National Planning Conference 22 handbook

Director’s Welcome

The Planning Portal and the Royal Town Planning Institute are delighted to be collaborating by hosting the National Planning Conference in Birmingham this year.

This is the first joint conference for the two organisations and we are excited about the diverse programme of speakers we have attracted for the two day event.

The event will see a range of interactive sessions, including a wellness breakout session, and a gala dinner on the evening of the first day to allow for some relaxation and reflection, as well as further networking.

The conference will focus specifically on the unique opportunities that the planning reforms taking place across the UK are presenting to our industry, and how we can embrace them; It will be the perfect opportunity for stakeholders from across the industry to connect, network, share ideas and learn something new.

We are so pleased to welcome our delgates, senior influencers and leaders from across the industry; planning, architecture, development, construction, and the public sector.

We hope you enjoy the programme!

Sarah Chilcott

Managing Director, Planning Portal

Hills Chief Executive Royal Town Planning Institute

Victoria

Agenda Thursday 17 November 2022

08:45 - 09:45

Location: Foyer/lobby

Registration

Join us in the exhibiton space to register your attendance at the conference and network with others over a light breakfast of pastries, tea and coffee before we begin.

09:45 - 10:15

Location: Kings Suite

Welcome addresses & Keynote

A joint welcome and introduction from the President of the Royal Town Planning Institute and Managing Director of Planning Portal, followed by the Keynote’s welcome.

10:15 - 11:15

PANEL | The Importance of Location: Kings Suite levelling up

Planning remains central to regeneration of towns and cities across the UK and to the delivery of the levelling-up agenda. In this session we hear from leaders from some of the UK’s biggest cities, developers and others about the role planning needs to play to deliver these ambitions.

Chair: Sue Manns, Sue Manns Associates Anthony Breach, Centre For Cities Kate Ives, Countryside Partnerships Neil McInroy, Democracy Collaborative Paul Kitson, Birmingham City Council

11:15 - 11:35

Refreshment break in the exhibition space

11:35 - 12:00

KEYNOTE | Planning to deliver sustainable

Location: Kings Suite development goals

Will Arnold, Head of Climate Action at the Institution of Structural Engineers, presents his keynote of the session‚ ’An Industry Proposal to Regulate Embodied Carbon’.

Agenda Thursday 17 November 2022

12:00 - 13:00

Planning to deliver sustainable

Location: Specified below development goals

Choose your track: Planning for sustainable development (Kings Suite)

This track will explore how baking-in sustainability at a local plan stage is critical to meeting the UK’s sustainable development goal (SDG) commitments, using some great exemplars to bring the discussion to life.

Chair: Dr Joanne Oldfield, Sheffield Hallam University

Olafiyin Taiwo, BAME Planners Network

Sarah Scannell, Birmingham City Council

Tom Evans, Swansea Council

Retrofitting to deliver sustainable buildings (Arden Suite)

This track will explore what is already being done and what more is needed to deliver on the UK’s SDG commitments.

Chair: Prof. Jo Patterson, Cardiff University

Ellie Horwitch-Smith, Birmingham City Council

Elizabeth McCrone, Historic Environment Scotland

Richard Davidson, Willmott Dixon

Shaun Bennett, Derby Homes

13:00 - 14:00

Lunch in the exhibition space

14:00 - 15:00

Digital as an enabler for Location: Specified below planning reforms

Choose your track: Digital planning exemplars (Kings Suite)

In this session, we’ll hear some real examples of digital planning in action and some lessons learnt along the way. To begin In this session, Oliver Lewis, founder of ‘Joe’s Blooms’, will showcase the company’s product

TerraQuest show how their TQ Keychain software is not only powering the Planning Portal and Planning Applications Wales, but also how it will shortly transform the end-to-end planning system in Northern Ireland, delivering a system driven by data, not documents.

Chantelle Hallett, TerraQuest Solutions

Craig Harper, TerraQuest Solutions

Laurie Cunningham, TerraQuest Solutions

Digital skills for planners (Arden Suite)

In this track we explore how the profession’s skills will need to adapt to unlock the sector’s digital future.

Chair: Pooja Agrawal, Public Practice

Diane Rennie, Scottish Government

May-N Leow, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Prof Michael Batty, University College London

Nissa Shahid, Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Services

Agenda Thursday 17 November 2022

15:00 - 15:20

15:20 - 16:45

Location: Kings Suite

Refreshment break in the exhibition space

Planning for people and places

Keynote: Antonia Cornaro from Amberg Engineering and ITACUS delivers the session keynote.

