Consultants

Michael Bach
Michael Bach BSc (Econ), MSc (Planning) MS (Urban Planning) Planning Consultant. Until April 2005 Principal Planner, ODPM – responsible since 1993 for developing national planning policy for town centres, retail, leisure, economic development and housing. He developed policy for town centres and retail, PPG6 (1996) and PPS6 (2005), including scrutiny by 5 Select Committees, policy review, major casework and legal challenges. Commissioned research to define town centres to allow access to national data. PPS6 specifies requirement for regional and local forecasts – commissioned good practice guide for assessing need and impact (forthcoming) and was involved in several regional needs assessments, including London. Recent work has included work on sales densities, improving productivity of retail floorspace and the implications for forecasting the need for future floorspace.