With Government plans to speed up the time it takes for projects to navigate the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime, a collection of industry experts will gather in London on 1-2 March 2022 to reflect on the progress of this so far and discuss what its findings are likely to mean for the organisations involved in delivering the UK’s largest infrastructure projects.

The Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Forum will return for it’s 10th year as an in person conference following a virtual edition during the pandemic. Among the keynote speakers at this year’s forum, will be Susannah Guest, the operations lead for ‘Project Speed’ within the Planning Inspectorate. Susannah Guest will deliver a Project Speed update for delegate and provide an overview of the key infrastructure projects expected to come forward over the coming months.

Other speakers include Jenny Preece, deputy director of planning at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who will provide additional insight into the proposed reforms to infrastructure planning and how they will deliver the aim of a “Faster, Better and Greener” approach to major projects.

The two-day event will be chaired by Gideon Amos OBE, the former planning inspector, UK Infrastructure Planning Commissioner and head of the Town & Country Planning Association, now managing director of Amos Ellis Consulting. As a current Council member of the National Infrastructure Planning Association, Amos keeps a close eye on developing policy and practice and feels it is essential for the industry to come together at this crucial time.

“To date, the NSIPs regime has delivered consents for over a hundred of the UK’s biggest, most complex and valuable projects over the last 10 years but the challenges we now face as a country, infrastructure delivery, how the economy – and its different sectors – recover no doubt differently after the pandemic, all in the context of the climate challenge, are unprecedented,” said Mr Amos.

“Marking a decade of the NSIPs Forum we have charted the course and supported hundreds of people involved in the regime from public private and third sector. This year I’m delighted our programme will span across a range of live highways, nuclear, renewables and national grid connection projects.”

“As ever, there will be practical advice and guidance covering areas like National Policy Statements, case making, climate change and biodiversity, stakeholder engagement and public consultation. However, answering the key questions around how best to speed up the NSIPs process, while ensuring that the interests of developers, local authorities, communities, and the environment are all properly considered, is the at core of the NSIPs Forum and what we are all about”.

The 10th Annual NSIPs Forum will take the form of an in-person event, held in at the Congress Centre in London, but with content also delivered virtually for registered delegates. The event is organised by Waterfront Conference Company, which delivers physical and virtual policy conferences for the planning, energy, rail, ports and maritime sectors.