Frances Summers is a Leeds Beckett University alumnus who graduated from the MSc Urban and Rural Planning course in 2020. Here, she shares her experience of this Joint Distance Learning Consortium (JDLC) course and how it has since helped her career.

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you've been doing since you graduated 

While studying for my master’s degree at Leeds Beckett University, I was promoted to Senior Planning Policy Officer at Purbeck District Council and since graduating, have become a Principal Planning Consultant at Capita.

While working in this role, it became clear to me and my colleagues how passionate I am about the profession and talking to the next generation. This inspired me to explore research and guest lecturing where I was able to talk to students about social equity and planning and their link with governance. I was subsequently offered the opportunity to supervise postgraduate students carrying out their dissertations at the University of the West of England. Following this, I’ve become module leader for some of the BSc in Urban Planning at the University of Gloucestershire. Half of my week is spent in practice and the other half is spent teaching. I love it and it’s the perfect balance for me.

After completing my master’s degree, I became Vice-Chair and then Chair of the Dorset Young Planners and Secretariat for the RTPI Regional Management Board in the South West. I was nominated and selected as one of The Planner’s Woman of Influence in 2021 and went on to win the RTPI South West Young Planner of the Year and was also nominated for a Rising Star award. About 15 months after finishing my degree, I also successfully achieved Chartered membership of the RTPI.

What have been the highlights and challenges of your career so far? 

Continuous learning! I absolutely thrive on learning and in planning, the learning never stops. I love teaching too. Passing on my passion for planning and bringing a large element of practice into the degree is great as the students love to see the schemes I’m working on.

One of my work highlights is where I project managed a significant consultation involving over 15 experts on a local plan to try new methods of engagement. I believe there is a lack of trust between local authorities and communities relating to planning, and its primarily due to a lack of understanding about what planning can and can’t do. The team set out with the ambition to help the public understand so they were able to contribute to the consultation with more knowledge of what they could influence. I persuaded my colleagues to speak on their specialist subjects in webinars and podcasts. They were a little worried at first but after some confidence building, they gave it a go and really enjoyed explaining proposals in this way. More than 46,000 people viewed our webpages, over 5,000 people viewed our webinars, 700 listened to our podcasts, and we received around 9,000 responses from people aged 12 up to 84 years of age which hopefully reflects our reach.

I’ve also taken neighbourhood plans successfully through examination, undertaken an appeal for major housing developments, determined planning applications, calculated affordable housing needs for a unitary council, and developed a climate change strategy for a local plan, all while working closely with councillors, parish councils, the public, developers and statutory consultees. 

How has your experience of studying at Leeds Beckett influenced you and your career?

I was a student rep during my master’s degree, and this empowered me to support others. I’ve continued this since, always helping more junior colleagues learn and nurturing everyone and nominating colleagues for awards.

Learning independently meant the cohort lived all over the UK so we set up a WhatsApp group which we relied on heavily. We would use it to boost morale and support people that were going through a particularly tough time. We still have the WhatsApp group but we now use it to share hints and tips from our work around the UK.

How did you find the experience of studying online, and accessing resources and support?

Studying remotely was a significantly positive experience for me. If I were unable to study remotely, I wouldn’t have been able to do the course as my husband was away a lot in the Royal Marines and I had small children. It has also taught me how to self-motivate and how to separate working time from home or family time which has been invaluable due to the nature of working from home more often.

Online resources and support were always useful and easy to find, and I can’t remember there ever being a problem. Obviously there are no substitutes for speaking to someone face to face but I always found the tutors were very quick to respond to my queries.

What advice would you give someone thinking about studying this course? 

Organise your time wisely. You will need time off so plan for this first around your deadlines and then stick to it.

What's next for you?

I’m still enjoying learning about all sorts of aspects of planning, learning from my colleagues and engaging in Continuing Professional Development (CPD). I hope to continue specializing in housing policy and delivery and exploring how planning can improve social equality then implementing this in my work. Over the longer term, I hope to undertake a part time PhD.