Ever more voices argue that there is a “skills gap” in planning practice, in the UK at least (RTPI 2025; House of Lords Built Environment Committee 2025). This is partly a question of the overall supply of planners, but also relates to the skills and knowledge of those working in practice. One example is the economics of development – a recent study of the motivations of planning students found that student planners did not seem particularly interested in “economic change” (Hickman, McClymont & Melasecchi 2025) – but “viability” is an increasingly important aspect of planning decision-making in the UK and a lack of knowledge of such matters can lead to concerns over a lack of scrutiny of development proposals (Hickman, Linovski & Sturzaker 2025). Similarly, there have been calls for a greater engagement on matters related to the ethics of planning amongst practicing planners (Sturzaker & Hickman 2024a, 2024b; TCPA, 2026), amidst a broader debate about where the responsibility does, and should, lie for educating/upskilling planners and how skills and knowledge develop or can be “layered” over time (Parker & Maidment 2023, 2026). This roundtable brings together some of these perspectives, seeking to generate reflection on what, if any, skills or knowledge areas are lacking in today’s planners and how the profession and discipline might go about addressing any such gap.