NATIONAL PLANNING CONFERENCE 2025

Part of the NJL team, Elliott Bullock and Abi Tucker attended the National Planning Conference 2025, which brought together planning leaders, policymakers, and industry experts from across the UK under the theme of “Collaboration.” The event explored how partnership, digital innovation, and strategic reform can transform housing delivery, environmental outcomes, and the wider planning system. 

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We are interested to explore and understand the how of collaboration, with rising pressures on under resourced LPA’s and an ever-growing laundry list for developers, tools for collaborative working have never been more important.  

 

The conference covered a number of key topics across planning and development, which we have summarised within this article.  

 

Driving Reform and Collaboration 

Chief planners from England, Scotland, and Wales opened the conference with updates on planning reform, including the reintroduction of strategic planning in England. Also key for the future of planning in England will be the introduction of new homes accelerators, including the Atlas Programme (via Homes England) and the New Towns Taskforce. 

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Chief Planner for Wales, Neil Hemington discussed upcoming legislative consolidation in Wales, and the introduction of annual fee increases, a cost recovery system and a pathway to planning to ensure local resources are available to deliver against national policy & legislation.  

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Speakers called for planning to be recognised as a proactive tool for growth and better places, rather than a barrier to development. Whilst we agree with the message, more needs to be done to facilitate efficiency across the planning system and meaningful growth before this can be achieved, which is the direction Wales has begun taking.  

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Digital Transformation and AI in Planning 

Industry leaders showcased how AI and digital tools can and are reshaping planning—speeding up validation, enabling smarter engagement, and improving efficiency. Particularly interesting updates included TerraQuest (Planning Portal’s parent company) outlining plans for an AI Chat Bot and AI assistance in submissions, aimed at reducing invalidation from missing documents.  

While AI offers new opportunities, the panel stressed the importance of trust, transparency, and human judgment, highlighting that digitalisation should empower planners, not replace them. 

 

Affordable Housing and Delivery at Scale 

A 68% rise in housing applications this year (January – September, compared to the same period in 2024) reflects strong demand from the market, but viability and regulation remain barriers to delivery. 

Speakers from Spitfire Homes, Be First, and Landmark Chambers emphasised that long-term grant funding and cross-sector partnerships are crucial to achieving affordable housing targets, with Registered Provider’s typically moving away from purchasing S106 units, and Local Planning Authorities' pivoting from direct delivery due to viability concerns. 

  

The Lost Impact of BNG 

Data highlights that whilst BNG is a world-leading system in ecological management, only 53% of developments are currently meeting their ecological commitments. Panellists agreed that stronger enforcement, creativity, and funding are needed to secure long-term outcomes.  

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Environmental leaders urged the profession to move beyond compliance, calling for regenerative approaches to Biodiversity Net Gain, however we question the availability of such measures, with sustainability being a consideration far beyond BNG and developers needing to achieve balance of development viability and sustainability aspirations, alongside other (public) benefits. 

 

New Towns, Regional Cities, and the Grey Belt Challenge 

Sessions on housing and regeneration highlighted both innovation and constraint: 

• New Towns must be ambitious, design-led, and supported by long-term stewardship. 

• Regional cities are embracing collaboration and digitalisation to unlock delivery. 

• Grey belt policy remains complex, with speakers urging clearer guidance and bolder local decision-making. 

 

Research by Marrons has also revealed that, whilst grey belt is having a significant impact, the majority of success is via appeal, with 80% of appeal cases successful. The success rate, well above the average success rate for appeal, highlights the need for further guidance for LPA’s to gain confidence in decision-making, reducing delays to unlocking suitable sites for development. 

Furthermore, with only 1% of grey belt applications located within the North of England, there is a clear need for additional flexibility in the application of grey belt, to ensure sustainable growth across the country.  

 

Conclusions 

The sessions highlighted the lag between policy and development, calling for a more dynamic system to drive delivery; measuring success not just as planning consents, but spades in the ground.  

With England’s Local Plan reforms anticipated toward the end of this year, we would hope to see amendments to create a ‘living’ development plan, able to respond and adapt to external factors quickly within the plan period and enable delivery. 

 

We will be exploring the key questions from the Conference in the context of the changing policy context and emerging opportunities, so keep an eye out for our future posts.