Board meeting minutes 5 June 2025 - The Planning Inspectorate
Updated 15 January 2026
Applies to England
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Board meeting minutes 5th June 2025 - The Planning Inspectorate
Minutes 24th July 2025 ratified
| Title of meeting | Planning Inspectorate Board Meetings |
| Date | 05 June 2025 |
| Venue | Planning Inspectorate, Bristol (in person) |
| Chair | Trudi Elliott (TE), Non-Executive Director (NED) |
| Present |
| Emir Feisal (EF), Non-Executive Director (NED) |
| Adrian Penfold (AP), Non-Executive Director (NED) |
| Baljit Dhillon (BD), Non-Executive Board Apprentice |
| Oliver Munn (OM), Non-Executive Director (NED) |
| Paul Morrison (PM), Chief Executive |
| Graham Stallwood (GS), Chief Operating Officer |
| Rachel Graham (RG), Chief Digital Information Officer |
| Rebecca Phillips (RP), Interim Chief Planning Inspector |
| Joanne Butcher (JB), Chief Finance Officer |
| Sean Canavan (SC), Chief Strategy Officer |
| Will Burgon (WB), Director of Planning, MHCLG (virtual) |
| In attendance Full meeting |
| Head of People Experience (RH) (sub for CPO) |
| Corporate Governance Officer (NPe), minutes and actions |
| Attending for specific items |
| Senior Media and External Affairs Manager (GL) (item 7) |
| Head of Business Improvement and Stakeholder Engagement (LB) (item 7) |
| Corporate Strategy and Reporting Lead (BM) (item 9) |
| SAP Data Engineer (HS) (item 9) |
| Futures Lead (NPo) (item 10) |
| Head of Strategy and Change (SH) (items 10 and 11) |
| Observer |
| Head of Delivery, Productivity and Workforce (MC) |
| Apologies |
| Hayley Kelly (HK), Chief People Officer |
1. 1.0 - Welcome and Declaration of Interests
1.1 The Chair called for Declarations of Interest, of which there were none.
2. 2.0 - Minutes of March Board meeting, corporate action tracker Minutes
2.1 No further comments were received for the part one and part two of the March Board minutes.
2.2 No further updates were provided for the action tracker.
Agreed:
2a) The March Board minutes parts one and two are an accurate record of the meeting.
3. 3.0 Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) Chair update
3.1 Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) reported all audits for 2024/25 are complete and the annual opinion is moderate.
3.2 Subject to outstanding matters, the National Audit Office (NAO) anticipate recommending to the Comptroller and Auditor General he should certify the 2024-25 financial statements with an unqualified audit opinion.
3.3 ARAC agreed to recommend the Board endorse the ARA, which appears at item 6 on this June agenda.
3.4 NEDs and Executive Team received ARAC training from an external provider on risk management, internal control and assurance frameworks.
4. 4.0 CEO update – OFFICIAL SENSTIVE
4.1 Captured in part two minutes.
5. 5.0 MHCLG update – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
5.1 Captured in part two minutes.
6. 6.0 Endorse Annual Report and Accounts (ARA)
6.1 The ARA was well received by ARAC. The governance statement and financial statement was reviewed with no further substantial issues. The ARA received a clean bill of health.
6.2 ARAC thanked the Executive Team for the work and focus on benefits realisation, the new process is a leaner way to track progress.
6.3 The Board reflected the ARA is a user friendly document and has improved year on year and thanked all involved in the production for their work.
Agreed:
6a) The Board agreed to endorse the ARA in principle and to delegate completion to the CEO and Chair of ARAC.
Actions:
6b) JB to circulate final draft to the NEDs.
6c) BM/ JB to share the figures for the unique clicks and views for the ARA.
7. 7.0 Stakeholder and customer engagement.
