’ planning consultancy
- 6 So, just what are planners doing?
- Notes
- References
- Index
4 - Bakerdale: a ‘traditional’ local authority commercialising under austerity politics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 June 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of abbreviations
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Introducing contemporary planning practice
- 2 Southwell: the privatised local authority
- 3 Simpsons: the values-driven global consultancy
- 4 Bakerdale: a ‘traditional’ local authority commercialising under austerity politics
- 5 OIP: the ‘regular’ planning consultancy
- 6 So, just what are planners doing?
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
4.1 Introduction
‘I was good at geography at school, and when I was asked to think about what career I wanted to do I thought that I liked architecture so I might want to be an architect, but then I thought, “I can't draw”, and in those days, architects used to draw with a pen. I thought about town planning, and I lived in Slough and our house was about one hundred yards from the green belt. It used to fascinate me that London had spread out towards Slough and then this thing called the green belt was created and it stopped the march of London. I thought, “Wow, what a wonderful idea that is!” I can look out of my bedroom window into the green belt, and it's only there because planning took control of what was happening. I found that an inspiring thought. This is what planning can do! So I went to do a geography degree and then a planning degree and I loved it; thirty-five years later and I’m still here!’ (Dan, major projects team leader, Bakerdale District Council)
A commuter town, Bakerdale lacks the twee gloss characteristic of some of its neighbours. The high street feels like it has seen better days, with several of the doorways being homes for the homeless. The council offices play their part in reinforcing those first impressions. A solid-looking early-twentiethcentury building faces the road, post-modern add-ons to the rear, functional but conservative. As we enter we pass democracy manifest: a large board on an easel depicting each member of the council. No political party affiliations are given. They’re not all old white men, but mostly.
We have some time to wait. It is quiet in the generic reception area (see Figure 4.1). Carpet tiles, ceiling tiles, a ‘collect a ticket and wait for your number to be called’ atmosphere. Notices pinned to green baize advertise local employment opportunities. It feels dated. Simon Wood comes to meet us right on time. He is chummy, showing us where the toilets are and informing us that there will be no fire alarms. He is in charge of the change-management programme in the planning department, introducing himself as having previously worked for a developer “and overseen hundreds of wind farm and mobile phone mast applications”.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- What Town Planners DoExploring Planning Practices and the Public Interest through Workplace Ethnographies, pp. 105 - 142Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2022