John Collins was born in Moseley in 1924, and attended the King Edward’s School, Birmingham followed by the Birmingham School of Architecture. His studies were interrupted by the war but he returned to Birmingham, after being de-mobbed in 1947, to qualify as an architect. He subsequently studied at the School of Planning and Research for Regional Development, in Gordon Square, London, in 1951, and a few years later was employed for Birmingham City Council, working on housing. From there he was transferred to a role as architect / planner with Coventry City Council in 1955. He then appears to have moved into the Civil Service, working for four years on housing projects for the War Office, in Cyprus from 1958. Shortly after beginning this work, Collins was presumably granted leave to enrol in the six-month, post-graduate course at the Architectural Association’s Department of Tropical Studies, in London, which he completed in February 1960. On his return from Cyprus in 1962 he joined the Graeme Shankland Planning Consultancy, where he worked on the Liverpool City Centre Plan and the regeneration of Bolton town centre - before taking up the role of Deputy County Planner for Cheshire County Council. Whilst there, he was instrumental in the formation of the Wirral Way Country Park, the first such designated country park in Britain. Promotion saw him take on the job of County Planning Officer by 1974 and he was responsible for the production of the first County Structure Plan. His planning expertise was broadly acknowledged and he was elected President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) from 1980-82. The award of an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list followed in 1982. He retired from local government in 1988 and set up in practice with John Long, a former colleague, as the ‘Long Collins Partnership.’ The government of Montserrat was an early client and Collins spent three years on the island assisting with planning community development schemes. The practice was amalgamated with Lawson-Price in 1996, with Collins remaining as a consultant and continuing to be active with the RTPI and with the North-West branch of the RIBA – and in 2002 he was the co-author of the RIBA Good Practice Guide ‘Negotiating the Planning Maze’.
Sources
- Architectural Association Student Register, 1959-60. AA Archives
- Architectural Association Council Minutes Books, 22nd February, 1960, p401. AA Archives
- Architectural Association Membership List, 1961.
- Open Space: Planning Standards, Cheshire County Planning Department, 1973
- Collins, J.F.N., Moren, P. Negotiating the Planning Maze, RIBA Good Practice Guide, 2002
- Paul, J., Moren, P. ‘Obituary: Past President John Frederick Norman Collins, OBE, DipArch(Birm), SPDip, RIBA, RTPI’ Royal Town Planning Institute website. Retrieved 2nd June, 2025 https://www.rtpi.org.uk/news/2021/november/obituary-past-president-john-frederick-norman-collins-obe-diparch-birm-spdip-riba-frtpi/
