About us

We support professional planners and planning inspectors, most of whom work in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Planning Inspectorate.

Planners (sometimes referred to as town or urban planners) work across local and central government, arms length bodies, the third sector and in the private sector. They play a vital part in how we manage, change and protect existing and new buildings, public spaces, landscapes and infrastructure. They work across all geographic scales from national to hyper local. 

Within national government planners are most likely to be involved in shaping and implementing policies for managing development through legislation, regulation, policy, best practice and stewardship of the activities that are delivered by local government, statutory consultees to planning and the Planning Inspectorate. Their work is at the heart of delivering economic growth, the homes communities need and the infrastructure (water, transport, energy) that facilitates economic activities while also delivering on environmental improvements, the journey to net zero and climate adaptation.

Professional planners do a wide range of roles within government including:

  • expert advice on the operation and reform of the system of town and country planning and the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime
  • professional advice regarding ministerial planning decisions for individual developments, the set up and delivery of major capital projects or programmes and modernising systems and processes through digital planning

They may also provide specialist advice, for example on transport planning, urban design, environmental regulation within planning or related parts of the regulatory system that interacts with planning, for example building regulations.

Planning is an accredited profession via the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), following the completion of education and work experience. You can join the Government Planning Profession if you are a member of the RTPI or are eligible for membership. We also welcome members of other built environment professions including architecture, urban design, transport planning and ecology. If you work in a planning related role and are interested in becoming a planner we would also love to hear from you. We provide induction and training opportunities for colleagues who work in and around planning and welcome associated members of the profession.

To get in touch, please email planningprofessionevents@communities.gov.uk