New Zealand Planning Institute Conference

Postponed due to COVID-19 - new date 23 March - 26 March 2021.

The Values/Voices/Vision conference was to be held in Nelson from 31 March to 3 April. The NZPI Board has made the difficult decision to postpone the Conference. This was largely driven by yesterday’s Government announcement calling for the cancellation of all non-essential mass gatherings of more than 500 people. The Board fully anticipated that the Conference would have attracted more than 500 people, and in the interests of the health and safety of delegates, speakers, sponsors and staff, the decision to postpone our 2020 conference will, we hope, assist the efforts to limit the spread of COVID19. We are grateful that the Nelson/Marlborough Branch appreciate the ramifications to our industry and our profession’s reputation and support the postponement wholeheartedly.

While the Branch and local Tangata Whenua are disappointed to be unable to welcome you to their region this year they are pleased to support the Institute in announcing that we are now working towards holding the conference in Nelson in 2021. We’ve set a date of 23 March to 26 March, 2021.

The conference was shaping up to be one of our best yet, with a great line up of speakers progressing the conversation about how we manage the challenge of respecting and responding to our country’s increasingly diverse communities. Climate change, water quality, open ocean aquaculture and housing were also high on the agenda.

While it is extremely disappointing our event will not be going ahead as planned, we’re sure you will understand that we could not accept the risk it potentially presented to the profession we champion to put a large number of our members in an enclosed venue for 3 days given the current situation with COVID19. We all need to play our part to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. The situation continues to evolve and it is important we take a precautionary approach.

Find out more here.