In this first episode of 2026, we have Town Legal’s new Manchester partners on the pod. Get to know Lisa Tye, Kathryn Jump and David Mathias in this special episode; their career highlights, their favourite planning cases and, of course, whether they support City or United.

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Victoria and Nikita run through their planning themed “12 Days of Christmas” for 2025 with some key highlights from the year – plenty of cases, lots of consultations and, of course, the recently published draft NPPF.

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Victoria and Nikita are back with more planning news stories, including the Supreme Court’s very recent decision in the CG Fry case, the Revised Flood Risk PPG, the latest on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill’s progress through Parliament, and decisions on a couple of recovered planning appeals. We also welcome Virginia Blackman, head of the Site Assembly and Compulsory Purchase team at Avison Young, to talk to us about the publication of the New Towns Taskforce’s recommendations and the government’s response.

Victoria and Nikita bring you an overview of a number of key updates from the last quarter, including various new proposed reforms and consultations. In a case law heavy episode, we also cover cases on the “no substantial difference” test, the Supreme Court’s decision in the Spitalfields case and cases on duties of relevant authorities relating to National Parks and National Landscapes.

We celebrate the milestone of hitting 10,000 downloads and welcome Town Legal colleagues Aline Hyde (instructed on the recent West Suffolk / Animal Health Trust Research centre case on the interpretation of Class E) and Spencer Tewis-Allen (instructed on the recent John Lewis West Ealing appeal) to the podcast.

With the return of our quarterly episodes, Victoria and Nikita share their thoughts on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, and the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the Mead case which considered the role and relationship of the NPPF and PPG. We are also pleased to welcome Nick Grant, barrister at Landmark Chambers, back to the podcast to share his experience of how grey belt policy is being applied.

Victoria is back and, together with Nikita, they run through a planning themed “12 Days of Christmas” looking back at some highlights from 2024 including the recent publication of a revised NPPF.

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Still undecided or interested to understand what to expect from the newly elected government? Join us as we interview three special guests on the parties’ manifestos – Steve Quartermain (former Chief Planner) on planning and housing policies, Duncan Field (Town Legal) on energy and environment policies, and John Walker (CT Group) on politics and planning. [NB: We recorded this episode in various different locations which, at times, has impacted sound quality.]

Join us as we look back at Patrick Robinson’s long and successful career ahead of his retirement. Patrick was one of Town Legal’s founding partners and the firms’ first Managing Partner. Starting his career before the advent of mobile phones and emails, Patrick has had a very impressive career, and we discuss some of his key highlights (and a few lowlights).

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