Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum

April 2020

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Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
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***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***

This conference is examining the next steps for planning policy in England.

It will be an opportunity to discuss priorities as officials prepare the Planning White Paper, including:

• Challenges for accelerating the planning process;
• Moving towards biodiversity net gain;
• Developing local plans; and
• Priorities for supporting the delivery of new housing.

Key areas for discussion:

Streamlining the planning process - with the Government due to publish an Accelerated Planning White Paper - including:

• the practicalities - and the impact on those involved in the process, including developers, local authorities, and communities,
• increasing capacity and capability within local planning authorities support - and resources needed for implementation, and
• what can be learned from other planning systems.

Local planning and delivering new and affordable homes - including:

• how the types of homes being built can be diversified to meet housing needs, and improve the quality and design,
• developing local plans and capturing land value,
• affordable, green housing - supporting local delivery, and
• mandatory biodiversity net gain - the impact of government policy.

Nationally significant, and regional and large scale, infrastructure projects - including:

• tackling obstacles faced during the planning process,
• priorities for balancing environmental, local, and economic interests, and
• what can be learned from navigating the planning process, with a case study from a major project.

Why this is relevant now - the context:

As well as development of the Planning White Paper, it takes place with:

• Implementation of the revised National Planning Policy Framework;
• The Environment Bill - including provisions to ensure biodiversity net gain in new housing developments;
• The National Infrastructure Strategy;
• Consultation on the Government’s Future Homes Standard;
• Policies including the Housing Infrastructure Fund, Housing Deals and the extension of permitted development rights aimed at delivering more homes;
• The National Design Guide, for councils to implement their own design codes reflecting unique local settings and character - to ensure new homes are built quicker and better.

The agenda:

• Implementing the revised National Planning Policy Framework;
• Addressing the challenges of delivery and responding to demand;
• Learning from alternative planning systems;
• Supporting and accelerating the delivery of major infrastructure:
  
  • Overcoming obstacles for planning major infrastructure projects; and
  • Case study: navigating the planning process - balancing environmental, local and economic interests.
• The Environment Bill and wider approaches to environmental net gain through planning;
• Priorities for planning at a local level - developing local plans, achieving environmental targets and effective utilisation of permitted development rights; and
• Government priorities for planning policy across England.

Policy officials attending

Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stake holders.

It’s particularly the case with this one. Places have been reserved by parliamentary pass-holders from the House of Commons, and officials from MHCLG; Defra; the Planning Inspectorate; BEIS; the Cabinet Office; the Environment Agency; the Department for Transport; the Office of Road and Rail; Ofgem; the Geospatial Commission; the Office of Government Property; the Government Legal Department; the Health and Safety Executive; Homes England; DCMS; the Department for International Trade; the Office for Statistics Regulation; and the Welsh Government.

This is a full-scale conference taking place online***

1. full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
2. information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
3. conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
4. speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
5. opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
6. a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
7. delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
8. networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!

Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference

• Dropbox video recording of the conference
• PDF transcript of the discussion, including all speaker remarks and Q&A
• PDFs of speakers' slide material (subject to permission)
• PDFs of the delegate pack, including speaker biographies and attendee list
• PDFs of delegate articles