Choose your track: Planning for Places (Kings Suite)

Planning is all about placemaking. In this session we hear from speakers leading the way in thinking about developing places, the role of planning and the opportunities it creates. We even take a look underground!

Chair: Darren Muir, Pegasus Group

Laura Shoaf, West Midlands Combined Authority

Rebecca Dillon-Robinson, Ramboll

Toby Lloyd, Create Streets

Planning for People (Arden Suite)

We plan and deliver beautiful places for people, but how do we make those communities central to the planning process? We hear from organisations pushing the boundaries and explore the challenges and opportunities of their work.

Chair: Hannah Barter, Urban Vision Enterprise CIC Louise O’Kane, Community Places

Mekor Newman, Newman Francis Simeon Shtebunaev, Birmingham City University

16:45 - 16:50

Location: Kings Suite

Closing remarks

Drinks reception in the exhibition space

16:50 - 17:30

19:00 - 23:00

Gala dinner in the Kings Suite

A chance to unwind in style following the first day of the conference, and the perfect opportunity to network and connect with stakeholders from across the sector.

Agenda Friday 18 November 2022

07:30 - 08:30

Location: Henley Suite/reception

Wellness sessions

Tai Chi & Qigong in the Henley Suite. An introduction from Royal Town Planning Institute’s Vice President, Tim Crawshaw. Followed by warm up and sessions lead by Chief Instructor, Neil Rankine. Alternatively, there will be a group run session meeting in reception area.

08:30 - 09:15

09:15 - 09:45

Breakfast in exhibition space

Welcome and Sponsor Keynote: Bringing

Location: Kings Suite your Plan to Life

Our headline sponsor, Objective, questions; How are Local Planning Authorities using their digital engagement feedback? What might we learn from other countries? How might technology help us now and in the near future? In this keynote presentation, we will be discussing what planning could look like in an increasingly digital and agile world.

Presented by Objective’s Andy Moy and Rafael Garcia.

09:45 - 11:15

Chief Planners: Different approaches

Location: Kings Suite to planning reform

The Chief Planners from the UK and Ireland discuss the different approaches to planning reform taken in their nations. A critical policy area for all the administrations, this discussion, facilitated by Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the RTPI, will give a candid view about the different approaches to the challenges and opportunities of reform.

Chair: Victoria Hills Royal Town Planning Institute Joanna Averley Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Angus Kurr Northern Ireland

Dr Fiona Simpson Scottish Government Neil Hemington Welsh Government Paul Hogan Republic of Ireland

11:15 - 11:45

Refreshment break in the exhibition space

Agenda Friday 18 November 2022

Conference closes. A thank you from Planning Portal and Royal Town Planning Institute hosts.

Meet our Conference hosts

SARAH CHILCOTT MANAGING DIRECTOR, PLANNING PORTAL

Sarah joined the Planning Portal in 2009 to lead the business’ engagement with the planning sector, its private sector customers and Local Planning Authority partners. She brought with her a strong track record in the formulation and delivery of commercial strategies in the private sector, including the successful launch of new products into UK and international markets. Sarah worked within MHCLG’s Planning Directorate until the Planning Portal was privatised in 2015 and now leads the Planning Portal team.

SUE BRIDGE VICE PRESIDENT, ROYAL TOWN PLANNING

Susan Bridge is the Vice President, President Elect for 2023 of the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Chair of the Board of Trustees. As Chair, Sue has overseen a major review of governance and has driven forward significant investment in the RTPI’s London office, as well as a growth in membership to 27,000. She is a Chartered Town Planner with over 30 years’ experience in local government and in the development industry.

TIMOTHY CRAWSHAW PRESIDENT, ROYAL TOWN PLANNING INSTITUTE

Timothy Crawshaw MA MRTPI FRSA is the 2022 President of the Royal Town Planning Institute, working as an International Planning and Development Consultant in the areas of urban design, planning, green infrastructure, energy efficiency and sustainable transport. With experience in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, alongside an expanding UK practice, he has a specific interest in the role of the nature based approaches to addressing the climate emergency.

VICTORIA HILLS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ROYAL TOWN PLANNING

Victoria Hills is Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute with over 24 years in senior roles in planning, transport, organisational leadership and development. Working for all three Mayors of London, she latterly led the UK’s largest regeneration project at Old Oak, setting up the Old Oak and Park Royal Mayoral Development Corporation.

The venue: Floor plan Arden Suite

Drinks reception and gala dinner

Exhibition Conference 10

Speakers

PANEL CHAIR SUE MANNS DIRECTOR, SUE MANNS ASSOCIATES

Sue was President of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 2020 and is a Fellow of the Institute. She has worked in the public, private and voluntary sectors and on a range of projects spanning the UK nations, regions and local levels. She has also worked in academia and has had the pleasure of teaching and mentoring many of today’s planners.

