Planning has had a bad reputation over the last decade with successive government's blaming the planning system (and planners!) for all the economic woes. This, together with the austerity measures impacting on local government has seen a significant reduction in spending within planning departments since 2010.
According to the Royal Town Planning Institute's recent State of the Profession survey spending on development management in 2025 was 9.6% less than in 2010 (in real terms) and 28.8% less in planning policy functions (local plan teams) within local authorities.
