Over the last two years we have seen the passing of several members who made a rich contribution to the planning profession in Aotearoa. Most recently we lost our last Life Fellow Bob (Robert) Batty, who passed away in June 2024 at his home in Palmerston North.
Bob made a long, consistent and quality contribution to the planning profession, both in England and New Zealand. He was highly regarded for his service to town planning, becoming a Fellow of the Institute in 2010 and a Life Fellow in 2012. Our sincere condolences go to Bob’s family, friends, and long-time colleagues at Planz at this time.
Bob commenced his career in 1958 as a Planning Assistant in Sheffield City Council, progressing to Assistant County Planner at Leicester County Council, before in 1977 coming to New Zealand having had a thorough grounding in the U.K. planning processes.
He began working for the Canterbury Regional Planning Authority in the late 1970's as it developed the Canterbury Regional Plan following the passage of the Town and Country Planning Act 1977. Bob joined Gabites, Alington, Edmondson in its Christchurch office in 1979. Here as a partner he undertook planning services for a wide range of clients including District Councils, Catchment Boards, the Christchurch Drainage Board, and working on environmental impact reports for irrigation schemes in Canterbury, mining in the Coromandel and a variety of regional planning studies including energy assessments for the Canterbury and Waikato regions.
In 1992 Bob established his own practice with the typically cryptic and appropriate name of "Planit", later changing to Planz in 2012. From his South Island base Bob grew the company into the award-winning planning consultancy that it is today. Within the firm Bob used his skills in strategic planning, urban design, providing evidence before the Environment Court. He was a well-respected Hearings Commissioner and mentor before taking retirement in 2011.
Throughout his 50-year career Bob applied his positive views on planning as an effective tool in the design and development process. He had a highly developed understanding of the planner’s role to represent the public interest and devise, through both the statutory and the advisory processes of planning and resource management, better designs and more acceptable solutions. His skills have been used in local government management structures, energy projects, airport planning, central area retail policy reviews and major urban design projects, most notably Lambton Harbour, the Arnold River Hydro scheme, the Masham growth area and Invercargill, Timaru, and Porirua city centres. He also contributed to the work of voluntary boards such as in the redevelopment of Rangi Ruru Girl’s School.
Bob became an elected member of the Planning Institute Council from 1988 - 1990 and again from 1994 - 1996. He was respected particularly for his work helping to develop the Institute’s policies on planning practice and planning education. For many years he was involved with the local Canterbury branches of both the Planning Institute and RMLA, providing lectures, participating in debates, and continued to be involved on interview panels for full membership of NZPI. He was a member of the Christchurch City Urban Design Panel up until his retirement.
Bob’s Fellow award recognised 50 years of a disciplined and focused contribution to the practice and image of planning under a variety of legislative and administrative regimes. It acknowledged the respect and gratitude of members of the Institute as well as the many individuals in public authorities, private businesses, colleagues and students. Many within the profession appreciated the advice, wisdom and understanding demonstrated by Bob in both his professional capacity and also his personal attributes of service with excellence.
Planz will be holding a gathering to remember Bob’s life on the 18th of July at Strawberry Fare in Christchurch from 4-6pm.
With the publication of Planning Quarterly currently on hold as we look to transition to an online platform, we have missed the opportunity to acknowledge the loss of other Life Fellows in the past two years:
Te Kōkiringa Taumata would like to acknowledge the loss of other members who have made their own important contributions to planning and the planning profession. We will do this at our annual NZPI conferences with a formal acknowledgement. We would appreciate if members could let us know about colleagues and peers who have passed away so that we can formally acknowledge them in this way at our next conference in 2025.