ANTONY BREACH SENIOR ANALYST, CENTRE FOR CITIES

Anthony is a Senior Analyst in the research team at Centre for Cities, where he leads on housing and planning.

Anthony won the Thinkhouse Early Career Researcher Prize 2019 for his work on how the planning system worsens inequality, and his research paper ‘Planning for the Future: How flexible zoning will end the housing crisis’ was cited in the Government’s Planning White Paper. He has also lead on work on devolution, local taxation, commercial property and urban regeneration, productivity, exports, economic appraisal, and urban transport’s relationship to the built environment.

KATE IVES STRATEGIC GROWTH DIRECTOR, COUNTRYSIDE PARTNERSHIPS

Kate describes herself as a geographer, town planner, housing practitioner, social impact champion. Her work centres around housing delivery but a significant part of that is wider regeneration on major city projects such as Beam Park in Barking and Acton Gardens in Ealing. Kate’s centre of gravity is always pointed to supporting and helping others at a community level and she does that through locally relevant social value impact programmes. Kate’s role sees her working in partnership with the public sector to deliver long term regeneration.

NEIL MCINROY SENIOR FELOOW FOR GLOBAL ADVANCEMENT OF COMMUNITY WEALTH BUILDING, DEMOCRACY COLLABORATIVE

Neil is an economics of place specialist, policy thinker, practitioner and organisational leader. Over the last 25 years, Neil worked extensively across UK and internationally and has been commissioned and collaborated with a range of international, national, local governments and agencies. He is currently a Senior Fellow for the Global Advancement of Community Wealth Building at The Democracy Collaborative – A USA based Research and Development lab.

The importance of planning in levelling up and regeneration

PAUL KITSON STRATEGIC DIRECTOR - PLACE, PROSPERITY & SUSTAINABILITY, BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL

Paul started his career in community led programmes with Groundwork and within Housing Associations before joining the pre-cursors to Homes England. At Homes England he delivered a number of major and multi-million pound projects, led all of the agency’s activity across the South East and concluded his career there as Executive Director for Markets, Partners and Places leading teams across the Country.

Speakers Planning to deliver the sustainable goals Track 1: Sustainable development

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: WILL ARNOLD HEAD OF CLIMATE ACTION, INSTITUTION OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

Will leads the Institution of Structural Engineers’s response to the climate emergency, bringing sustainability action into all aspects of its work. He is responsible for driving change within the profession, setting the minimum sustainability standards for institution members, producing sustainability publications and training to support this, and collaborating across the wider industry as it moves towards zero emissions.

PANEL CHAIR DR JOANNE OLDFIELD LECTURER, SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY

Joanne joined Sheffield Hallam University in 2021. As a fully chartered planner with over fifteen years’ experience Joanne is also an AIEMA accredited EIA project manager and previously led Carter Jonas’ UK wide Environmental Impact Assessment group. Joanne’s current research interests explore applied sustainability narratives and include considering: the framing of sustainability, planning for housing and the evolving nature of EIA.

OLAFIYIN TAIWO

CHARTERED TOWN PLANNER, AND CO-FOUNDER OF BAME PLANNERS NETWORK

Olafiyin Taiwo is a chartered Town Planner with experience of working in public, private, and non-profit sectors. She leads the Commonwealth Association of Planners Young Planners Network as the Convener. She is the Co-chair of the UN-Habitat Planners for Climate Action (Education and Capacity Building) and a member of the RTPI General Assembly and International Committee. Olafiyin is the Co-founder of the BAME Planners Network.

Speakers Planning to deliver the sustainable goals

Track 1: Sustainable development

SCANNELL ASSISTANT

Sarah has over 16 years’ experience in planning across London Boroughs and the GLA and now leads the planning function at Birmingham City Council, one of the largest Local Planning Authorities in the country. Sarah’s experience covers a range of planning areas; from negotiating the most strategic planning applications and securing complex legal agreements to developing planning policy and taking Local Plan Reviews through the Examination in Public process.

TOM EVANS PLACEMAKING AND STRATEGIC PLANNING MANAGER, SWANSEA COUNCIL

Tom has worked in Swansea Council’s busy planning department for over 10 years, having initially worked in planning consultancy in Cardiff. He currently manages the department’s Placemaking and Strategic Planning service, which has a key role in delivering a substantial development program that is transforming the City.

and

service, backed by one of the UK’s most

award winning and critically acclaimed media groups.

