A review of the NLA's Planning Expert Panel

Wednesday 17 September 2025

Board Director
DP9 Ltd

A review of the NLA's Planning Expert Panel

The NLA's Expert Panel on Planning met on July 7th, chaired by Craig Tabb, DP9's Board Director reviewed some of the current challenges in the industry.

For the first meeting in a series of meetings the Panel is holding in 2025 is discussing the topic of Spatial Development Strategies. This meeting focused on the question of ‘what makes for good spatial policy?’

The intention of these meetings were to discuss and debate how spatial policy should be prepared, what level of prescription, what topics, what areas of focus, what resourcing and skills needed, etc

The Panel meeting was structured into a couple of break-out groups. Each group discussed the above topic and presented its findings/conclusions.

The key summary points from each group were as follows:

Documents should be highly strategic, digitally enabled and user-friendly
Key priorities and ’ trade-offs’ must be presented and clearly understood. They should be upfront
Must be clear on how documents are to be used and how they relate to other tiers of policy/guidance
Documents should present an overarching view of need and supply, enabling strategic conversations at the local level, acknowledging that some areas may provide for needs beyond their own local requirements, in recognition of wider regional demands
Form, structure, nature, look and feel, etc, should be consistent and uniform across the country
There is a need for a robust evidence base, including economic strategies that underpin regional growth ambitions
A clear, strategic approach to setting targets, including for affordable housing delivery, is essential
Policy should be able to be monitored and reviewed easily
Policies should not be open-ended or political statements. They must be able to perform from a development management perspective
Documents must have a clearly articulated vision
A non-technical summary would be useful to aid engagement and understanding with the general public and stakeholders
Strategic diagrams, setting out the spatial plan, are really crucial
Need for a task-force type resource to support and assist
Need for built-in flexibility within strategic plans to respond to changing market conditions, employment demand, housing need, and shifting demographics
Ultimately, the level of flexibility depends on how high-level or prescriptive the policy is, striking the right balance between certainty and adaptability

The Panel will be meeting again shortly to consider different themes in relation to the overall topic of Spatial Development Strategies.

Following these future sessions, the Chair will write up the findings of the Panel and the idea is that this will provide the NLA with a topic paper that it could use to engage with Government as it seeks to implement greater strategic planning across England.

Craig Tabb

Board Director
DP9 Ltd