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An initiative to get the brightest young architects, planners and urban designers to spend a year working in the public sector is set to launch at the end of this year.

An international recruitment campaign for the best recent graduates is likely to be launched this autumn.

The Public Service programme, similar to Teach First, was born out of the Farrell Review and is the brainchild of architect-turned-planner Finn Williams of Common Office.

It would see young urban design professionals with a few years鈥� experience under their belts devote a year or two to working for a local authority before, probably, returning to private practice. The idea is to build capacity in under-resourced councils.

Williams is in talks with several London boroughs about running a pilot project and is now looking for private sector support.

The idea is to run the year-long trial in three to six boroughs supported by the Greater London Authority (GLA).

鈥淚f the pilot proves successful it鈥檚 a model that could be scaled up across London or beyond and could become independent of City Hall,鈥� said Williams, who is the Farrell Review鈥檚 planning champion and is himself employed in the public sector.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge amount of interest among young placemaking talent who want to work for the public good. There are so many people who want a way in but don鈥檛 know how to go about it.

鈥淚鈥檝e also had interest from about a third of local authorities, a good mix of inner and outer London boroughs,鈥� he added.

鈥淚t would be good to get other private sector partners in. I hope some of the more enlightened developers will want to put their name behind it, and hopefully some money.

鈥淭he same goes for legal, HR, marketing and business planning support. We鈥檒l need financial support, office space, training.鈥�

Investing in a strong public sector was in developers鈥� interests, he said, because it would help build certainty in the planning process.

He cited this month鈥檚 report from Knight Frank which found that 82% of housebuilders want local authority planning departments to be better resourced.

鈥淚t showed there鈥檚 a growing awareness that continuing to cut isn鈥檛 helping and that the government needs to do something about public sector resources,鈥� said Williams.

鈥淚 hope to pick that up with the next planning minister after the election.鈥