Planning: The Future isn’t what it used to be
Planning and environmental law has never stood still, but today it feels as though it is shifting faster, and in more unexpected ways, than ever before. Against this backdrop, PEBA’s 2026 Annual Conference invites you to step back and look ahead.
Join leading practitioners for a forward-looking programme, kindly hosted by Addleshaw Goddard in their new offices, exploring how planning law and practice are adapting to a world where certainty is increasingly elusive.
What does “good planning” and “good practice” mean in an era of legislative reform, environmental urgency and technological development? How should decision-makers, advocates and advisors respond when yesterday’s solutions no longer fit today’s problems? And what do we need in order to navigate what lies ahead?
Keynote speaker
Lord Justice Dove
Speakers and panellists
Harriet Townsend KC, Hereward Phillpot KC, Ruth Stockley KC, Lord Banner KC, Rupert Warren KC, Claire Searson (PINS), Hannah Quarterman (Addleshaw Goddard), Francis Tyrrell (Addleshaw Goddard), Nikki Webber (City of London), Matthew Henderson, Leanne Buckley-Thomson, Robert Williams, Vivienne Sedgley, Margherita Cornaglia, Armin Solimani, Charles Morgan
Conference Chair
Tom Cosgrove KC (PEBA Chair)
PROGRAMME
9.15am – Registration and refreshments
9:45am Welcome and Introduction – Hannah Quarterman (Addleshaw Goddard) and Tom Cosgrove KC (PEBA Chair, Cornerstone Barristers)
10:00am Keynote Address – Lord Justice Dove
10:30am Putting the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 into practice – Lord Banner KC (Keating Chambers) and Matthew Henderson (Landmark Chambers)
11:00am – Refreshments
11:30am From Refusal to Approval: Overcoming Obstacles to Consent in 2026 – Harriet Townsend KC and Robert Williams (Cornerstone Barristers)
12:00pm Artificial Intelligence: Developing practice – Ruth Stockley KC (Chair, Kings Chambers), with panellists including Andrew Hogan (Hailsham Chambers), Claire Searson (PINS), Nikki Webber (City of London), Francis Tyrrell (Addleshaw Goddard) and Charles Morgan (6 Pump Court)
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00pm The NPPF and wider reform – Rupert Warren KC and Margherita Cornaglia (Landmark Chambers)
2:40pm Devolution and Planning – Leanne Buckley-Thomson (No.5 Chambers) and Vivienne Sedgley (4-5 Gray’s Inn Square)
3:10pm Case law update – Hereward Phillpot KC and Armin Solimani (Francis Taylor Building)
3:40pm Concluding remarks – Tom Cosgrove KC (PEBA Chair, Cornerstone Barristers)
4:00pm – Conference close
Ticket Prices:
Early Bird (by 16 March 2026)
PEBA Members: £160.00
Non Members: £175.00
Normal Price (from 16 March 2026)
PEBA Members: £175.00
Non Members: £195.00
THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED. IF YOU WISH TO BE ADDED TO A WAITING LIST FOR TICKETS, PLEASE EMAIL: administrator@peba.org.uk