Charities in the Better Planning Coalition, including the RSPB, Woodland Trust and CPRE, have urged the Prime Minister to reset planning reforms ahead of this summer’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) decisions. Their letter backs measures on compulsory purchase, curbing “hope value”, expanding public bodies’ land assembly powers and enforcing build‑out of consented schemes, alongside extra funding for social and affordable homes. They warn that repeated weakening of planning policy is driving speculative, poor‑quality development in unsuitable locations while major housebuilders cut output amid higher costs and weak demand.

Architects Registration Board chair Alan Kershaw has been reappointed by the Privy Council for a further two-year term as the regulator continues a major overhaul of UK architectural practice. Since his initial appointment in 2020, ARB has redesigned initial education and training routes, introduced a mandatory CPD scheme, updated its Code of Conduct and agreed mutual recognition and MoU frameworks with several non-UK jurisdictions. The next phase centres on embedding these regulatory changes while responding to technological shifts and evolving public expectations across the built environment.

SNIPEF, the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers Federation, has elected Dundee-based contractor Steve Craig as its 102nd president for the 2026/27 term, drawing on a career that began with an apprenticeship at Munro Petrosea in 1979 and the co-founding of APS Dundee Ltd in 2012. Craig plans to prioritise apprenticeship reform and funding, particularly for SME plumbing and heating firms that carry most of the recruitment and training burden. He will use SNIPEF’s existing research and ongoing government engagement to push for changes in apprenticeship support, skills and competence frameworks linked to net-zero building services.