Agenda 2025

Richard Garlick

Editor

Planning Resource

A warm welcome to all delegates followed by a thematic overview of the day.

09:10 - 09:30

What actions have been taken by the Labour government to make the system deliver more development, and what further steps can we expect from the government to drive a more positive planning environment for development?

Keynote

What interventions have been made so far?

What further policy can we expect to drive the government’s positive planning agenda?

What is the government doing to specifically support LPAs/drive culture change?

Q+A

What policy changes have been made by the government to create a more positive planning environment in England?

What specific actual interventions have been made by the government for same ends - ie. call-ins, LPA interventions, letters to PINS or to statutory consultees etc.?

Any early signs of impact?

09:45 - 10:15

How local planning authorities can develop a positive approach to good development, while continuing to protect their communities from bad schemes

Panel Discussion

How can this positive culture be created in LPAs? What works?
What are the difficulties and can it be done with limited resources?
What are the implications of reform of planning committees/greater officer delegation?

Update on latest transition timetables, status of front runners, digitisation timetable
Outline impact of NDMPs
Setting out new approach on design and design codes

How do new-style plans differ from plans under the old system?
What are the new challenges not previously faced?
Will they be able to be drawn up within the 30-month timetable?

Catriona Riddell

Director

Catriona Riddell & Associates Ltd

Focus on the implications of the proposed new tier of strategic planning across England

What will strategic plans cover and when will they come in?
How will they affect local plans?
What will their role in green belt be and how will they be drawn up?

Milan Bogunovic

Programme Director, Digital Planning

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)

A1: How are digital planning and AI going to change planners’ jobs forever?

The opportunities from digital local plans
The opportunities from combining digital documentation with granular prop-tech data
What the pitfalls are and how to avoid them

B1: How can you solve the Section 106 delivery challenge for affordable homes?

Why aren’t housing associations taking on s106 stock?
What are the practical ways this issue can be mitigated through options such as cascade mechanisms, payments in lieu, councils taking on stock etc.
Are there other ways out that don’t involve a reduction in the affordable housing offer?

Q&A

C1: How can the sector better plan for employment uses?

How do LPAs deliver local growth plans?
What method should LPAs use to decide how much land to provide?
How can the developer sector work in partnership with authorities to make the case for employment uses?

Q&A

Liz Hobden

Principal Consultant

PAS

Gilian Macinnes

Director

Gilian Macinnes Associates

A2: How can local planning authorities deliver great services without the funding to match?

How to foster effective partnership working between LPAs and developers that pays for services
Delivering truly effective working between officers and members
What works in terms of running a planning team

Q&A

B2: Grey belt - Will housing development be brought forward under the golden rules?

Where are the opportunities for developers?
How broadly is grey belt defined?
Are opportunities stymied by the requirements under the golden rules?

Q&A

C2: How can the planning system deliver 150 major infrastructure permissions by the end of the parliament?

Is the government delivering on the necessary NSIP reforms?
Does PINS have the capacity to process the casework?
What do the infrastructure provisions in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill mean for the sector?

Q&A

A3: Beyond beauty: How can authorities use design codes to create amazing places?

What the removal of beauty from the NPPF means for planning
The new role for design codes with the end of authority-wide coding
What the design code policy means for neighbourhood planning
How to embed placemaking and good design into local plans

B3: How will the next generation of new towns be planned for?

What is coming up from the New Towns Taskforce
How authorities in areas selected for New Towns should approach their local plans
What are the right delivery arrangements for New Towns?
What are landowners and the private sector’s role in delivery?

Q&A

Rebecca Clutten

Barrister

Francis Taylor Building

C3: How to prepare for growth in council CPOs to support housing delivery?

What are the implications of newly revised law on CPOs, and proposals for further powers
Will local authorities take up a new mandate from the government to use these powers?

Q&A

Where are applicants focusing their energy?
Are applicants seeing the next period as a key time of speculative applications?
How significant a factor will grey belt be? Where is it located?

What has changed with the new NPPF and with the direction from the government?
How will PINS approach appeals on grey belt land?
Are we in danger of getting planning by appeal?

Does the new system leave LPAs with sufficient options to resist when confronted with poor schemes, or proposals on unsustainable locations?
Can LPAs be positive while keeping a semblance of control?
How do LPAs expect to treat grey belt applications?

Q&A