ACE and Cavendish Communications present Planning and Place: Delivering Local Growth, hosted by ARUP

Join us for a special fringe reception at this year's Conservative Party Conference, kindly hosted by Arup.

The reception will feature a keynote contribution from Sir Andy Street, former Mayor of the West Midlands, offering senior-level insight into how mayoral leadership can drive regional growth, devolution, and delivery. Drawing on his experience leading the UK's first metro mayoralty, Sir Andy will reflect on:

- The impact of devolution on planning, development and regeneration

- The role of infrastructure in supporting economic growth

- The importance of long-term leadership and delivery-focused policy

- His contribution will provide valuable context for discussion and help bring together senior political and industry stakeholders around the reception's focus on informed, policy-led engagement.

Event discussion themes

- The role of planning policy in enabling development and investment certainty

- How devolved leadership can support place-based regeneration and delivery

- Turning political ambition into practical, deliverable outcomes

- Development

       - Planning as the route map for growth and regeneration, unlocking infrastructure-led development and investment confidence.

- Devolution

      - Place-based leadership and local decision-making as catalysts for delivery.

- Delivery

       - Moving from ambition to outcomes: what enables effective delivery at pace, both politically and practically.