<p>The Raynsford Review has shown “overwhelming evidence that planning is not working as well as it should,” according to Nick Raynsford, president of the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA).</p><p>Speaking at HBF’s Planning Conference in Birmingham today (September 11), Raynsford said that his review of the English planning system, which began last year with a final report scheduled for November, showed there were a number of conflicting views of “what’s good for planning”. </p><p>But one agreed area was a need for certainty within the system. “In a large number of discussions [as part of the review] there was a desire for more certainty of what’s happening,” Raynsford said. “We believe there are parts of the system that are less capricious and give more certainty.” </p><p>He acknowledged that within the planning system there had been “a more or less constant process of reform. New changes have come in before other ones have taken effect.”</p><p>The Raynsford Review gathered evidence from the industry through interviews, meetings and written evidence. In its interim report, published in May, it put forward nine propositions, with a call for a “powerful, people-centred planning system”. Also speaking at the conference, Dr Hugh Ellis, TCPA’s policy director, said that …