Chairs and speakers

Krish is an experienced recruitment consultant working for an award-winning UK built environment recruitment company, Carrington West. He provides specialist town planning permanent recruitment solutions to private sector companies and local authorities. Shortlisted for an award in 2019 by the Recruitment Employment Confederation (REC), Krish has built a name for himself as an interim and temporary recruiter before starting up the permanent recruitment desk at Carrington West.

Krish has presented at the 2020 RTPI Planner Live Event and the 2020 Young Planners Virtual Conference and Carrington West have sponsored the last 7 RTPI Planner Events.

As a wider team, Carrington West have placed over 300 town planning professionals in the last 8 months, whilst offering industry insights and support to hundreds of different clients and candidates. Our dedicated national town planning recruitment team service cross-sector clients such as local authorities, private SMEs, multi-discipline consultancies and developers across the UK.

Sarah Atkinson works as Community Relations Manager for the Royal Docks Team, which is a joint initiative of the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Newham for regeneration of the Royal Docks. She has worked as a consultant in urban development in London and for UN Agencies. Sarah’s background is in civic participation in service design and she has managed innovation programmes for international NGOs and worked with UN Agencies in Africa, Asia and Europe to redesign services across youth participation, education, health and human rights. She has a particular interest in using human centred design processes to support social innovation in the built environment.

Michael joined MHCLG in 2010, and has led the work on several areas of planning reform, including the National Planning Policy Framework. A professional planner, prior to joining MHCLG he was Head of Development & Infrastructure at the Government Office for the East of England, where he worked across planning, housing and transport issues in the region. Michael was awarded an OBE for services to planning in the 2020 New Year’s Honours, and became interim Chief Planner at the start of April, following the retirement of Steve Quartermain.

Head of Policy, Practice Research and International and responsible for Policy, Practice and Research Committee.

Sue Brownill is Professor of Urban Policy and Governance at the School of the Built Environment , Oxford Brookes University where she currently teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate planning courses. She has particular interests in participation in planning and urban regeneration  and she published a book on neighbourhood planning in 2017. She has also written extensively on London Docklands and waterfront regeneration. Before being an academic Sue was a community planner in London Docklands and she has continued to work with third sector organisations, most recently the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust. She contributes a regular column on participation to the journal Town and Country Planning.

Andrew is a Chartered Town Planner and urban designer and has worked in consultancy, local and national government planning roles since 2000. As Director of Education and Profession at the RTPI he is responsible for Institute-wide education policy and accreditation procedures, student advice and support including the new RTPI Bursary project, member’s lifelong learning and CPD monitoring and standards, and the RTPI Future Planners volunteer initiative to promote planning as a career choice to young people.

Cian is an experienced regeneration, planning, development professional with expertise in establishing and delivering programmes to drive regeneration, develop affordable housing and drive efficiency and income from Council assets.

In local government, Cian had corporate level responsibility for the delivery of planning services, major regeneration projects and estates, commercial property investment strategies, and estate regeneration. Cian’s experience in setting up joint ventures and development partnerships will help us navigate the space where the public sector, private sector and local communities combine.

Cian was Chairman of the RTPI Southeast Region in 2019 and was formerly a member of the General Assembly. Cian has a dual honours degree in History and Geography and a Masters in Planning and Sustainable Development from the National University of Ireland, and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Sussex. 

Cian say "The RTPI regional awards are the best way for planners to champion the good work they do and the difference that they make to people's lives. Spending time with the entrants and other judges will be a great way to see, understand and celebrate the many achievements of planners in the region".

Tony Crook is former Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor of The University of Sheffield and Emeritus Professor of Town & Regional Planning. He is Deputy Chair of the Orbit Housing Group; director of a regional house- builder, and chairs working groups of the Academy of Social Sciences. Recent former roles include: member of Northern Housing Commission; independent chair of the review of governance in Rotherham; chair of Shelter Trustee Board;; Coalfields Regeneration Trust trustee; Academy of Social Sciences council member; Sheffield Homes Ltd chair; and Lloyds Banking Group Housing Commission member. His current research includes private renting and planning obligations. His latest books are 'Private rental housing: comparative perspective' (Edward Elgar) and 'Planning Gain: providing infrastructure and affordable housing' (Wiley Blackwell), the latter winning the 2016 RTPI Research Excellence Award.

Tom Dobson MRTPI is a Director at Quod.   He leads on Infrastructure Planning and Delivery and Socio-Economics.  He was a member of the expert review group that was appointed by the Secretary of State to review the implementation of the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Dr Nicholas Falk, BA MBA Hon FRIBA Hon MRTPI founded the not for profit research and consultancy company URBED in 1976, which now operates as a design cooperative based in Manchester. He is the executive director of The URBED Trust, based in London. Nicholas is an economist, urbanist and strategic planner with degrees from University College Oxford, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the London School of Economics. He specialises in helping towns and cities plan and deliver urban regeneration and sustainable growth. He is co-author of URBED‘s submission on Uxcester Garden City that won the 2014 Wolfson Economics Prize, and the report Oxfordshire Futures 2050.