SARAH

DIRECTOR - PLANNING, BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL

Speakers Planning to deliver the sustainable goals

Track 2: Retrofitting

PANEL CHAIR PROF. JOANNE PATTERSON PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH FELLOW, WELSH SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

Professor Jo Patterson is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Cardiff University with more than 25 years of experience delivering fundamental and applied research projects in sustainability in the built environment with a particular focus on energy. She is Director of Research at the Welsh School of Architecture and leads the Energy, Environment and People Research Group.

ELLIE HORWITCH-SMITH ASSITANT DIRECTOR - ROUTE TO ZERO, BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL

Ellie is Assistant Director and the strategic lead on net zero for Birmingham City Council. Ellie leads the Route to Net Zero team, designing, facilitating and delivering a wide portfolio of projects and initiatives to deliver upon the councils Climate Emergency ambitions across a range of themes including buildings, transport, energy infrastructure and nature and environment. With 20 years consultancy experience in global and UK business, she has led a wide range of decarbonisation programmes for the public and private sectors, with a specific expertise in buildings and district heating.

ELIZABETH MCCRONE DIRECTOR OF HERITAGE, HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND

Elizabeth is responsible for the Heritage Directorate which leads our role in protecting, understanding and sharing information about Scotland’s historic environment. Since joining Historic Environment Scotland in 2002, Elly has 20 years of experience working in the heritage sector. She has worked in a variety of roles mostly within our designations and consents and advice functions.

Speakers Planning to deliver the sustainable goals Track 2: Retrofitting

RICHARD DAVIDSON DIRECTOR, WILLMOTT DIXON

Richard Davidson is a Director at Willmott Dixon, responsible for business development, early tendering and market engagement. A strategic thinker and believer in constant improvement, Richard is frequently engaged in local and national initiatives turning his holistic thinking and energy to whichever challenge is presented. He has a particular interest in fusing traditional and modern methods to create sustainable, high quality buildings.

SHAUN BENNETT DIRECTOR OF PROPERTY, DERBY HOMES

Shaun has worked within the public sector housing for over 30 years. Responsible for maintaining the public sector housing stock in Derby, Shaun focused on the successful delivery of decent homes, modernising the way responsive repairs are delivered and investment planning into the future. Shaun developed the first eco houses in the city over 25 years ago and is now leading the charge to ensure that all future council homes are built to a nett zero standard. Shaun is chair of Efficiency East Midlands and has supported collaborative working across the region for many years.

Planning Portal Market Insight Report

The Planning Portal is in the unique position of receiving around 90 per cent of all planning applications submitted to Local Planning Authorities across England and Wales. This means that each month, we are in possession of a unique dataset at the point of submission, giving us unrivalled access to proposed development trends and allowing early insight into what kind of projects are being applied for, and where.

You can follow the Planning Portal on LinkedIn to see the monthly report in your feed, alternatively sign up to receive the report by visiting www.planningportal.co.uk/MIR and this vaulable insight will land straight in your inbox each month.

Just like our customers, Willmott Dixon is a business that believes in having a positive impact on people’s lives. We’ve seen first-hand that many organisations are finding it hard to deliver on decarbonisation. That’s why we’ve created Decarbonise Today –an end-to-end decarbonisation service.

The time for change is now. Climate change is real. There is an urgent need to improve and upgrade buildings of all kinds across the public and private sector. We’re experiencing the effects of climate change more every year – extreme weather events and drought, fluctuations in energy production and pricingit’s imperative that organisations act quickly. Many organisations find it easy to define net zero aspirations, but then find it hard to access the skillsets that can enable a decarbonisation strategy.

A strong plan must include a clear route to decarbonise buildings with opportunities to enhance environmental sustainability and improve energy resilience.

Speakers

Digital as an enabler for planning reforms

Track 1: Digital planning exemplars

OLIVER LEWIS CBE FOUNDER, JOE’S BLOOMS

Oliver Lewis is the founder of Joe’s Blooms and leads the development of the company’s Biodiversity Gain Plan platform for small sites. Oliver has worked in a number of positions in Government, including helping to establish and run the national shielding programme during the COVID-19 pandemic - helping Local Authorities across England provide clinically extremely vulnerable people with essential supplies.

CHANTELLE HALLETT HEAD OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, TERRAQUEST SOLUTIONS

Chantelle joined TerraQuest in 2018. She is Head of Product, responsible for digital products. Chantelle’s team includes Product Owners, Product Designers, User Researchers and Business Analysts. She has nearly 20 years of experience delivering digital products in the planning industry, including companies such as, the Planning Inspectorate and Planning Portal.

