Registration & Refreshments

Chair’s Opening Remarks

Richard Garlick, Editor, Planning & Placemaking resource

Opening Panel - The Implications Of The Housing White Paper For Applicants And Planning Authorities

• What does the Housing White Paper mean for planning? What are the implications for the sector and local growth? How will the new Bill provide new tools and mechanisms to speed up housing delivery?
• What will be the ability of local authorities to deliver on those changes?
• The politics of the Housing White Paper: The pressures that will shape how it is implemented

Melanie Leech,  Chief Executive,  British Property Federation

Alex Morton, Director, Field Consulting  and Former Number 10 Special Adviser on Housing and Planning Policy 

Ian MacLeod, Assistant Director, Planning and Regeneration, Birmingham City Council 

John Adams, Partner - Head of Planning, Deloitte Real Estate

Networking Break And Morning Refreshments

Choose your practical breakout session from the following streams:

PLAN-MAKING

1)  LOCAL PLAN MAKING: How Applicants And Authorities Can Adapt To Ongoing Policy Changes

• What changes are in store for local plan-making following the government's Housing White Paper response to the Local Plans Expert Group's Recommendation's?
• Understand the implications of the standardised approach to assessing housing need, the "opportunity" to get supply figures for one year settled, proposed in the housing white paper
• How do decision-makers distinguish between a local authority with a five-year housing land supply and an authority that lacks it?
• What will be the impact of the proposed housing delivery test?
• The impact of Brexit on demographics, housing need and local plan-making 

Iain Gilbey, Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP

Cristina Howick, Partner, Peter Brett Associates LLP

Chaired by:  Derek Stebbing,  Consultant and Examiner, Intelligent Plans and Examinations (IPE) Ltd and Member, Local Plans Expert Group (LPEG) 

DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT 

2) BOOSTING AFFORDABLE HOMES: How To Adapt Your Planning Strategy For Increasing Low-Cost Housing Provision To Evolving Starter Homes Policy

• How will the Starter Homes programme be implemented?
• What would the housing white paper's expectation that councils ensure that at least ten percent of homes on most schemes are affordable home ownership product mean for applicants and authorities 
• How will the proposal to amend the policy definition of affordable housing work in practice?
• How can we use the range of affordable housing products available to meet our housing needs? 
• What funding is available to registered providers, and what will they deliver?

Charlotte Hill, Head of Home Ownership and Supply, Midlands - Homes and Communities Agency

INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING

3) INFRASTRUCTURE: How To Fund And Deliver It

• How will government’s aspirations for infrastructure be delivered into the years ahead?
• How will projects be prioritised in an era of restricted funding
• What innovative ways of funding infrastructure exist?
• How strategic transport projects can stimulate and accommodate regional and sub-regional growth?
• How can councils manage opportunities and pressures arising from major infrastructure investment in their area?

Stephen Dance, Head of Infrastructure Delivery, Infrastructure and Projects Authority, HM Treasury and Cabinet Office

Cllr Kevin Davis, Leader, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

Chaired by:  Celina Colquhoun,  Barrister, No5 Chambers

Choose your next focused session:

PLAN-MAKING

4) MEETING HOUSING NEEDS WITHIN CONSTRAINTS: How To Decide If Green Belt Release Is Justified And If So, How To Manage It

• Update on green belt release around the country
• When is it appropriate to consider releasing parts of the green belt for housing and other development?

Sarah Hamilton-Foyn, Regional Director, Pegasus Group

Cllr Alex Hollingsworth, Executive Member for Planning, Oxford City Council

DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT

5) VIABILITY ASSESSMENT: How To Make It As Fair And Fast As Possible

• Learn how the London mayor advises that viability of affordable housing planning obligations should be assessed in Supplementary Planning Guidance of the new London plan
• Understand the circumstances in which the viability of consented London schemes will be reviewed

Colin Wilson, Strategic Planning Manager, Greater London Authority

Mike Derbyshire,  Head of Planning,  Bidwells

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN THE PLANNING SYSTEM

6) GETTING THROUGH THE PLANNING PROCESS: How Can We Work Together To Speed Up Local Decision-Making?

Choose your roundtable discussion from:

a) Funding local planning authorities: What are innovative ways of resourcing planning authorities?  

Facilitated by:  Martin Hutchings, Performance and Improvement Manager, PAS 

b) Sharing challenges: What is actually slowing down decision-making and how can these challenges be solved?

Facilitated by: Mike Saunders, CEO and Co-founder,  Commonplace

c) Plan-making: How to speed up the local plan process, more quickly and efficiently

Facilitated by: Derek Stebbing,  Consultant and Examiner, Intelligent Plans and Examiner (IPE) Ltd  and Member, Local Plans Expert Group (LPEG)

Networking Lunch

Choose your next focused session from the following streams:

PLAN-MAKING 

7) UPDATE ON NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANS: How Can They Can Deliver The Development Needed In Line With Local Community Preferences

• How to adapt your neighbourhood plan strategy to comply with policy changes in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, December's  written ministerial statement and the Housing White Paper
• In what circumstances are a neighbourhood plan’s housing policies now considered to be out of date? What are the implications of the government’s move to strengthen neighbourhood plans in areas where the local authority does not have a five-year housing land supply?
• Lessons from neighbourhood plans

Ann Skippers, Independent Neighbourhood Plan Examiner and Principal, Ann Skippers Planning

Asher Ross, Planning Director, GL Hearn

PLACE-MAKING

8) GOOD QUALITY DESIGN: How Can It Be Used As An Enabler To Unlock Growth And Drive Density?

• How can planners help to ensure good quality design, and integrate it into existing projects?
• How can we strike a sensible balance between the intensification of site use, and taller buildings and good design?
• Planning for public health: the role of good design

Nicholas Boys Smith,  Founding Director,  Create Streets

David Waterhouse,  Associate Director, Strategic Development, Design Council, CABE

Chaired by: Mike Saunders, CEO and Co-founder, Commonplace

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN THE PLANNING SYSTEM 

9) THE REVIEW OF UPCOMING CHANGES TO THE COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY (CIL): What Are The Implications For Applicants And Charging Authorities?

• Is CIL delivering on its policy objectives of providing faster, simpler and more transparent system than section 106?
• What changes are planned to CIL following the government-commissioned review? What is the government’s response to those recommendations?
• How to strike the right balance between maximising developer contributions for local infrastructure and ensuring that development remains viable

Liz Peace, Adviser on Property, Politics and the Built Environment & Chair, Community Infrastructure Levy Review

Networking Break And Afternoon Refreshments

Panel Discussion -  The Opportunities And Challenges The Devolution Of Planning Powers To Combined Authorities Offers To Applicants And Authorities

• What planning powers are available to combined authorities under the government's devolution programme, and what does central government expect in return?
• Case studies from devolution deals that include planning powers from around the country

Rachel Fisher, Head of Infrastructure, Department for Communities and Local Government

Cllr Sean Coughlan, Portfolio of Housing and Land, West Midlands Combined Authority

Cllr Lewis Herbert, Leader, Cambridge City Council

Flo Churchill, Chief Planning Officer, Sheffield City Council

Chair's Closing Remarks

Close Of The Summit