John Henneberry is Professor of Property Development Studies, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the University of Sheffield. His long-standing interest in land value capture was prompted by his experience of implementing the Community Land Scheme when working for Manchester City Council in the mid-1970s. He undertook a study of the implications of introducing impact fees into the British planning system in 1992-3 for the then Department of the Environment. Research on the rapid growth in the use of planning obligations (funded by the RICS) followed in 1998-2000. Since then he has participated with colleagues from the University of Cambridge and the LSE in a series of projects for MHCLG (and predecessors) assessing the operation of planning obligations and CIL. Currently, John is examining the development of policies for biodiversity net gain and for carbon offsetting.

Deryck is the Director of Strategy and Development at the Central Scotland Green Network Trust. He has worked on environmental and community issues in urban Scotland since the mid-1980s. While the drivers for this have changed over the years – urban wildlife | health and wellbeing | community development | climate emergency etc. – the primary focus has always been on the natural and green environment as one of a series of tools to improve towns and cities as places for people; delivering social and economic benefits through environmental action. In his current role, he is responsible for overseeing and coordinating partnership delivery of the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) – one of 14 national developments in Scotland’s National Planning Framework and one of Europe’s largest greenspace projects. CSGN development and delivery is strongly linked to the planning system through local development plans and open space strategies.

Nabeel works for the London Borough of Lambeth heading up the socio-economic regeneration division. He has considerable experience working of with senior policy makers and politicians across a range of urban development policy areas in the public sector.  In his current role, Nabeel is responsible for building a strong and collaborative relationship between industry, academia, all tiers of government and local stakeholders around a set of ambitious shared objectives to reduce inequality in Lambeth.  During the Coronavirus crisis, Nabeel has been leading the council’s local economic response trying to help businesses and residents through these testing times. 

Graham is a built environment expert, with private, public and research sector experience.  With leading urban planning consultancies, he has developed and implemented Government policy.  Graham was a founding director of the pilot Urban Regeneration Company Liverpool Vision.

Graham co-directs the social enterprise Prosocial Place, with health and wellbeing research delivered through a knowledge exchange arrangement with the University of Liverpool, to inform urban planning, design, development and place stewardship.  Graham sat on the NHS Healthy New Towns Steering Group and is a Built Environment Expert with Design Council CABE and Design Advisor to the Department for Communities NI.

Having studied Town and Country Planning as a Postgraduate at Manchester University, Sue started her career at Birmingham City Council. She then moved to academia as a senior lecturer in planning law and practice at the University of Central England, before returning to the public sector as Head of Planning and Transport at Advantage West Midlands. In 2005 Sue joined Arup where she led their Midlands Planning, Policy and Economics Business, followed in 2009 by a move to become National Planner for the RTPI Planning Aid England. In 2011 Sue moved to the Pegasus Group as a Regional Director and since 2018 has run her own practice which specialises in strategic advice on community engagement and consultation in relation to development projects. She is a visiting lecturer at Birmingham University, a Fellow of the RSA and RGS and is RTPI Immediate Past President.

Kevin is a specialist recruiter providing interim and permanent solutions for local council planning departments across the UK. He has built and developed strong relationships through his industry knowledge and dedication to providing outstanding levels of client and candidate care. Before joining Carrington West, Kevin started his recruitment career at a large recruitment consultancy on the South Coast where he became a certified recruitment consultant and a member of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). Having successfully placed town planners from graduate to director level across all disciplines, Kevin has a stellar reputation in the industry and is the go-to consultant for his clients’ town planning vacancies.

Chris is Director of Place & Economy at PRD He has over 15 years of experience supporting partners to better understand the economies of their places. He has written economic strategies for cities and regions across the uk and deep knowledge of town centres and high streets. He is currently advising a number of organisations on their post COVID-19 recovery and reorientation strategies.

Jeremy is responsible for strategic planning, housing delivery and placemaking at Chelmsford City Council. This includes Chelmsford’s recently adopted Local Plan containing a new 10,000 home garden community, masterplanning strategic development sites and enabling and maximising new affordable housing.

Through this role Jeremy, has been promoting new holistic initiatives for climate change action both through the planning system and by other means. This includes active travel, sustainable transport, health and well-being, place-making and community stewardship.

Jeremy is Chair of Essex Planning Officers’ Association, the home of the award-winning Essex Design Guide and is about to launch the new Livewell Development Accreditation Scheme.

Martin Read is an editor and writer with more than thirty years’ experience in the B2B, client publishing and membership organisation sectors. Along the way he has written for facilities management, logistics, public transport and planning audiences. He is currently editor of The Planner, magazine of the RTPI, and Facilitate, magazine of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Wayne is the founder and Director of Atriarc Planning based in Wales but working for clients large and small across the UK. Wayne commenced his career in the public sector and has also held various positions with the RTPI, CLA and DCfW, to promote and support policy development and general good practice. A passionate town planner Wayne is also a developer, which allows him to recognise and relate to client development projects to support sites coming forward. Atriarc planning was the recent winner of the RTPI Planning Excellence Award for the Small Consultancy of the Year 2020.

Catriona is an independent consultant providing support on a wide range of spatial planning issues but specialises in strategic/ joint planning arrangements and has authored three major publications on the subject.

