PIPA Conferences 2010 & 2011

PIPA Conference 2011 - Bristol

Local planning Councillors at all levels from Parish to County joined the 2011 Conference which had the very topical theme Delivering Sustainable Growth. The Conference was welcomed to Bristol by Cllr Anthony Negus (pictured to the left of the Question Time panel group with RTPI President & Conference Chair Richard Summers, centre, and Kelvin MacDonald, Policy Adviser to the RTPI, right). Kelvin MacDonald alongside Nicky Linihan from NJL-Solutions & Cllr Mike Haines from the Local Government Association unpicked what the planning reforms mean for local authorities and local growth and all participated in a Question Time session. There were significant concerns expressed by delegates about how a suitable balance between social, economic and environmental factors might be achievable within the constraints under which local authorities must operate. But equally there was a determination that local planning leadership would not be found wanting.

There were both plenary and break-out sessions with delegates being able to choose from over a dozen of the latter. PIPA's best-received speaker over the last two Conferences, Cristina Howick (from Roger Tym & Partners), looked closely at the presumption in favour of sustainable development included in the draft National Planning Policy Framework. Rynd Smith from the Planning Inspectorate considered the Localism Bill implications for Local Plans in some detail and Robin Hambleton from the University of the West of England considered the leadership role of Councillors in delivering localism. Other Conference strands covered Neighbourhood Planning, Planning Delivery & Sustainable Planning. The presentations from the Conference can be viewed here (most uploads are large files that may take a while to download).

Feedback was very positive with 100% of those completing the feedback sheet indicating that they felt the Conference organisation was either 'excellent' or 'good'.

PIPA Conference 2010 - Sheffield

Planning Minister Bob Neill kindly agreed to give the keynote address at the PIPA Conference 2010. Two other plenaries were delivered by Cllr David Smith from the Local Government Association and Cristina Howick of Roger Tym & Partners who was making her second appearance in two years. The afternoon presented a choice of 12 break-out sessions across three timeslots - the widest choice offered to date. The delegates that completed feedback sheets were 100% agreed that the Conference content was good or excellent. The presentations from the Conference can be viewed via this link.