Conference season 2026: how CPRE will be standing up for the countryside

We’re preparing for another party conference season and will be attending all five major party conferences, co-sponsoring receptions at Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrat conferences.

We’ll be pressing every party to take the issues facing our countryside seriously, and to ensure rural areas have a strong voice in shaping policy. But this year the stakes feel higher.

With a new NPPF published in August and the long-awaited Land Use Framework announced in the spring, there’s real potential to integrate land use decision-making properly for the first time.

After a summer of extreme heat, we’ve seen what a countryside under climate stress looks like. And as competing demands on land intensify, protecting the countryside matters more than ever.

Reform conference

2-5 September, Birmingham

CPRE will be going to Reform conference for the second time. We’ll be attending panels on housing, planning and devolution as well as a panel by the National Trust, RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, WWF and Woodland Trust, who will be presenting new polling on the importance of nature to Reforms voters.

Liberal Democrat conference

19-22 September, Brighton

We’ll be attending the Lib Dems’ second Climate and Nature Day on Sunday 21 September, engaging in fringe events on the importance of nature to the Liberal Democrats’ agenda.

We’ll also be making the case for protecting the Green Belt, particularly given the prevalence of Liberal Democrat MPs in areas on the edges of towns and cities. Additionally, we’re co-sponsoring the Green Alliance Environmental Groups Reception, as we are at Conservative and Labour conferences too.

Our aim is to shape the party’s views on the government’s devolution agenda and how Liberal Democrats can ensure rural voices are not lost in the process.

Labour conference

27 September – 30 October, Liverpool

The new Prime Minister and government will be the focus at Labour conference. CPRE will be attending in full force with our Director Roger Mortlock and President Mary-Ann Ochota. The significant focus of the Andy Burnham government so far has been devolution and handing powers to Mayors and new Strategic Authorities. CPRE are concerned that this could lead to rural voices being diminished, so we will be making sure we make the case for rural communities to have more decision-making powers.

We are also co-sponsoring the Green Alliance Environmental Groups Reception and will attending the reception for the Labour Rural Research Group, a group of backbench Labour MPs, who’s importance has now increased as their Chair was made a Minister in DEFRA.

Green conference

2-4 October, Brighton

For the second time we’ll be at the Green conference this year. After the significant breakthrough for the Green Party at the local elections as well as by-election victories, we’ll be making the case for ensuring that nature and climate remain an important part of their agenda. We’ll also be presenting solutions for the housing crisis and ensuring the Greens understand the unique issues facing rural communities.

Conservative conference

4-7 October, Birmingham 

At Conservative conference, we’re meeting members of the Conservative’s Housing Team to discuss the party’s concerns with the government’s Grey Belt and housing policy. We’ll be presenting our brownfield work as an alternative to the government’s current housing agenda and hope that pressure can be put on the government to ensure that genuinely affordable homes are built in the right places.

In addition to this, we’ll be co-sponsoring the Green Alliance Environmental Groups Reception. We are extremely concerned by the party’s environmental direction and want to ensure the Conservatives understand the urgent need to protect biodiversity and tackle climate change.

Looking ahead

Across all conferences, we will be presenting a preview of our new brownfield data due for publication later this autumn, as we continue to make the case for a brownfield-first approach to new housing. And we will be pushing to ensure that the devolution agenda supports rural prosperity.

Above all, we’ll be there to make sure the countryside – and the people who live in it – stay at the heart of the political conversation.