New! Planning Demystified – February 27th 10am to 4pm – In person, Aylesbury
Planning Demystified 2026
In every parish planning applications, decisions and policy are a hot topic on the agenda. But how are planning decisions made? What are the different types of planning permission? How is change of use decided? And how can town and parish councils effectively represent their residents views? All of these topics and more will be explained.
As part of the sessions, attendees will be asked to apply their knowledge to real life examples in order to make their own planning judgements, guided by experienced and qualified planners.
PLANNING DEMYSTIFIED PROGRAMME
| Time | Agenda | Presenter |
| 09:30 – 09:50 | Registration | |
| 10.00 – 10.05 | Welcome and Introductions
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| 10:05 – 11:05 | How planning applications are determined
What is the role of planning policy?
What is the role of development management?
How planning policy and development management work together to determine applications
|
Leani Haim
Leani Haim
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| 11:05 – 11.20 | Coffee Break | |
| 11.20 – 13.00 | Case Studies – Practical Examples (Workshops 1, 2 & 3)
Each workshop will last 30 mins with 5 mins to move between rooms, so that all attendees can rotate through and attend all 3 workshops. In each workshop attendees will be supplied with background information about the case study planning application. They will be split into smaller groups and given a selection of materials to assist in making their own determination of the application. Each group will need to consider the relevance or weight which may be given to the material and any grounds for objection. Each group will then present their case. The room leader will identify the group that came closest to how the planning decision was decided in real life. The three case studies will cover different types of applications and enable practical application of the theories explained in the morning. Cases:
|
Leani Haim
Leah Coney TBC 3rd person |
| 13.00 – 13.45 | Lunch Break & Board Games | |
| 13:45 – 14.45 | How decisions are really made: looking behind the headlines
Review of recent planning decision case law and how the planning balance was actually struck in each case vs the newspaper/social media interpretation. Implementation and monitoring How to prepare for the future
|
Leah Coney
Leani Haim
|
| 14.45 – 15.00 | Questions and Answers
Close |
Leani Haim & Leah Coney |
Provider: ONH Planning for Good – Planning Director, Leani Haim, MRTPI & Planning and Development Manager, Leah Coney, AssocRTPI
ONH is a multi-disciplinary, social enterprise of RTPI chartered planners, architects and urban designers. Over 90% of ONH’s work is with town and parish councils working on community focused planning projects, including planning representations and appeals. ONH also deliver many other different types of planning support dependent on each parishes personal circumstances, needs and aims, including over 200 Neighbourhood Plan projects for local councils across 60 LPA areas.
Planning Director, Leani Haim, MRTPI. As ONH’s Planning Director, Leani Haim is a chartered planner with experience across local government and private practice. Leveraging her diverse background and professional qualifications, she guides clients nationwide to secure better community outcomes from new development and empowers them to navigate the planning system with more confidence.
Planning and Development Manager, Leah Coney, AssocRTPI. Leah manages a portfolio of Town and Parish Council clients for ONH, with a focus on town centre regeneration, asset management, redevelopment and placemaking. Leah also has over 18 years’ experience of working in local government and significant hands-on experience in the practical day to day management and deployment of public facing projects, working as liaison between the local community and key stakeholders.
Both Leani and Leah have an excellent success rate in securing the right homes in the right places through our representations for communities in respect of emerging Local Plan allocations and planning application responses.
Who should attend: Town and parish councillors, clerks, planning leads, and community development officers
Venue: The Mezzanine Rooms, County Hall, Aylesbury
Cancellation: A full refund will be given if 14 days or more notice prior to the date of the training course is given. However, this could cause an event to be cancelled if it becomes uneconomic to run.
Members £110 per ticket
Non-members £220 per ticket
