Annual Planning Lecture 2025 – The NPPF
John McLarty
Feb, 12 2025“National planning policy has never been as exciting as it is right now.” – great and good of planning gather for informative Ceres Property Planning Lecture
Labour’s promised shake-up of planning laws has resulted in a “notable uplift in sentiment” in the world of planning, investment, and development, and the vista of new opportunities that now lay on the horizon is creating an firm belief that “national policy has never been as exciting as it is right now”.
That’s according to the esteemed speakers who presented to over 100 planning, investment, and property development professionals gathered for the first Ceres Property Annual Planning Lecture, in Essex on 7th February.
When, during his introductory talk, John McLarty, Managing Partner at Ceres Property, asked how many of the gathered audience felt confident about the upcoming six months of planning and development in the UK, over half of those present raised their hands.
And so began an optimistic canter through the current planning and development landscape, radically reformed as it has been by Labour’s revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which sets out the government’s planning policies for England and how they are expected to be applied.
The group of speakers that Ceres Property curated for the event offered a rare chance to hear directly from a broad range of industry leaders and experts.
Sarah Ashton, Head of Planning at Braintree District Council, described with passion how planning was finally being seen as an opportunity rather than a burden, and expressed hope that the engaged manner with which politicians are now approaching planning policy is maintained throughout the years to come.
Mary Cook of Town Legal said , and that she has never seen a framework that was more pro-growth than today’s.
Sam Hollingsworth, Associate Partner at Ceres Property, said that the old days of slow planning processes, delayed by constantly shifting political goalposts and a lack of incentives for local councillors to green-light vital projects, were being corrected by the government’s new Green Belt policies and mandatory housing targets.
He did, however, warn against the “elephant in the room” that is the prospect of devolution leading to a complex reorganisation of local government at a time when streamlined processes are essential.
Tom Newcombe, Partner and Head of Planning and Environmental at Birketts LLP, expressed further concerns about the lack of apparent scope in the NPPF to support SME housebuilders or give real hope to already ailing town centres.
James Firth, Partner at Ceres Property, said that the NPPF has had an “immediate impact” and that the introduction of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will be another huge moment for national development. He did, however, voice that all planning and development aspirations were dependent on the government’s ability to build and maintain a strong economic environment capable of supporting housebuilding.
The final speaker of the day, Boris White, Partner at Ceres Property and working in their development team, said that the NPPF had created “a notable uplift in sentiment” and brought on a strong can-do attitude to replace the can’t-do mood that has prevailed in local planning for far too long. As such, confidence is at a new high and so too is the “appetite for land”, not least strategic land such as Grey Belt sites and those in local authorities where housing requirements are at their highest.
“Overall”, he concluded, “Ceres Property is confident in the market and has already expanded the team to meet the market demand and help clients capitalise on the opportunities that the coming years will no doubt bring.”
John McLarty, Managing Partner at Ceres Property, commented:
“This is one of the most important moments in planning and development that our country has seen in many years. Labour has come into power with an incredibly ambitious pledge on housebuilding and strong rhetoric about the need for economic growth. Planning and development are central to fulfilling these ambitions, and success is reliant on the whole sector operating as one cohesive unit.
That’s why we think it’s so important to gather leaders from all corners of the planning and development community to discuss, debate, and share knowledge, all of which will help us play our part in revitalising development across the nation and paving the way for strong economic growth for decades to come.
Thank you to all of the brilliant speakers who took to the stage at this, our first Annual Planning lecture, and to everyone who came along to make it such a successful event.”
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