Member

Louise Sloan is the chief planner for both Newcastle City Council and the North East Combined Authority. I emphasise that the amendment envisages that authorities, including strategic authorities, together with their constituent councils, can choose to have a chief planner for more than one such authority; how to do that is a matter of their choice. She said that the role of a chief planner is “providing the strategic direction and strong professional leadership that a planning authority needs. A chief planner is a person, and that matters. It creates a clear and trusted voice for our communities, our elected members and our developers. Making this role statutory would strengthen our profession and inspire the next generation to aspire to be chief planners themselves”.