An innovative commentary ‘blog’ keeping planners up-to-date with latest developments in town planning law is amongst latest enhancements at the Royal Town Planners’ Institute (RTPI) web site at planningmatters.co.uk/.

Updated every two weeks, the blog is one of a number of new features on the site, developed and managed by Echelon Publishing, including interactive self-assessments that enable planners to monitor and record continued professional development.

“The RTPI site combines Echelon generic learning materials dealing with business and ‘soft’ skills with a great deal of information specific to town planning professionals,” says managing director of Echelon Publishing, David Hill.

“This new blog enables complex but vital information to be conveyed as simply and quickly as possible to all who need the information.”

Echelon has appointed Alistair Morrison to consult on promoting the site to RTPI members.

Morrison was formerly managing director of e-learning producer Skillchange Systems, a director of Vega plc and a director of market research and training specialists Lorien Customer Focus. A long-time member of the British Learning Association (BLA), he was instrumental in re-launching the BLA’s Quality Mark accreditation last November.

He comments: “Increasingly, professionalism is based on and reinforced by adhering to nationally accepted standards. Technology can play a valuable part in disseminating the information and learning materials vital in enabling professional development.

“The planningmatters.co.uk site is a prime example of what can be done to promote, encourage and cement professionalism,” he adds.

The body empowered to provide for the effective planning of the UK’s towns and countryside, its core membership is made up of fully qualified professional planners, with nearly two thirds working as planning officers for local councils. The balance work as consultants for central government, for property developers and the voluntary sector or as teachers and researchers in universities.

An online ‘learning zone’ for storing and distributing knowledge and learning that enables RTPI members to access instant solutions to on-the-job planning issues and to develop their management and planning skills.

Partnering with Echelon provided access to an electronically published portfolio of over 2,000 management solutions. These range from self-development modules and action lists on how to tackle specific business problems to best practice essays and are underpinned by a system for storing and delivering the solutions instantaneously via the web and for tracking usage.

Underpinned by Echelon’s learning management system, planningmatters.co.uk/ provides subscribers with the opportunity to access and download this material as and when they are faced with a business or planning problem.

By offering members the opportunity to set up an electronic learning log, the Institute is also supporting them in tracking and recording their learning for the purpose of continuous professional development (CPD).