CRAIG HARPER CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, TERRAQUEST

SOLUTIONS

Craig is Chief Commercial Officer at TerraQuest and a board member of the Planning Portal, a subsidiary of TerraQuest. Craig is responsible for overseeing the objectives and implementation of all commercial strategies and has expert knowledge of the TerraQuest planning services and solutions and how they are used by clients, industry, and customers.

LAURIE CUNNINGHAM CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, TERRAQUEST

SOLUTIONS

Laurie Cunningham joined the TerraQuest Group in 2015. He leads the digital unit for the group, accountable for software product and platform management, design, engineering, digital innovation, data strategy solutions and group-wide transformation. Laurie’s team delivered the new Planning Portal platform for England and Wales in January 2022 and the team will be delivering the new Northern Ireland Planning IT System in December 2022.

Speakers

Digital as an enabler for planning reforms Track 2: Digital skills for planners

PANEL CHAIR POOJA AGRAWAL CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, PUBLIC PRACTICE

Pooja Agrawal is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Public Practice. She is an architect and planner who worked as a public servant at Homes England and the Greater London Authority and at private practices including Publica and We Made That. She cofounded social equality platform Sound Advice and co-published Now You Know, a compendium of fifty essays exploring spatial and racial inequality.

DIANE RENNIE DIGITAL PLANNING PROGRAMME DIRECTOR, SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

Diane is a Senior Leader and Programme Director with over 15 years’ experience of digital transformation across the Financial and Public Sectors. Early in her career, Diane was part of the senior leadership team which established Tesco Bank before moving into the public sector to lead the collaboration between local authorities and Scottish Government, delivering the eDevelopment programme as a foundation for the digital transformation of the planning system in Scotland.

MAY-N LEOW DIGITAL PLANNING HEAD OF PRODUCT, DEPARTMENT OF LEVELLING UP, HOUSING AND COMMUNITIES

May-N Leow is DLUHC’s Digital Planning Head of Product and heads up the co-creation and modernisation of planning services with local authorities in line with the ambitions of the Local Digital Declaration that over 250 councils have signed so far. She has over 17 years experience in IT and digital, worked in commercial, local government and central government.

PROF. MICHAEL BATTY BARTLETT PROFESSOR OF PLANNING, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

Michael Batty is Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London where he is Chair of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) and a Turing Fellow in the Alan Turing Institute. He has worked on computer models of cities and their visualisation since the 1970s and his recent publications Cities and Complexity (2005), The New Science of Cities (2013), and Inventing Future Cities (2018), are all published by The MIT Press.

Speakers

Digital as an enabler for planning reforms

Track 2: Digital skills for planners

NISSA SHAHID DIGITAL FIRST LEAD, GREATER CAMBRIDGE SHARED PLANNING

Nissa is a chartered planner and an expert in digital transformation and innovation within the planning and development field. She has spent the last 9 years of her career working across private, public and third sectors to push for the adoption of data-driven and technologically advanced planning processes. As Digital First Lead for the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service, Nissa is leading on digital projects and overall strategy to develop a digitally-enabled, data-led planning system.

Speakers Planning for people and places

Track

1: Planning for places

KEYNOTE

SPEAKER, TRACK

1&2

ANTONIA CORNARO UNDERGROUND URBANIST & CO-CHAIR, AMBERG ENGINEERING & ITACUS

Antonia’s current work as Expert Underground Space for Amberg Engineering, at an internationally renowned Swiss firm specialising in underground infrastructure design and management, she focuses on Urban Underground Space with the aim to increase mobility, livability, and resilience of urban areas. She has 25 years of working experience as an urban and transport planner from the public and private sector.

PANEL CHAIR

DARREN MUIR ASSOCIATE PLANNER, PEGASUS GROUP

Darren is an Associate Planner at Pegasus Group in Liverpool. He advises public and private sector clients on a variety of strategic planning matters and developments across the UK, including residential, renewables, industrial, education, and commercial. He holds two master’s degrees – a Master of Town and Country Planning (Hons) degree from the University of Manchester, and a Master of Science in Design and Construction of Zero Carbon and Ultra-low Energy Buildings from the University of Dundee.

Speakers Planning for people and places

Track 1: Planning for places

LAURA SHOAF CHIEF EXECUTIVE, WEST MIDLANDS COMBINED AUTHORITY

Appointed Chief Executive in November 2021 after the interim appointment made in June 2021. Laura was previously the MD of Transport for West Midlands, having expanded her focus to include driving inclusive economic growth; increasing skills provision; regenerating land and housing; and enhancing the environment as well as improving transport connectivity across the region.

