Wednesday 24 October 2012

Little Red Riding Hood


The DWF Biggart Baillie Advert from the Scottish Planner
You know, sometimes you have to respect the goons who run the Scottish Branch of the RTPI. I received my personal copy of the marvellous yet laughable Scottish Planner the other day and the big news is they have lost the sponsorship of the excellent Halcrow.  The Scottish Planner is now sponsored by DWF Biggart Baillie!

So who are they - these Dwarf people? We all know that Biggart Baillie are one of the most prominent firms of solicitors in the land but who are the Dwarfs? Well I've looked at their website but I am none the wiser about what they do. It's all written in some kind of business speak which I've heard before at conferences and CPD sessions but honestly I have no idea what it means. For example, DWF “establishes requirements for the implementation of significant changes in organisational mission”. DWF also, “initiates and influences enterprise wide business process analysis”! It's very very impressive isn't it?  At a guess I would say they were some kind of management consultancy.  They're based in Essex but can travel apparently - which is a useful skill.

From all this, it's a clear sign that the RTPI Goons have recognised that planning is now part of The Enterprise, completely at home with property speculators, smart businessmen and the development industry who game the system to their own ends. Excellent! Why else would the Scottish Planner be sponsored by Solicitors and Management Consultants instead of Town Planners?  Why not Keppies?  As planning disappears as a profession, legislation will eventually reflect this and write planning out of the Statute books.  As a regulator of land use or a ’protector of the environment’ town planning will cease to exist and will simply become a distant memory.

In agreeing sponsorship from a company as blatantly part of The Enterprise as DWF Biggart Baillie, the Scottish Planner has allowed the wolf into its bed. The RTPI is doomed - during the night, in the moments before it enters oblivion, it will find a set of very white teeth round it's throat  - and there won't be a brave hunter to rescue Little Red Riding Hood!  So well done RTPI Scotland for helping to bring a quick end to the Institute. It's a brave move in the right direction and definitely a game changer. But for you, the game is already a bogey. Goodbye!