Rochford Life has an interview with Shaun Scutton (Chief Planning Officer and Head of Planning and Transportation ) and Councillor Keith Hudson ( Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transportation and deputy leader of the District Council).
Lots of paragraphs on the core stategy, but also a bit more personal stuff..
Shaun, may we start with you? Where do you come from?
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SS: Well I started out on the traditional route for many professional town planners and that was taking a first degree in Geography and then drifting into post-graduate qualification in Town Planning at which point I then followed the traditional route of many planners into local government and worked my way up through the structure to the position I am in now.
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I?ve now been here since 1986, so I?ve got a fairly good knowledge of the District, and whether people in the District believe this or not, I?ve got quite an affinity for understanding what the District is about. I also live in the District as well. I?ve always believed that that was important.
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I have a strategic role to play as the overall manager of the Planning, Transportation and Economic Development functions of the authority, and I am a member of the Senior Management team as well, so I bring a very strong corporate perspective to the work that I do. I am a great believer in allowing staff the room and opportunity to do their work.
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The people in my division are professional planners and so on, who have great knowledge and expertise, and should be left to get on to do the job as much as possible. I think that is important. I step in when there are particular issues that come along and get involved in some of the bigger planning applications, also being involved in some of the key policy issues. I am quite heavily involved in the work on the Joint Action Plan that we have been preparing with Southend Council in respect of the airport and environs, so I will take a lead on certain specific projects but mostly it?s more of a strategic overseeing role.