REBECCA DILLON-ROBINSON SENIOR URBAN PLANNER, CITIES AND REGENERATION, RAMBOLL

Rebecca works with local and regional authorities to deliver regenerative and inclusive development. She is a thought leader in the field of walkable or 20 minute neighbourhoods and is regularly asked to speak on this topic including at SURF (Scotland’s Urban Regeneration Forum) and for the Institute of Civil Engineers. Her work lies at the intersection of research and practice being a coauthor of the ’20 minutes in a Scottish Context’ for ClimateXChange on behalf of the Scottish Government alongside working with local authorities in strategy and implementation.

TOBY LLOYD SPECIAL ADVISOR, CREATE STREETS

Toby Lloyd is a housing and regeneration policy expert and independent consultant. In 2020-21 he served as the chair of No Place Left Behind: the Commission into Prosperity and Community Placemaking, set up by the Create Streets Foundation to explore the potential for community empowerment and placemaking to improve lives and neighbourhoods in left behind places. He was previously the No 10 Special Adviser on housing and local government to Prime Minister Theresa May and Head of Policy for Shelter.

Speakers Planning for people and places

Track 2: Planning for people

PANEL CHAIR

HANNAH BARTER DIRECTOR/PARTNER, URBAN

VISION ENTERPRISE CIC

Hannah Barter is a Director and Partner of Urban Vision Enterprise CIC and has 20 years’ experience in planning and community development, working in the public, private and third sectors. Her experience and expertise include planning, heritage community projects, land development, arboriculture, urban design, community engagement and environmental education. Hannah was a co-author in ’Connections’ 12 approaches to relationshipbased place making.

DR LOUISE O’KANE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, COMMUNITY

PLACES

Louise is the Chief Executive of Community Places. Louise has over sixteen years’ experience of working in the areas of spatial planning and regeneration, community engagement and community planning. Louise joined Community Places as a Planner in 2008.

Louise has a PhD in Planning, Urban Governance and Contested Space, and is a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. Louise is a Director of the Scottish Community Development Centre and an Advisory Group member of UPLAN Ulster University’s Planning Regeneration and Development Course.

MEKOR NEWMAN DIRECTOR, NEWMAN FRANCIS

Mekor is the Co-founder and Director at NewmanFrancis, a community engagement consultancy. He has over 30 years of experience in community engagement in regeneration and redevelopment. Some high-profile examples of his work are at Lancaster West Estate (Grenfell) where he worked with the community to develop a plan to rebuild the estate after the fire.

SIMEON SHTEVBUNAEV DOCTORAL RESEARCHER, BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY

Simeon Shtebunaev is an interdisciplinary doctoral researcher at Birmingham City University, researching how young people engage in the planning of future ’smart’ cities within a European context. He was a PI on the AHRC funded project “Are you game for climate action?” developing the board game Climania with young people focusing on the role of the built environment in climate change. He chairs the WMCA Cultural Infrastructure and Investment subgroup with keen interest in cultural developments.

Speakers

Headline sponsor: Bringing your Plan to Life

ANDY MOY VICE PRESIDENT OF PLANNING

SOLUTIONS, OBJECTIVE

Based out of Sydney, Andy is the global Vice President of Planning Solutions at Objective. He is a digital technologist that lives in the real and future world of Local Planning Systems.

JIM FRETWELL KEYSTONE GLOBAL PRODUCT MANAGER, OBJECTIVE

Jim is the Keystone Global Product Manager at Objective. He draws on years of experience working in local government and was a Keystone customer before joining Objective. His focus is on delivering an end-to-end planning solution that customers love to use and that continues to encourage innovation within the planning process.

RAFAEL GARCIA UK DIRECTOR FOR PLANNING

AND BUILDING SOLUTIONS, OBJECTIVE

Rafael is the UK Director for Planning and Building Solutions at Objective. He draws on years of experience working with Heads of Planning and Planning Officers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand to ensure Digital Planning becomes a reality. His customer-centric approach leads to enhanced decision-making by Local Planning Authorities.

Speakers

Chief Planners: Different

approaches to planning reform

PANEL CHAIR

VICTORIA HILLS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ROYAL TOWN PLANNING INSTITUTE

Victoria Hills, MRTPI, FICE, FRSA, is Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute with over 24 years in senior roles in planning, transport, organisational leadership and development. Working for all three Mayors of London, she latterly led the UK’s largest regeneration project at Old Oak, setting up the Old Oak and Park Royal Mayoral Development Corporation.

Using the convening role of the Royal Town Planning Institute, she makes the case for resourcing planning and advocating the important role of putting planning at the heart of government delivery for the quality places that people want to live in.