Catriona is a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s England Policy Committee, is Deputy Chair of the Town and Country Planning Association and Strategic Planning Specialist for the Planning Officers’ Society.

In 2022 Catriona was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University for her services to Planning, was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute and was one of the Planner magazine’s Women of Influence.

Robyn won the RTPI's Young Planner of the Year award in April 2020 partly in recognition of her work on the Sustainable Development Goals. Her career to date has spanned local government, consultancy and also national government in planning and related disciplines. She is a passionate believer in the power of planning and planning perspectives in tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time. Robyn is a member of the RTPI International Committee and also a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, conducting research into the relationship between building design and health and wellbeing.

Stefano is a commercial and pragmatic development planner with a strong customer focus. He has over 35 years of UK professional experience of managing multi-disciplinary teams within  planning, environmental, design and engineering consultancies. He is the Founding Director of Stefano Smith Planning – an independent planning consultancy established in 2019. He has extensive experience in providing development planning and project management services in the environment, infrastructure, energy, commercial, industrial, housing and mixed-use sectors. He has specific experience in statutory planning (including approvals & consents and expert witness), sustainability, regeneration, master planning & urban design, consultation & engagement strategies & tools, development economics and urban analytics. He is an Expert on the Westminster Government’s High Streets Task Force set-up in 2020. He has successfully advised, negotiated and delivered complex land development and infrastructure projects of a range of sizes. He has been intrinsically involved in the evolution of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 participating in various Scottish Government workshops.  He is a regular member on research & advisory panels, including Scottish Government research on the infrastructure levy (2017) and the value, impact and incidence of developer contributions (2020/2021). He has been an external practitioner on Heriot-Watt University's Final Year Planning & Property undergraduate degree course, and graduated from the University of Glasgow post graduate masters’ programme in Urban Analytics (MSc Urban Analytics) in 2022.

Stefano is an RTPI Board Nations Trustee, Chair of the Nations & Regions Panel and Chair of the Policy Practice & Research Committee and past RTPI Scotland Convenor.

Mark runs CoStar’s UK analytics team, which curates more than 2,800 dynamic market and submarket reports and creates content that explores the trends in UK commercial property.

Jim Walker founded Walk21 more than 20 years ago, to support everyone's right to walk in a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment by providing evidence, tools, training and accreditation to a global network of concerned communities, politicians, academics and practitioners. He specialises in policy advice, running campaigns and coordinating projects which increase access to basic services, enhance road safety and public health, improve gender equality and ensure accessible, equitable, sustainable transport systems. The Walk21 network has more than 5,000 members and is active in 87 countries. 

Professor Christine Whitehead is Emeritus Professor of Housing Economics, Department of Economics, and Deputy Director of LSE London. She is an internationally respected applied economist working mainly in the fields of housing economics, finance and policy. She has worked with a wide range of international agencies as well as regularly for the UK government and Parliament. She was Director of the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research from 1990 to 2010 as well as Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Major themes in her recent research have included the relationship between planning and housing; regulation in the private rented sector; barriers to increasing housebuilding; financing social housing in the UK and Europe and the evaluation of particular policies such as Help to Buy and the Homelessness Reduction Act.

She is special advisor to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee and a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Housing Commission.  She was advisor to Oliver Letwin’s Independent Review of Build-out Rates. She was awarded the OBE for services to housing in 1991.

Simon is a journalist and the deputy editor of The Planner, the RTPI's member magazine. Over the years, his work has seen him reporting on parish council meetings, planning committees and a murder trial; mentoring young journalists from inner cities; interviewing Kosovan refugee children in Serbia and village kids in Tanzania; ghostwriting the autobiography of a successful immigrant entrepreneur; and interviewing influential figures in UK planning. He believes everyone has a story to tell and specialises in helping them to tell it.

Saffron leads IGP’s research and policy innovation collaborations in the UK to re-think prosperity and to bring new ideas and knowledge co-produced with communities into policy and decision-making.  This work includes convening the London Prosperity Board, a multi-sector partnership in east London, which led the development of the UK’s first citizen-led Prosperity Index. Saffron leads IGP’s global initiatives to adapt the Prosperity Index, working with communities, citizen scientists and academic researchers in Tanzania, Cuba and Vietnam.  

Dr Wei Yang FAcSS FRTPI MCIHT is Chair of Wei Yang & Partners, an award-winning master planning firm in London, and an Honorary Professor at University College London. Wei was President of the Royal Town Planning Institute for 2021. She is a lead figure in researching, promoting, and implementing 21st Century Garden City and green & low-carbon development approach worldwide.  Wei is Co-chair of Digital Task Force for Planning and the Global Planners Network (GPN)’s representative at UN Habitat Professional Forum. She champions a revival of spirit and a modernised planning profession to tackle the global challenges in a systematic way, and thus to achieve collective wellbeing and fulfilment for all. Actively promoting joined up thinking between different professionals, Wei is a Fellow of Academy of Social Sciences, an Independent Trustee of the Landscape Institute, a board member of the British Library, and a Board Trustee of Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre.