Our work

The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) is part of the Local Government Association. We provide high quality help, advice, support and training on planning and service delivery to councils. We help local government officers and councillors stay effective and up to date. We have a ‘sector led' improvement approach, where local authorities help each other to continuously improve.

Photo of rooftops of office buildings

We are part funded by a grant from the Department for Levelling Up, Homes & Communities (DLUHC). This grant pays for a programme of support for councils the details of which are agreed each year. In general terms we support councils that are most in need and also the wider sector where there is reform or change. We also do a small amount of work directly for councils who want our help and expertise reviewing and improving their planning service. 

How we can help:

  • Our events and training sessions cover the current and most relevant planning topics. We will be replacing our Leadership Essentials, residential sessions at Warwick Conference Centre in Coventry.
  • We make training materials, toolkits and cribsheets to make your working life easier. For example you can see our guide to doing a local plan review. We want you to take it, use it and pass it on as you see fit. Unless we say so, it's all free; produced by experts and ready to use.
  • Our discussion forums are on the KnowledgeHub, (also known as KHub). If you have a planning issue, chances are that someone on there will be able to help or offer helpful advice. The PAS team hang out there too. 
  • If you do nothing else, you should sign up to our bulletinIt's not just another newsletter, it's how we announce our events and new publications.

Details of how you can get in touch are on our contact page