Speakers

Jason has over 30 years of commercial management experience. He spent 20 years working in Regional Press advertising before embarking on a career within the insurance industry. Having previously worked for Bluefin Professions, Jelf and Marsh Commercial, Jason joined the Howden team back in September last year. He has extensive experience of managing business partnerships after managing Marsh’s relationship with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for many years. Based in Bristol, Jason oversees new business and marketing strategy for the Regional Howden Professional Indemnity Division. Originally from Leicestershire, Jason is a lifelong Leicester City fan and pre Covid was a member of the Barmy Army, following the England Cricket team around the World whenever his long suffering wife would allow it!

Scott heads up Business Development at the Planning Portal and is responsible for developing strong strategic and operational relationships with all key planning delivery stakeholders that use their services.

Working in partnership to fully engage with the Government’s digital strategy and endorse digital service delivery, driving an increase in its adoption and online application submission.

Tackling the cultural change within planning and building, to drive a channel shift to online service delivery, that involves streamlining business processes and procedures by adopting digital ways of working, to realise efficiencies and savings for all stakeholders that engage in these processes.

Mary Elkington is a chartered town planner with more than 30 years’ experience in environmental information, spatial planning, GIS and project management working in the public and commercial sector.   As a planning consultant and director of Figura Planning Ltd Mary specialises in planning policy and development delivery.  As a member of the Right to Build Task Force expert group, and a contributor to Richard Bacon MP’s review into scaling up self-build and custom housebuilding, Mary provides expert advice to LPAs and consultants on implementing the Right to Build legislation.  Clients include local authorities, social housing providers, and private and third sector clients.  Previous posts include Principal policy (growth point) officer and lead LPA officer on infrastructure planning and CIL.  Mary’s early career involved using GIS and analytical skills as an officer a NASA as part of the Earth Observation and Climate Change mission from 1989 to 1995; she was awarded NASA’s exceptional achievement medal in 1994 for “bringing (a project) in on time and under budget.

I am based in North Wales and regularly update the network on Wales matters. If I don't know it's happening, it probably is anyway, just don't take my word for it! I find the network, and forum in particular, a wonderful resource, full of talented (and humorous) people who give much needed guidance, moral and other support to daily working life.

Bernard joined JMW in July 2019 from Moore Blatch LLP where he was a Partner and Head of Planning.

Bernard works within all aspects of the contentious and non-contentious planning system including applications (both promoting and objecting), appeals, enforcement investigations, policy development, Community Infrastructure Levy advice and Judicial Reviews (for Claimants, Defendants and Interested Parties). He is also very experienced in negotiating complicated and bespoke (section 106) planning agreements.

He acts for a broad range of clients including individuals, residential and commercial developers as well as aviation and leisure companies that value his responsive and pragmatic service which is focused on giving them what they need in order to achieve their commercial objectives.

For the last ten years he has dealt with aviation objections to wind farms (on behalf of statutory consultees and developers), and has negotiated over 100 related planning/commercial agreements.

Bernard also advises on and specialises in all types of local authority licensing (including alcohol, takeaway, Child Performance and taxi) and has appeared as an advocate in court and at committee hearings.

Lindsey Richards BA (Hons) DipTP FRTPI

Lindsey is a chartered town planner with over 30 years’ experience in planning, design and delivery. She has extensive background primarily working in the public sector, experienced in community engagement and bringing together multi-disciplinary teams to deliver key housing projects.  Lindsey’s previous roles included leading the planning team at Milton Keynes Partnership, responsible for the expansion of Milton Keynes and introducing the Milton Keynes Tariff.  Lindsey moved to English Partnerships (now Homes England) in 2009 to head up the delivery team in the Midlands. 

Lindsey’s last role was Head of Planning at Homes England, where she worked  in a consultancy role providing specialist advice to Homes England delivery teams. Lindsey was responsible for driving design quality standards and introducing BfL12 ( forerunner to BfHL) as an assessment tool on Homes England sites. She was a member of the Garden Town and Villages Programme Board and worked closely with DLUHC on policy formulation.  Lindsey strongly advocates the value that early community engagement contributes to projects and oversaw the introduction of a community engagement strategy and toolkit to support Homes England projects. 

Lindsey was Head of Profession within Homes England. She undertook a mentoring role to promote the profession and support licentiate members.  Lindsey established the Planners Network within the Agency and oversaw  training and Homes England annual planning conference. 

Lindsey stepped down from her role at Homes England in April 2023 to concentrate on her Vice-Presidential role with the RTPI.

Lindsey is a member of the General Assembly of the RTPI, vice chair of the Education and Lifelong Learning Committee and became a Fellow in 2018. She is RTPI President 2024.

Lindsey is a Trustee for Design: Midlands

Ruth Richards is a chartered town planner and the Institute’s Complaints Investigator, leading on work relating to professional standards and ethics.  She has nearly 40 years experience working within planning, having previously been the Head of the Planning School at London South Bank University, the Director of Planning Aid for London and having worked at the London Docklands Development Corporation

Philip has a broad planning and environmental practice. He acts for developers and local authorities throughout the country, at all stages of the process – preparation of applications, local plan examination, injunctions, prosecutions, inquiries, and High Court appeals. This has included residential schemes, compulsory purchase orders and on a number of high profile and large-scale developments. He has been consistently ranked as one of the top-rated planning juniors in the country.

Daniel is a Chartered Town Planner with a PhD in town planning and national policy making from the University of Liverpool. He re-joined the RTPI from the Town and Country Planning Association, and has experience working in parliament, government, and a think tank. Daniel is responsible for the RTPI’s research output, practice advice, academic journal, networks, and wider role as a learned society.

Graham provides strategic operational leadership for around 650 case officers, planning and environmental officers and planning inspectors across England handling nationally significant infrastructure projects, planning and other appeals, development plans and other specialist casework.
He is leading improvements to operational performance, the development of new GOV.UK digital services and implementing the Inspectorate’s role in speeding up the delivery of nationally significant infrastructure, implementing the new local plans regime and other elements of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act.

Graham previously worked in local planning authorities for 20 years, culminating in being Director of Planning at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Graham is a Chartered Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute. He chaired RTPI South East from 2005-2007 and was a charitable trustee of RTPI from 2011-2019, chairing its Board of Trustees 2017-2019. He is currently Vice Chair of RTPI’s Conduct and Discipline Panel.

Harry is LandTech's Chartered Town Planner and has responsibility for running Give My View, LandTech's public consultation platform.  Alongside overseeing the continued success of Give My View, Harry works with LandTech's product and data teams to ensure that LandTech's platform, LandInsight, continues to offer our customers unparalleled site finding, site appraisal, and site funding tools. Prior to joining LandTech, Harry was a planner in the private sector, working in Bristol, London, and Sydney, Australia.   

Nicole is a Senior Ecological and Arboricultural Consultant with five years' experience undertaking protected species, habitat and tree surveys for development, of which the last four years have been at Arbtech Consulting Ltd. She has a particular interest in Biodiversity Net Gain and has been involved in BNG since the inception of the DEFRA metric. Nicole enjoys helping clients navigate ecological and arboricultural constraints to achieve their planning goals.