Most of us spend our time firefighting, managing, responding - this is a focused, small-group residential designed for planning leaders who want time, space, and peer challenge to think strategically about their service. This is not a training course and it won’t give you off-the-shelf answers. Instead, it’s an opportunity to work alongside peers facing similar challenges and start developing your own answers to the big questions.
Why attend?
Most of us spend our time:
- Firefighting performance, appeals, complaints
- Managing budgets, recruitment, reform and LGR
- Responding to urgent pressures
This event is designed to deliberately step away from that and focus on:
- Where your service is going
- What value planning really adds
- How to communicate that value clearly
It’s about creating the thinking space we rarely get in day-to-day work.
What will you get out of it?
You’ll come away with tangible outputs, not just ideas. Based on the discussion, you'll leave with: that could include:
- A clear “elevator pitch” for the value of planning
- Practical ways to explain your service to members, communities and colleagues
- Insight into how other councils are organised and what they’re prioritising
- A clearer view of what to change next (and how to start next week)
We’ll also focus on ensuring you leave with something you can take back and use immediately, not just a “talking shop”.
What will we work on?
The content will be shaped by the cohort, but themes include:
- Cost, value and cost recovery
- Demonstrating the impact of planning services
- Culture and leadership in planning teams
- Digital and AI in planning services
- Public perception and trust in planning
You’ll bring your own challenges, data and examples, and learn directly from others.
How it works
- Small cohort (around a dozen participants)
- Light facilitation from PAS
- Peer-led, discussion-based approach
- Some light preparation (“homework”) to maximise value
- Potential external perspectives (e.g. comms/PR insight)
The emphasis is on learning from each other, not being taught.
Why a residential?
The residential format is intentional:
- Builds trust and honest conversations
- Creates focused, uninterrupted time
- Enables informal learning as well as structured sessions
Participants recognised that the real value often comes from conversations beyond the formal sessions.
What’s the commitment?
- Around 2 days (approx. 8 hours of working time)
- Includes a mix of structured sessions and informal discussion
- Potential follow-up to maintain momentum and track impact
Who is it for?
Senior planning leaders who:
- Want to step back and think strategically
- Are grappling with questions like:
- “What value does our service really add?”
- “How do we evidence and communicate that?”
- “What do we need to change next?”
What makes this different?
- Not a peer challenge “snapshot” – it’s more forward-looking and collaborative
- Focused on real change: what’s actually going to be different afterwards
Next steps
Register your interest by contacting [email protected]. Martin will get in touch to:
- Confirm dates (likely post-summer)
- Share a short proposal and preparation guide
- Outline expected outputs so you can justify the time internally
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