What is it like to be a planner in Britain today? The planning profession has been in existence for almost 100 years, but the role and status of the urban planner has been transformed significantly over that time. Planning remains a ‘professional’ occupation, an activity of both public and private sectors, a function of the state at several scales of government, and a process through which a balance is sought between short-term needs and long-term trends. It is managed by ‘expert’ individuals, educated and trained in the so-called art and science of town planning, who provide advice and guidance to elected politicians in the latter's decision-taking obligations. And it necessitates effective communication in dealing with various groups, organisations and interests, and their contestation of choices on future development proposals and the use of land. It is, for the most part, a transparent process, offering communities and citizens an opportunity to become involved in new policy and in decisions affecting the future development and wellbeing of places. Above all, it is an activity that has experienced constant pressure placed on it – from government, politicians, businesses, environmentalists, developers, architects, amenity groups and neighbours. Planners’ work has not remained static over the decades, but has ebbed and flowed according to changing professional practice and – more pertinently – changing ideological stances of the state and political preferences of governing parties. What comprises the planner's duties today is far removed from those of the planner in the 1930s, the 1960s, or even the 1980s.

Since the turn of the 21st century, there has been no greater pace of reform to planning in Britain. The New Labour, Coalition and devolved governments have embarked on a continuous cycle of planning reform, intended to make planning more relevant and responsive to the needs of a modern and constantly evolving nation. But planning has also been affected indirectly as a consequence of the processes of devolution, the rolling-back of the welfare state, the rise of neoliberalism, the rolling-out of new public management and its impacts on the public sector, and the enhancement of opportunities for public participation in policy and decision making.