Calls have been made for a renewed effort to attract more planners into the profession as it continues to suffer from an ‘image problem'.

Principal planning officer at Stafford BC, Alex Yendole, an adviser to the District Councils' Network, called for the Government to appoint a ‘household name' peer from the House of Lords to act as a planning champion at the national level.

He said: ‘Planning has always got posts that are vacant because we can't fill them.

'We get lots of applications for sexy environmental and leisure posts but none for planning.

‘There's an image issue with planning.

'It's not seen as particularly exciting until you start working in it.

'Once you give people a taste of it they like getting involved.

‘The bottom line is increasing the number of people who can do the job.'

Chief executive of planning and development consultancy Lichfields, Jim Fennell, said planning had ‘become too insular, largely relying on recruiting planning graduates and postgraduates'.

Mr Fennell said: ‘The planning sector needs to be more creative in its use of social media to raise its profile to a much wider audience, push back on the negative comments often cited by the media and recruit so it can compete more effectively with the other professions and career opportunities on offer.'

Lizzie Le Mare, a director at Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, added: ‘Local authority planning has a bit of an image problem.

‘There's definitely a trend of contract workers; you get paid significantly more being a contractor.

'It's really unstable.

'There's none of this knowing your patch.

‘I don't think there's ever really been a drive to attract more people into the profession.'

Last year a survey by Public Practice, a not-for-profit social enterprise that works to rebuild skills and capacity in the public sector, found the top area council employees needed to recruit for was planning and policy.

Chief executive officer of Public Practice, Pooja Agrawal, said: ‘The skills shortage in planning is widespread.

'Not enough is being done to champion the transformational work that planning and place-making delivers.'