Mention Planning to the average citizen and the hackles rise. Almost everyone, it seems, has an adverse opinion of the Government department responsible for approving most things to do with building and renovation on the Island.

But as planner Mrs. Aideen Ratteray Pryse pointed out, there's much more to the word planning than meets the average eye.

"Planning is a very general field and there are specialisations within it -- social planning or transportation planning, for example,'' she explained. "To my mind, planning is a way of thinking. Anyone going through a planning education learns a way of thinking, which is to look at the broader issues -- trying not to be too narrow.

"With a planning education one can go into many fields: hospitals, economic development corporations, social services -- there's a lot around.'' Even so, planners in Bermuda tended to focus more on land-related matters -- something Mrs. Pryse felt their horizons should be expanded upon.

"At present, we zone land for particular things in particular areas and deal with the applications that come in, but even in Bermuda I can see we need to get into such things as neighbourhood planning and certainly transportation planning -- although the latter does go on to a certain extent. These are just some examples of areas of planning we could get into.'' And as part of its raison d'etre, the Bermuda Planning Association will aim to enlighten the public about the wonderful world of planners.

The idea for an association arose out of conversations between Mrs. Pryse, who works at the Department of Planning, and former employee and fellow planner, Mr. Rudolph Hollis.

"We thought that there were so many Bermudians now becoming qualified as planners that there were enough to form an Association, so we sent out letters to them all to see if anyone was interested,'' Mrs. Pryse, who is its president, related. "The response was so good that we put together a committee (Mrs. Laurel Harper, Miss Tania Stafford and myself) to work on a constitution and bye-laws.

In July, 1991, with the constitution adopted, the Association was duly formed with approximately 11 members. By December the bye-laws had been adopted, and a council elected.

"We meet four times a year, with the council meeting in between,'' Mrs. Pryse explained. "We have speakers for the meetings.'' In future, the Association aims to include the public in most of its meetings.

"Anyone can come to any of the meetings,'' Mrs. Pryse assured. "The idea is to have an open and public forum for people to talk about planning issues. We want to reach out to the public and get them involved through speakers and debates.'' As to why it was even necessary for planners to get together outside of work, Mrs. Pryse explained: "The idea behind the Association is to have a forum outside the Department of Planning where planning matters or things of a planning nature which affect the Island can be discussed.

"The Association has spent much of this year getting the flow of things. At our last meeting, for example, we invited the public to debate with us the topic: Should we regulate the colour of buildings?'' It certainly got the public's attention all right. "We put it out as a fun topic, but a lot of people showed up ready to be irate,'' the president admitted. "In future, we intend to have more serious speakers.'' Other aims of the Association include providing the community with a source of professional knowledge when land use matters are being considered; and promoting and fostering education for land use planning.

One fund-raiser social event per year will also be part of the Association's agenda "because we need to raise money to do the things we want to do''.

Membership is divided into three classes: Full, for those with professional planning qualifications; student, for those who are studying planning or who have finished their degree but don't yet have a qualification; and associate, for those who have degrees in various planning-related subjects, such as surveying, architecture or engineering.

"You can also be a student member if you are working in an office under the tutelage of a certified planner,'' Mrs. Pryse noted.

With the formation of an official body of planners, the way is now open for the Association to become members of the Commonwealth Association of Planners and the Caribbean Town & Country Planning Conference.

"For those Islands which don't have a planning association, a de facto representative is someone from Government,'' Mrs. Pryse explained. "In Bermuda's case, it was Mr. Erwin Adderley, the Director of Planning.'' Details of future Bermuda Planning Association meetings will be found in the Bermuda Calendar.

FORWARD PLANNING -- Members of the Bermuda Planning Association council (back row, left to right) Mr. Erwin Adderley, Mr. Roger Steffans, (front row, left to right) Ms Anna Eatherley (treasurer) and Mrs. Aideen Ratteray Pryse (president) aim to strengthen ties between planners and the public. Missing from the photograph is Ms Linda Townson (secretary).