RTPI West Midlands

ROYALTOWN PLANNING INSTITUTE

WEST MIDLANDS REGION

BUSINESS PLAN & BUDGET

2015 - 2016

RTPI West Midlands

Business Plan 2015 - 2016

1. Introduction

At a time of limited resources and increasing expectations, it is essential that the RTPI and its regions make the best use of what they have.

The activities and services provided by the West Midlands Region contribute to achieving the RTPI Mission ‘to advance the art and science of town and country planning for the benefit of the public.’

This Business Plan seeks to focus on key services that will help to develop and support regional members and promote the vital role that town and country planning plays in our society.

It is closely aligned with the current RTPI Corporate Strategy, while also reflecting the specific circumstances and experiences in this region.

A range of key objectives have been established which underpin what we will seek to achieve and deliver.

This Business Plan focuses specifically on 2015, although it is anticipated, subject to assessment, that similar areas of activity will continue into 2016 unless otherwise stated.

Objectives

(i)To provide a wide range of opportunities for professional development in order to improve the skills of planners in the region.

(ii)To support those members who have lost their jobs and to assist them in getting back into planning-related work.

(iii)To raise the profile of the planning profession and to promote it as a career choice for young people.

(iv)To contribute to the development and effective operation of the planning process through debate and engagement with the government, agencies (including the Local Enterprise Partnerships) and other institutions.

(v)To encourage a wider involvement of members in the activities and services of the RTPI region.

(vi)To make individuals and organisations in the region more aware of the services we provide.

(vii)To increase the public’s awareness of the contribution that spatial planning makes to meeting the needs of society.

(viii)To support planners and communities in delivering the Government’s localism agenda and neighbourhood planning.

(ix)To assist in delivering the RTPI’s ‘Planning to Live with Climate Change’commitment.

(x)To ensure the Region operates in an efficient and effective manner in delivering its services.

Although the regional tier of government has been abolished, we believe it is important as a region of the RTPI to continue to function and to engage with sister Institutes and other organisations at this level.

A specific challenge we face at the present time is how to increase the level of sponsorship and other forms of income in orderto maintain and support the delivery of various activities.

2. Regional Context

(a) Characteristics

The West Midlands Region covers the historic counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin Unitary Authority), Staffordshire (including Stoke-on-Trent Unitary Authority), Warwickshire and Worcestershire, together with the Metropolitan Authorities that cover the old West Midlands County, and a small part of the Peak District National Park Authority. The region covers some 13,000 square kilometres and has a population of around 5.6 million (2011 Census).

As at September 2014, the Region’s membershipstood at about 1650 (all classes included).

The West Midlands is a region of great diversity, ranging from the extensive conurbation of Birmingham and the Black Country, to sparsely populated rural areas such as the Welsh Marches. This diversity is also reflected in employment, skills, culture, opportunities and quality of life experienced across the region. The economic recession has hit the region hard; it experienced contraction at a faster rate than other parts of the UK.

At the centre of the region is the City of Birmingham. This, in itself, presents advantages and disadvantages in the functioning of the RTPI Region. On the one hand, Birmingham is accessible from most parts of the region and provides a focus for administration and a number of activities. On the other hand, it is important to provide opportunities for members across the whole region to attend events and be active in the work of their Institute at the local level.

(b) Services

TheRTPI, and the West Midlands Region specifically, have benefited from the commitment of a number of its members who seek to provide effective services to the membership and the wider public, mainly through the work of various Specialist Groups.

The RTPI Regions have been set a number of key priorities and the West Midlands Region will seek to deliver them within the means it has available.

1. Generating income to help support their activities

This region has been successful in attracting a range of sponsors to support various activities and we are grateful to them. Our Business Plan for 2015 anticipates an income of about £8,000 from sponsorship and further opportunities will be sought.

