Future Countryside 2026 Agenda
Tuesday 2 June, Raby Castle
9.00: Arrival and coffee
9.30: Welcome from Nick Herbert, and Julian Glover, co-founders of Future Countryside
9.35: Welcome from Lord Barnard, Raby Castle
9.45: Keynote opening speech - Simon Jenkins
10.05: Is nature a blocker? Craig Bennett, Chris Woodley-Stewart, John Gummer, Natalie Prosser; chaired by Sarah Mukherjee
10.30: The economics of the countryside - Rupert Soames, Minette Batters, Chris Smith; chaired by Alice Thomson
11.00: COFFEE BREAK
11.30: Provocations: ‘a world without rules’ - Chaired by Sarah Mukherjee
- What if rural enterprise were truly unconstrained? - Melanie Thompson-Glen
- What if nature had no rules? - Matt Ridley
- What if the countryside had no cars? - Thomas Ableman
- What if solar farms were the best thing to happen to nature? - Rachel Hayes
12.00: Roundtable discussions on the provocations
12.30: Where is the leadership going to come from? The new centres of power - Rene Olivieri, Kate Rock; chaired by Daniel Zeichner
1.00-2.15: LUNCH
2.15: ‘Stop trashing the countryside – solving the waste crisis’ discussion - Kirstie Allsop
2.35: Food and farming – what next? Emily Norton, Alexia Robinson, Sophie Gregory; chaired by Rob Hindle
3.05: COFFEE BREAK
3.30: Engaging with the countryside - how do we get people to love the countryside? Siôn McGeever, Nicole Moore, Mary Ann Ochota; chaired by Julian Glover
4.15: 'One thing I could change about the countryside' closing plenary - Julian Glover and Nick Herbert
4.30: Wrap up and close
