The week beginning 10 October will be a particularly important one for the LI. On 11 October we will be publishing Local Green Infrastructure: helping communities make the most of their landscape, a guide to help people make positive changes in their neighbourhoods by using the natural environment and integrating this into the way places are planned, designed and managed. With the localism agenda rolling out across the country, more and more work for landscape architects will come from small local projects so the profession needs to ensure that the clients who will commission this work are well informed about what landscape architects can do for them.
On Wednesday 12 October, we launch our autumn lecture series at the Garden Museum with a look at Hampstead Garden Suburb and its influence on a century of landscape design.
On Thursday 13 October, our AGM and inaugural Jellicoe Lecture will take place. This has proved to be so popular that we have moved the venue.
The day after the AGM, on 14 October, the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) has invited the LI to share its views on the way forward on planning reform in England. The publication of the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) just after parliament rose in July has caused a furore across England. Amid the noisy campaigning, the government is keen to hear some reasonable and thoughtful voices as well, and has asked the LI to come in for discussions. We have already submitted evidence on the NPPF to the CLG Select Committee (under Committee rules we are not allowed to publish this until we have their permission) and are working on a full response to the government that will go in on 17 October.
Sometimes with policy work you can feel as though you are just plugging away and having very little impact, and then at other times it just all comes together. I am very glad that all of the work that has gone into preparing our position on the NPPF is paying off and, if England ends up with a better planning system as a result, everyone involved can feel rightly proud of our efforts.
Reading this makes my deciisnos easier than taking candy from a baby.