ABOUT 170 top experts in minerals and waste management will converge on York for a national conference organised by RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) on Friday.

The RICS Minerals and Waste Management Faculty annual conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel, York, and will cover issues from intellectual property rights to the energy debate.

It confirms York and North Yorkshire as a "green" region, with another major environmental conference, titled Business And The Environment, planned for the Science Laboratories at Sand Hutton in April (see below).

The RICS event, titled Focusing On The Future, opens with a faculty meeting tomorrow with the main conference taking place at the Hilton Hotel on the following day.

Chairman of the faculty is Yorkshire RICS member Simon Caunt - and the conference is traditionally held in the chairman's home region.

The conference will be opened by Canon Jeremy Fletcher, precentor at York Minster, and speakers will include David Brewer, director general of the Confederation of UK Coal, whose topic will be Energy Crisis?

Also speaking will be Hugh Moss, technical director of advisory firm Express Power, who will cover Renewables - Will They Be Sufficient? Jill Hatcher, from the Campaign For The Protection of Rural England, will give the conservationists' point of view.

Mr Caunt said: "The conference aims to give delegates excellent continuous professional development and networking opportunities. They should all leave better prepared for whatever life and work throws at them.

"I chose York as the venue because the city has such a wide range of things to experience and we hope that conference delegates, whether visiting for the first time or returning, will take the opportunity to stay a little longer."

Two faculty research papers will be presented, one by Dr Gareth Powell, a lecturer at Glamorgan University, who will discuss specialist surveying in the minerals and waste management industry, and the other by researchers Barbara Leach and Alan Potter, who will ask whether the waste planning system can deliver.

The final contribution, Live Life On Purpose, will come from motivational speaker Clive Gott.

The conference will be followed by a dinner at St William's College, York, for 100 guests. After-dinner entertainment will be provided by comedian Graham Walker, formerly of the Grumbleweeds.

The Sand Hutton environmental conference in April will be aimed at chief executives, owner-managers and financial directors and will be hosted by York law firm Denison Till, Yorkshire Forward, Business Link York and North Yorkshire, the University of York and Science City York.

Updated: 09:54 Wednesday, March 17, 2004