HBF Planning Conference 2023

This year's HBF Planning Conference returns to Austin Court, Birmingham on 20th September.

Positive Planning

Planning is not getting any easier. Service managers within LPAs continue to be asked to do more with less and life can be very unpleasant for officers on the front line. By the same token, planning managers at homebuilders are adding longer and longer to the length of time required to secure a consent when new sites can be secured.

Negativity pervades and could perhaps be at the heart of current travails. A negative attitude towards planning saw it suffer the most nationally and locally during the age of austerity. Negative attitudes towards new development, and new homes specifically, have contributed towards a continued politicisation of planning, which lies behind both increasing application timescales and the crisis in local plan-making.

The conference will focus on why we are where we are and the role of positive planning in helping all concerned to do something about it. There will be a focus on the politics of planning and how the positive case for both new homes nationally and planning applications locally can be made.

There will be an exploration of what life within LPAs presently with a view to fostering a better understanding of the challenges that both officers and planning managers are facing.

There will also be a look at key current and future development management challenges, specifically neutrality and the imminent introduction of mandatary Biodiversity Net Gain.

It is, as ever, a busy time for those tasked with navigating the planning system– and the HBF Planning Conference is here to help chart a path through it.

Please visit the housebuilder website for event details and how to book.