7.1 An audit is underway with the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) looking at our customer engagement, outputs from the audit will be presented to the Board as part of the regular Board update. The update will include recommendations to the Board on the way we gather customer datasets and comparable datasets. OM said distinguishing between appeal outcome would be helpful when analysing the survey data.
7.2 PM set out he is keen to use the time with the Board to analyse what is happening through social media, stakeholder feedback and being customer focussed. PM would also like to gather from the NEDs what they are hearing through their professional networks and how we can use this to develop events, webinars and engagement opportunities.
7.3 With TE’s term coming to an end in 2026, TE suggested using this as an opportunity to showcase TE’s learning through her time at the Inspectorate. Setting out the role of the Inspectorate, policies and changes. As NEDs are not involved in casework, this is an opportunity for them to talk about issues and experiences thematically.
7.4 OM suggested an audience based approach, explaining the role of the Inspectorate for those who have limited interaction, hearing about the Inspectorate locally and having a more targeted approach to those who understand the work of the Inspectorate and Inspectors as decision makers. LB reflected we need to find a way to reflect our expertise in planning and the role of the Inspectorate to a wide audience.
7.5 AP reflected Linked In posts are very good and suggested policy is a good way to support discussions, particularly where policy is changing and what these changes mean for the Inspectorate and the customer or stakeholder.
7.6 Our webinars are fully subscribed and we are looking to increase the number of licenses and considering the next topics such as green belt.
7.7 TE and OM suggested guidance on how to write objections and provide responses on local plans, including modelling best practice examples and how to use AI. RG explained we need to provide information to the public before they engage with us, to ensure people get the most from their interactions with us.
7.8 Further information is captured in the part two minutes.
8. 8.0 Items arising from the Professional Practice Conference (PPC)
8.1 The Board discussed the opportunities and flexibility in the legislation for Inspectors to make a decision on the appropriate procedure for appeal casework. Inspectors make decisions based on the evidence provided.
8.2 Further information is captured in the part two minutes.
9. 9.0 Balanced scorecard
9.1 The balanced scorecard has been revised and aligned to report against our five services. New measures have been developed and implemented by the services; some measures are under development and taking longer to report against due to the collation of data.
9.2 The Board received a demonstration of the new dashboard from HS.
9.3 OM asked for reporting to include the top three to five areas reporting red in the dashboard that requires Board discussion. MC confirmed his team will analyse the data and give points for discussion to the Board. OM asked for the team to include where measures are not on track for an update to be included on how we are addressing. MC agreed there will be focus on what the information is telling us and what are we going to do to drive performance.
Action(s):
9a) MCH to include with the dashboard how we are addressing measures reporting red.
10. 10.0 Future Strategy – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
10.1 Captured in part two minutes.
11. 11.0 Board effectiveness review
11.1 The majority of recommendations are complete, in progress or included on the June agenda. The skills audit for the NEDs is now complete and the results have been shared with the MHCLG sponsorship team to inform the Chair recruitment.
11.2 AP reviewed the updated terms of reference (ToR) for the Remuneration Committee and agreed with the comments and updates made by HK. Following amendment, TE asked for the ToR to be agreed out of committee.
11.3 With the next strategic plan under development, TE suggested SH and NPo build contingency into the sign off of the plan to accommodate the appointment of a new Board Chair.
Agreed:
11a) The recommendation for the Board to agree the revised dashboard to be reopened and monitored whilst the team develop the dashboard taking on board feedback.
11b) The Board and ARAC terms of reference.
Action(s):
11c) SH to circulate the Remuneration Committee ToR out of committee for approval.
11d) SH to add contingency time to the final stages of the sign off of the strategic plan to allow for the appointment of a new Board Chair.
12. 12.0 AOB, review of meeting, key points for the blog
12.1 EF and RP to include the:
- drafting and positive opinion for the annual report and accounts,
- effectiveness review recommendations are largely complete, *Board’s excitement for the new balanced scorecard, *NEDs focus on the issues raised at the PPC