ANGUS KERR CHIEF PLANNER & DIRECTOR OF REGIONAL PLANNING DEPARTMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE NORTHERN IRELAND

Angus is responsible for developing planning legislation and policy. As a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, Angus obtained his Masters in Town & Country Planning and is a chartered Town Planner with over 28 years’ experience working in a wide range of planning posts across Government. Angus was Project Director over the planning reform and transfer project which was responsible for reforming the planning system and transferring the majority of planning functions to the new 11 Councils on 1 April 2015.

DR FIONA SIMPSON CHIEF PLANNER, SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

Dr Fiona Simpson, Scottish Government Chief Planner has worked for the Scottish Government for 16 years. She has overall responsibility for the work of Planning, Architecture and Regeneration Division, including an ambitious ongoing programme planning reform, national planning policy, advising Scottish Ministers on their statutory responsibilities for planning, as well as supporting the digital transformation of the planning system and place-based investment programme. Fiona is currently overseeing the delivery National Planning Framework 4.

Speakers

Chief Planners: Different

approaches to planning reform

JOANNA AVERLEY CHIEF PLANNER, DEPARTMENT FOR LEVELLING UP, HOUSING & COMMUNITIES

Joanna Averley took up the role of Chief Planner at DLUHC in September 2020. She is a town planner with 30 years’ experience working across government, major projects and with local authorities. She has been involved in all aspect of planning research, policy, practice and project delivery. Prior to this role she was at HS2 where she led on how the railway interfaces with its context with plan making and consenting processes. Until taking up the role of Chief Planner she was a London Mayor’s Design Advocate and Chair of the London Borough of Wandsworth’s Design Review Panel.

NEIL HEMINGTON CHIEF PLANNER, WELSH GOVERNMENT

Neil graduated from the London School of Economics and holds qualifications in Economics and Planning. Prior to moving to the Welsh Government Neil held various senior roles in strategic and local planning. Neil leads planning policy and legislative reform in Wales including the first Wales Spatial Plan and successor plan Future Wales, Planning Policy Wales, the Planning (Wales) Act and establishment of Planning and Environment Decisions Wales. Currently, Neil is leading work to consolidate Welsh planning legislation and create a new infrastructure consenting regime. Neil holds corporate membership of the RTPI.

PAUL HOGAN PRINCIPAL ADVISOR (PLANNING0), DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND HERITAGE, GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND

Paul started his career in community led programmes with Groundwork and within Housing Associations before joining the pre-cursors to Homes England. At Homes England he delivered a number of major and multi-million pound projects, led all of the agency’s activity across the South East and concluded his career there as Executive Director for Markets, Partners and Places leading teams across the Country.

Speakers Resourcing planning: The future of the profession

PANEL CHAIR HELEN FADIPE MANAGING DIRECTOR, FPP ASSOCIATES LTD

Helen has over 30 years in the planning profession working within the public and private sectors in the UK and internationally. Helen Fadipe is the Managing Director of FPP Associates Ltd. She is a Chartered Town Planner and Management Consultant. She is an elected Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) General Assembly, a Member of the RTPI Members and Ethics Committee and Founder of BAME Planners Network.

PAM EWEN HEAD OF PLANNING, FIFE COUNCIL REBECCA LOVELACE FOUNDER AND CHIEF DOT-JOINER, BUILDING PEOPLE

Pam returned to Fife Council to head up Planning in September 2015. The work of the Service aims to ensure that the planning system can support sustainable economic growth in keeping with the Authority’s aim to make “Fife the best place to do business” as well as addressing climate change. Pam has worked within a number of Planning Authorities in Scotland in different management roles and has led a number of award winning projects including winning the overall UK RTPI Planning Award.

Rebecca began her career in the humanitarian aid and homelessness sectors and has 20+ years’ experience working in equity, diversity and inclusion in the built environment. She cofounded BuildForce (the industry initiative to facilitate connections between ex-military personnel and industry employers) and Be Onsite (a non-profit company providing training and job opportunities for disadvantaged people in the property sector). Rebecca has an MSc in Urban Regeneration and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

RYAN WALKER SENIOR PLANNER AND ENGAGEMENT CONSULTANT

Building professional relationships, based upon trust and effectiveness of delivery, is something that Ryan excels at. He is particularly interested in using innovative participative techniques to engage, and empower communities for greater outcomes. Ryan’s professional experience spans the fields of planning, placemaking and regeneration across the UK and Ireland where he has successfully delivered transformative projects from design through to delivery.

