“All that Glistens is not Gold”

Neil Shepherd-Smith, a consultant already to two JICs, appeared to have his eyes on a third when he queried elements of the new RAJAR Gold Standard methodology at this year’s MRG. He believed the model took no account of the number of spots in a schedule, and that the new standard was flawed enough that it “should not have been recommended to the industry in any way, let alone as a gold standard.”

Sadly, the debate was not very evenly balanced, as the consultant to RAJAR, Steve Wilcox of RSMB, was not present to defend his methods, but for the IPA, Lynne Robinson responded that there were in fact a whole range of gold standards, not just those raised by Shepherd-Smith. His were the only complaints to date, and the standard had been tested against a volume of different schedules as one would expect.

She pointed out that one must also be pragmatic. “The best solution would be no use if it can never be processed by the planning systems. There are teething problems, but these can be overcome.”