A PAS case study on rethinking planning and transforming the way authorities work.

1. Re-thinking Planning
2015
Local planning authorities share their
experiences of “Re-thinking Planning” with
support from PAS

2. Following our ‘rest-learning-
from-the-best’ philosophy, we
found a council that has
radically changed its ways of
working using the Vanguard
Method of Systems Thinking.
We liked what they’d done so
much we asked their Head of
Planning to help other councils
see if they could benefit from a
similar approach.
The result is something we call
“Re-thinking Planning”. This is
the story.
Re-thinking
Planning
Case Study

3. Halton Borough Council was
concerned about the length of
time taken to determine
applications
Doncaster Council was initially
concerned about their waste
and minerals statistics after a
target for these planning
applications was introduced
Cheshire West and Chester
Council also wanted to
improve their service and be
able to demonstrate
continuous improvement

4. So PAS invited these
authorities to “rethink” their
development management
process based on a ‘systems
thinking’ approach developed
by Professor John Seddon a
British occupational
psychologist.
It’s a way of assessing the
design and operation of a
system – the way it flows -
and for transforming it
There are three main steps:
Check-Plan-Do
Check
•Identify the purpose of the ‘system’
(Development Management service)
and what customers (applicants)
want.
•How does it work? Experience your
customer’s journey from start to end?
Plan
•What needs changing? What bits of
the process add no value to the
purpose of your service?
•What would happen if you changed
those things about your process?
Do
•Experiment – get a small team of staff to
change how they process a live
application and repeat experiments.
•Make the changes that work and roll
others staff in to working the same way
•Go back to Check (again and again…)

5. You may be excited at this
point, but if you are feeling like
it’s too much “management
talk”, before we go on think of
the process a bit like this:
Stop, think about and
experience how your
process actually works for
applicants and officers from
the start to the end and then
experiment and change it to
how it should be – sensibly.
PAS don’t even call it system
thinking. Martin Hutchings
from PAS explains why.
Click here to watch Martin Hutchings
explain why PAS call this rethinking
planning

6. Meet Stephen Alexander,
Head of Planning at
Wolverhampton Council.
Stephen and his team used
and continue to use this
approach in Wolverhampton to
shape the way they deliver
their planning service
Stephen explained how his
team had used this process to
re-think their planning service
to be more focused on their
customers and their core
purpose to deliver a better city
Click here to read more thoughts
from Stephen Alexander on
“Rethinking Planning” and his
experience at Wolverhampton

7. So with the help of a few
colleagues (and an armful of
Vanguard books) PAS sent
Stephen Alexander out to work
with the planning teams at
Halton, Doncaster and
Cheshire West and Chester
councils to see if they could
benefit from a similar
approach.
Anyway these authorities
started rethinking planning…

8. This is what Tim Gibbs,
Head of Planning said
happened at Halton
It was different at
Doncaster according to
Richard Purcell,
Development Manager
Nick Smith, Principal
Planner at Cheshire West
and Chester explained
how it worked there.
Click here to read more about Halton’s
experience of Re-thinking Planning
Click here to read more about
Doncaster’s experience of Re-thinking
Planning
Click here to read more about
Cheshire and Cheshire West’s
experience of Re-thinking Planning
Cheshire
West and
Chester
Doncaster
Halton

9. OK, so rethinking planning
seems to be having a positive
effect in different types of
authority with different
planning and development
pressures.
But does it really make a
difference to developers?
Planning managers are on
message but what do the staff
think? Are they on the same
page?
We took a closer look at
Halton and the answer was a
resounding “Yes”!
Click here to watch Head of Planning
Tim Gibbs and some of his team at
Halton Council tell you what really
happened.

10. So rethinking planning isn’t
easy and it takes time. But
the results are looking good
so far: faster decisions,
happier applicants and
happier officers
Officers were enthusiastic but
realistic about the process.
They emphasised how
important it is to go through
the re-thinking process
yourself and not jump to (or
simply copy) changes.
They also had some advice
for authorities thinking about
Re-thinking planning …
“Make the time and resource available.
Working in this way takes time and it is hard
to take time out from the day job to look at
a system even if the perception is it is
working quite well. But it takes time to
understand your processes” Tim, Halton
“Listen to your customers, what really
matters to them. And don’t be afraid of
failure because you cant learn without
experimenting and if you are
experimenting some things won’t work but
as long as you learn and move on you’re
always progressing and that’s what
continuous change and improvement is
about”. Nick, Cheshire West and Chester ’
“Go for it and go into it with an open
mind…” Richard, Doncaster

11. Rethinking planning is
transforming the way these
authorities work and may
have the potential to radically
improve your service
It’s not a one-off project or a
quick fix; it takes time and on-
going commitment.
But it can empower staff to
make a system work for them
(rather than the other way
around), improve customer
experience and help focus on
your purpose: enabling the
creation of great places.
Click here to watch Martin Hutchings
from PAS explain more about how to
decide if rethinking planning is right
for your authority.
Could re-thinking
planning work for your
authority?

12. PAS don’t think that systems
thinking is appropriate for
everyone. We think it depends
on talented leadership – not
just in the planning department
but corporately and politically.
And we continue to wonder
how long it lasts, especially
when the original leaders
move on.
But if you are ready to
embrace it Re-thinking
Planning might be right for
your authority.
Re-thinking
Planning
Case Study

13. Are you ready to rethink
planning?
Find out more from :
PAS@local.gov.uk
www.pas.gov.uk
Last update: October 2015, Prepared for PAS by Citiesmode