In the last two years, our turnover has trebled and we have presented CPDs to over 300 individuals in the design and architecture industry. Our specification network is now 10 times what is was two years ago and Barbour ABI has been crucial in achieving these targets.

Our conference Sponsors & exhibitors

We have the pleasure of introducing our conference sponsors. Take a look around their exhibition stands during refreshment and networking breaks to find out more about what they can offer.

HEADLINE SPONSOR

Objective’s Planning and Building solutions facilitate responsible development through efficient and effective policy making and assessment with engaged communities.

Trusted by hundreds of organisations globally, Objective Keystone and Objective Trapeze support the end-to-end management of planning and building, from Planning Policy to Development Management.

www.objective.co.uk/products/planning-building-solutions

GOLD SPONSOR

Joe’s Blooms was founded in February 2022 to help small property developers comply with the new ‘Biodiversity Net Gain’ (BNG) regulations and to accommodate Local Authorities’ BNG requirements.

Thier digital service does this by providing developers with an online platform, where they are guided through the BNG process.

www.joesblooms.com

Sponsors & exhibitors

GALA DINNER SPONSOR

Carrington West is an award-winning recruitment company providing high-calibre technical talent in the UK. We recruit permanent and temporary professionals from entry to board level across multiple disciplines for private and public sector organisations. Founded in 2011, we have grown quickly due to the passion, integrity and excellence of our people.

www.carringtonwest.com

DELEGATE BAG SPONSOR

Ordnance Survey provides national mapping services for Great Britain. We help government make smarter decisions that ensure our safety and security by delivering critical infrastructure and services across Britain. From blue lights to street lights our location data frameworks make a positive difference to public services and decision-making every day. Our location expertise empowers government to see a better place.

www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/

LANYARD SPONSOR

Zinc Communicate provides bespoke content solutions, partnering with leading industry bodies and local authorities across the UK. Our content is used and distributed across digital print, web, mobile and social channels. With a 50 year heritage we offer a reliable and trustworthy content and communication service, backed by one of the UK’s most progressive, award winning and critically acclaimed media groups.

www.zincmedia.com

Sponsors & exhibitors

EXHIBITOR

Barbour ABI was founded to support the UK construction industry – helping businesses to sustain and grow. As the market leading provider of construction project information, we strive to allow our clients to access the very best, accurate and upto-date data on construction projects and the key decision makers that are involved.

www.barbour-abi.com

EXHIBITOR

Our specialist software solutions power the performance of local government driving productivity and a better experience for everyone.

Built around the user and designed collaboratively, our hard-working solutions deliver exceptional functionality. Through automating tasks, reducing complexity and effective management of information, we help you harness the power of digital, so you can do more.

www.idoxgroup.com

EXHIBITOR

Maptionnaire Community Engagement Platform is a map-based service for cities and consultancies enabling effective public engagement that provides comprehensive insights for decision making.

https://maptionnaire.com/

Sponsors & exhibitors

EXHIBITOR

Mondrem is a not-for-profit community interest company. We’re on a mission to help make council planning services personally and professionally rewarding and enjoyable places to work. And to help them deliver a faster and better customer experience. We’ve helped struggling services become award-winning services where people want to work.

www.mondrem.co.uk

EXHIBITOR

The Planner Jobs is a UK jobs board for chartered town planning and urban design jobs. It is the official job site for the RTPI (Royal Town Planning Institute), a town planning and spatial planning membership organisation for Chartered Town Planners with over 27,000 members.

https://jobs.theplanner.co.uk/

EXHIBITOR

TerraQuest’s technology has shaped the planning process for England and Wales by offering a seamless submission process to the public across both local and central government through access to centralised information.

www.terraquest.co.uk

EXHIBITOR

Urban Intelligence is transforming the development of local plans to utilise software engineering, geospatial data and data science to empower local authorities to plan smarter through digitisation.

https://urbanintelligence.co.uk

RTPI Directory of Planning Consultants is delivered by

Planning application solutions

Planning Application Validation Service (PAVS)

PAVS helps local planning authorities to successfully handle their increased workload, clear application backlogs and meet service level commitments by validating all types of electronic and paper planning applications.

The service checks planning applications against national and local planning policies and directly uploads them into the local authority back office system.

An application can be received and validated on a case officer’s worklist within just 24 to 48 hours.

Planning Application Case Evaluation Service (PACES)

Our expert team of case officers are on hand to assist with the evaluation and determination of any planning application cases, from validation all the way through to the decision with the council’s committee. Our officers are skilled in communicating and negotiating with applicants and agents, helping with the smooth running of every case.

Contact us: information@terraquest.co.uk 0121 234 1300