DCP + COMPASS Editor Martin Shingler will be leading an AM surgery (9.30 - 1.30) to answer your individual questions. 

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

• What is the implementation timetable for reforms in the system
• How planning culture needs to change to ensure the benefits of reforms can be seen
• What government will do to remove blockages to operation of the system 

Q&A - Your chance to pose questions to the speakers.

• How successful have the reforms been in delivering more permissions
• How successful have the reforms been in speeding up the system
• What difference will remaining reforms in train make, and are any further changes possible or likely?

Q&A - Engage with the speaker by asking questions.

• To what extent planning authorities are responding positively to changes in policy
• What local authorities can do instill a positive planning culture
• How applicants and LPAs can prevent a big increase in planning by appeal

Moderator: Catriona Riddell, Director, Catriona Riddell & Associates Ltd

Q&A - Your chance to pose questions to the speaker.

Recharge your energy while gaining fresh perspectives, practical insights, and new connections to take back into your planning.

• When and how the new plan-making system is going to be rolled out
• How the proposed national decision-making policies in the new NPPF can be used to deliver shorter plans
• The opportunities and threats that national decision making policies present to applicants and authorities, and how they can best address them

Moderator: 

• Professor Samer Bagaeen, Head of School of Town Planning, University of the Built Environment, Technical Director, Arcadis

Q&A - Engage with the speaker in a dedicated Q&A session

Refuel, reconnect, and return inspired.

• How LPAs are addressing the rise in AI-generated objections to planning applications
• How to engage positively with communities  in a world of social media polarisation 
• Whether software tools can help deal with the rise in representations - of just further reduce engagement
  

• What to expect and when with regards to the implementation of the new spatial development strategies
• What local authorities are doing to begin the development of SDSs and how to engage with them
• How SDSs can be progressed alongside imminent local government re-organisation

Moderator: 

• Steve Quartermain, CBE  

Q&A - Join the conversation by asking questions and engaging with the speakers and peers.

• How does the new system around Environmental Delivery Plans work, how is it being implemented, and how soon might it start to free up the the system
• The opportunities and challenges the new system presents to local authorities, and how they should prepare
• The opportunities and challenges the new system presents to applicants, and how they should prepare

Q&A - Dedicated time for audience to ask you question to the panel and to engage in a conversation.

• How post consent issues are blocking development, and how widespread they are
• The impact this is having on development and local plan implementation
• What LPAs, applicants and utility companies can do to tackle the blockages

Moderator: 

• Steve Quartermain, CBE  

Q&A - Engage with the speakers in a dedicated Q&A session to gain deeper insight into the topic.

Engage with speakers and your peers in roundtable discussions.

This highly interactive and dynamic session offers a collaborative environment for key stakeholders to engage in focused, in-depth discussion. The format is designed to elicit practical, actionable solutions and drive real dialogue, centred on the crucial question: 'What LPAs, applicants, and utility companies can do to tackle the blockages topic? 

• How the government’s digital planning programme is going to help LPAs digitise development management 
• What digitisation means for local plans and local government restructuring
• What LPAs applicants and others can do to benefit from the development of AI

Q&A - Engage with the speakers in a dedicated Q&A session to gain deeper insight into the topic.

• How councils should set up and advise planning committees in an age of objection
• What the national scheme of delegation means for LPAs and applicants
• How to implement delegation without councillors and local people feeling left out 

Q&A - Engage with the speakers in a dedicated Q&A session to gain deeper insight into the topic.

Engage with speakers and your peers in roundtable discussions.

The purpose of this roundtable is to foster focused, in-depth discussion among key stakeholders, aiming to generate practical, actionable solutions and genuine dialogue, all framed by the crucial question: How to speed up decision-making and make a national scheme of delegation work?

More than a break - this is time to connect with peers, exchange ideas, and turn conversations into future opportunities.

• Can PINS scale up sufficiently to avoid big delays on appeals as the new system rolls out? 
• What PINS’ approach to existing local plans going through examination means for LPAs
• How PINS will police the new local plan process

This presentation, delivered by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS), will outline how the organisation is resourcing and preparing to deliver the government’s planning reform programme. The session will conclude with a dedicated extended audience Q&A, giving attendees the opportunity to put questions directly to PINS representatives and explore what the reforms mean in practice. Use Slido to ask your questions. 

• What the Hillside judgment affecting ‘drop-in’ permissions has meant for applicants attempting to change their plans
• What the implications are of the government’s plans to enable S73B in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, enabling changes to be made
• How applicants and LPAs should now approach amending consents

Moderator:

• Steve Quartermain, CBE  

Q&A - Learn more about the topic directly from the speakers.