The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has warned that council planning departments are facing a recruitment crisis. RTPI research has shown that 13% of planning posts in London are vacant and 17% of posts are currently filled by expensive agency staff. It also found that the proportion of RTPI members working in the private sector had risen from 18% in 1997 to 24% in 2001, renewing fears that private housebuilders are taking the best staff. RTPI’s policy development officer Chris Scrafton said: “Local authority planning has been severely under resourced for decades, which has lead to many of the problems we now have including a lack of skilled and motivated planners.” (Guardian)