2. Encouraging the growth of RTPI membership

Opportunities will be taken at CPD and other events, and through regular communication with colleagues working in the planning sector, to encourage them to become members of the RTPI and to transfer to a different class when eligible. Events will continue to be held to explain the Assessment of Professional Competence and to support licentiate planners going through this process.

3. Developing and shaping planning policy and practice

The Region’s CPD programme and magazine in particular provide opportunities for members to keep informed about key issues they face in their work. The use of social media to share information, experiences and opinions is to be developed, such as through the region’s own Blog.

4. Empowering communities to be involved in planning

A specific initiative to be introduced in the RTPI’s centenary year, and to be developed in subsequent years, is to raise awareness of planning in schools. A network of school ambassadors is to be co-ordinated and supported through advice and materials to go into schools to explain the role of planning and to promote planning as a career. The West Midlands Region intends to be active in delivering this project.

The Planning Aid Service in the region will continue to advise communities on how to produce neighbourhood plans. It will also support volunteers who provide advice to the public on planning matters.

The Region anticipates maintaining and, where possible, developing many of its activities and services set out in the Business Plan for 2015 in subsequent years. This will clearly be dependent on the commitment of its members to dedicate time and energy on a voluntary basis, and on the availability of funding. Ongoing review of our experiences and outcomes will be used to gauge whether and how services should be maintained, adjusted and improved.

(c) Resources

After a number of years of experiencing a stable situation, the West Midlands Region is facing significant and interrelated challenges. In many ways it is a victim of its own success. We now have serious concerns about the ability of the region to sustain, let alone improve, the services it provides due to limited financial and human resources. This particularly affects well-established and successful activitieswhich are resource intensive.

The region provides a wide range of activities and services which benefit its members and promote the role of planning. The Young Planners Group and Urban Design Forum are particularly active; the regional magazine, Tripwire, is a substantial publication; and the CPD programme offers diverse and affordable training events. All of these, and various other activities, are down to the commitment of a significant number of regional members contributing to the work of their professional Institute.

The introduction of the season ticket arrangement in 2012 has enhanced the CPD programme, both in terms of product and income. Largely as a result of this, the region had a surplus of around £26,500 at the end of 2013.

This is a healthy situation to be in and it provides scope to expand existing activities and introduce new ones for the benefit of regional members and the role of planning in society. However, to do so requires human resources as well as finance, and there are severe limitations on how much can be done on a voluntary basis due to work and other pressures.

The West Midlands Region has had a paid Regional Co-ordinator in recent years who is invaluable in developing services and supporting voluntary effort. The Region was successful in making a case for the post’s hours to be increased from 20 to 24 per week in 2014 and it is proposed to continue with this arrangement in 2015 and 2016.

It is readily acknowledged that the performance of the CPD Season Ticket is critical in providing the income to support these additional paid hours.As things stand this should be possible due to the substantial surplus the Region accrued over the two years 2012/13 as a result of the successful introduction of the CPD Season Ticket. Although it is apparent that this level of income has not been sustained at the same level in 2014, it is reasonable to utilise the reserves built up in order to fund the additional hours worked by the Regional Co-ordinator as this is fundamental to the effective operation of the Region and the delivery of its varied and valued services.

Clearly the situation will need to be kept closely under review,particularly beyond 2016, as a substantial year on year reduction in the Region’s reserves could not be sustained in the longer term.

Overall, the budget for 2015 anticipates the surplus being reduced further, from £22,000 at the end of 2014 down to approximately £16,700 by the end of 2015.

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1. Identification and Delivery of Targets

A wide range of core activities have been identified that relate to the RTPI’s Corporate Strategy and deliver services for the benefit of members and communities in the Region.

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4. Relationship between RTPI Corporate Strategy objectives and regional activities

The matrix assesses our activities and services against the RTPI’s corporate objectives.

Dark grey = primary relationship Light grey = secondary relationship

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5. Budget for 2015

The table provides a breakdown of the budget that will be required to deliver the activities identified in section 3.

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