Conference Programme

8.30am
Registration and Networking Breakfast Session

9.20am
Opening Session

Chairman’s Welcome – Can new planning legislation deliver a boost in housing delivery?

What is next for Planning and what is in the pipeline in terms of policy?
What is the latest on the new NPPF, and when will the December 2025 draft be finalised and take effect?
Now the Planning & Infrastructure Act is law, what will its impact be on housing delivery on the ground?
How will the shift in decision-making from committees to officers — via the new national scheme of delegation — work in practice?
How will the Government’s stronger interventions on under-delivering councils, including the tougher presumption in favour of development, actually be applied?
How can AI and new technology improve the planning system on a practical level?

An Industry view – Is the Government delivering the promised ‘period of stability’ in the planning system?
One year on from a settled framework, do the reforms feel like stability or just more change to absorb?
What do the changes mean on a practical level, and which are proving easy or hard to implement?
Which policies are speeding up housing delivery now, and which will take longer to bite?
Where is the new, more rules-based system creating genuine certainty, and where is it still creating risk?
What kind of development is easiest to get consent for, and how do residential use classes compare to over sectors and commercial development?

The Role of the Planning Inspectorate in the evolving Planning system
How have the new Government and the planning reforms affected the inspectorate?
How will PINS police local plans being kept up to date as the new plan-making system beds in?
Appeal decision times and the open caseload have improved over the past year — how can that momentum be sustained as reform-driven casework grows?
What role will the inspectorate have in the new s106 dispute-resolution and viability arrangements?
What can the inspectorate do to modernise the planning system and speed up the process?

The Key Planning Decisions from the Last Year
What significant planning appeal decisions have there been, and why do they matter?
Which court and Secretary of State decisions affecting planning do we need to be aware of?
Which recent appeals and case law do developers and Local Authorities most need to know about?

11.00am
Networking Coffee Break

11.30am
Middle Session
Public Sector Panel Session
What does the Government’s reform programme mean from the Local Authority perspective, and what impacts have we seen so far?
Why is resourcing such a key issue, and are the new locally-set planning fees and additional officers enough to speed up the system?
What is the practical effect of the new legislation locally and nationally?
How are authorities progressing with local plans, Spatial Development Strategies and the new plan-making system ahead of the December 2026 deadline?
Why are s106 agreements still taking so long, and how can we speed them up?

Residential Planning and Environmental Legislation
How is the planning system approaching embodied carbon, energy consumption and sustainability for new developments?
What is the impact of the Environment Act 2021 on planning, and how will the Nature Restoration Fund and Environmental Delivery Plans change the way development pays for mitigation?
How are Nutrient Neutrality and Water Neutrality affecting residential development, and what can developers do?
How is Biodiversity Net Gain functioning two years on, and how will the new 0.2-hectare small-sites exemption and proposed brownfield exemption change it?
Has the off-site BNG credit and trading market now developed, and how does it affect the whole design and delivery process?

AI and Residential Planning
How are AI and data tools being used across plan-making, application validation and decision-making right now?
Where are the real efficiency gains, and where is the hype outrunning reality?
What are the risks — accuracy, transparency, accountability — of AI in planning decisions?
What should developers and authorities be doing to get ready?
How are professional bodies updating their guidance to allow for the integration of AI?

1.00pm
Networking Lunch Session

2.00pm
Afternoon Session

Grey Belt, Green Belt & New Towns – how have these policies progressed and how are they being applied?
What is ‘grey belt’, and what is the true capacity of what can be delivered on this land?
What are the parameters and Golden Rules for delivering on these sites, and how are consents working out in practice?
Why are elected councillors refusing grey belt applications even when officers recommend approval?
Are we seeing a gradual erosion of the green belt, and how far might it go?
Where are we with the 12 new town locations, and can they deliver at scale?
What has been learnt from history, and is there enough resource and government push behind delivery?

Changes to planning legislation as a catalyst for new housing delivery
How significant are the recent changes, and what effect are they having in practice?
How has the 2024 NPPF — grey belt, mandatory targets and the rest — actually worked?
How does the December 2025 draft NPPF build on that, and what still needs to be done?
Where should developers be looking for opportunities, and what should they do in this term of Government?

Changes to Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) Powers
What CPO and hope-value changes have come in under the Planning & Infrastructure Act, and how do they relate to land value capture?
What further changes might we see in future legislation?
What do these changes mean for landowners and the delivery of housing?
How will this work in practice, and will it unlock significant housing delivery?
How do we strike a balance between a landowner’s right to a fair price and the gain to the wider public?

Developer Panel Session – Planning & Delivery
What is the developer perspective on the evolving planning legislation and the new NPPF draft?
Where are the opportunities to boost delivery?
Does the new legislation strike the right balance between driving delivery and offering certainty, or is it just more change to adapt to?
How could closer interaction between private and public sector planners improve the process?
Beyond planning, what else does the Government need to do to make delivery happen — including solving the s106 affordable housing sales problem?
How do we overcome the issue of upfront infrastructure costs on larger strategic sites?

The Viability Session – Are schemes stacking up? The money, the measures, and what’s winning arguments now
The leading practitioners take us through the key viability issues following the Planning & Infrastructure Act, the December 2025 draft NPPF, and the new public funding landscape. (10-15 minutes each, followed by questions)

A review of all the regulations that now contribute to viability – where have we got to?
Why is affordable housing variable but the other costs fixed?
With public funding under pressure, have we pushed developers too far on contributions?
What is winning viability arguments right now — which evidence and benchmark land value approaches are landing, and which are failing?
With site-specific viability assessment being squeezed at application stage, how should developers now make the case?
How important is accurate data and can AI help with this process?
Will delivery grind to a halt with so many cases going to appeal, and what is the appeal experience telling us?

Is the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme actually making schemes viable, where is the money being spent and how can developers access it?
Does the new National Housing Bank — £16bn of debt, equity and guarantees — change the viability picture, particularly for SMEs and stalled sites?
What do the s106 “emergency measures” and the move to plan-stage viability mean in practice — what is now in force and what is coming?
Can viability really be dealt with by Central Government or the Planning Inspectorate, or is it inherently site-specific?

4.10pm
Closing remarks from the Chair

4.15pm
Conference Close & start of the Annual Resi Planning Drinks Reception