Emily is a Director in the Residential Research team in Savills. She joined the department in 2012, and now manages the development thought leadership program, primarily focusing on sustainability, the housing development pipeline and planning policy. Her recent work has covered topics including the development of green premiums, the new homes market after the end of Help to Buy, and the increasing importance of biodiversity and environmental gain in residential development.

Charlie Banner (Lord Banner KC) was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2004, to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2010 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2019. Since 2024, he has been a Working Peer in the House of Lords, in which capacity he sits as a legislator in the upper house of the UK Parliament. Charlie has a heavyweight domestic and international practice at Keating Chambers, with a particular focus on planning law. He is recommended in Band 1 for Planning in Chambers & Partners UK Bar, and was voted No. 1 planning KC in Great Britain in the 2025 edition of Planning Magazine’s annual Planning Legal Survey. Projects he has recently worked on range from 800 dwellings in the Green Belt, several tall buildings schemes in Milton Keynes and Bristol, the two leading cases on the flood risk sequential test (Mead and Yatton), CG Fry in the Supreme Court on nutrient neutrality, Hillside in the Supreme Court on overlapping planning permissions, a new stadium in Belfast, a £9bn data centre project. In 2024, he led the Independent Review of Legal Challenges to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, the recommendations of which are now included in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Lucian leads a team of 35 researchers, who cover everything from social housing to the prime markets of central London and development land to residential Investment. He has been at Savills since 1993 and a director of the research team since 2007. He is one of the most quoted commentators on the UK housing market.

Matthew Pennycook was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 6 July 2024. He was elected as the MP for Greenwich and Woolwich in May 2015.

Minister of State (Minister for Housing and Planning)

- Planning reform and the National Planning Policy Framework (including legislation such as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill)
- Housing delivery including large-scale new settlements programme (New Towns)
- Brownfield Infrastructure Land and Housing Infrastructure Funds
- Housing supply strategy
- Homes England and Planning Inspectorate sponsorship
- HM Land Registry and land transparency
- Social housing
- Social and Affordable Homes Programme?
- Housing quality
- Private rented sector and Renters’ Rights Bill
- Leasehold and commonhold reform
- Planning casework

Nina Pindham has a wide-ranging planning practice specialising in environmental law matters in the context of planning applications, including infrastructure, energy, controversial minerals development, hazardous substances consent, waste, EIA, SEA, agriculture, water, air quality, and nature conservation issues (with particular expertise in relation to the Habitats Regulations). She has represented clients before the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the United Nations.

She has been ranked as a leading junior in Environmental Law by the Legal 500, one of the country’s top-rated juniors by Planning Magazine, and a leading junior by Chambers and Partners. Comments include: “her ability to crack intellectually challenging issues is unbelievable. If you think of it as chess, she is always three or four moves ahead of the opposition”, “has a tremendous capacity to take in a great deal of information and get straight to the point”, “an incredible advocate”. Nina has also featured as one of The Planner’s Women of Influence and in the ENDS Power List of the most influential environmental professionals: “she is one of, if not the, leader in her field”. Nina is the author of the book A Practical Guide to Biodiversity Net Gain, published by Law Brief Publishing.

At COP27 Nina was awarded the Global Leadership Award in Climate Law for her work with an international coalition of bar associations seeking to build the capacity of the legal sector in relation to climate change where it is relevant to legal advice, so as to best serve the needs of lawyers’ clients. She studied science at university: her undergraduate thesis research (a baseline water quality assessment) was published and resulted in revised government policy. She is keenly interested in the arts and travel; her art has won several awards and been exhibited globally. She has lived and worked in India, Italy and Lebanon. At one point or another she was, variously, able to speak Estonian, Levantine Arabic, Italian, French and Modern Standard Arabic. She is currently studying Hindi, improving her Estonian and learning to play the violin.

Rupert is a Barrister at Landmark Chambers, head of its Planning Group, and recognised as one of the UK’s leading planning silks. He has advised the current Government on major planning reforms, including the NPPF, NDMPs, PPG, Green/Grey Belt revisions and New Towns, and previously advised on the first NPPF (2011–12) and the 2017–18 revision.

He acts for a wide range of developers, including leading housebuilders. Recent work includes a four-week called-in Inquiry on the Northfleet Harbourside scheme in Gravesham (3,500 homes, commercial uses, hotel and a stadium for Ebbsfleet United FC), advising Berkeley St George on Camden Goods Yard, and acting for the Epilepsy Society in its 975-home appeal in Buckinghamshire.

William Burgon is Director of Planning at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

William was previously Strategy Director in the Economic and Domestic Secretariat at the Cabinet Office, prior to which he was Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, having worked on EU exit policy and negotiations from 2016 to 2019.