Building on Taylor and Close's (2022) commentary reviewing the skills gap concerning how planners are educated and trained, this response places this 'gap' in the context of key relationships that shape this; between skills, knowledges and attitudes, including a more nuanced understanding of knowledge; between the Royal Town Planning Institute, planning schools and employers and between planning and other built-environment disciplines. The resulting argument is that a more nuanced understanding of where different responsibilities lie for educating and training planners needs to be a pre-requisite for understanding how the skills gaps identified by Taylor and Close should be addressed.