Meet the 2025 judges

Chris began his career in 2003 in the Development Management team at Sedgemoor District Council, based in Bridgwater.  Chris stayed at SDC for 12 years rising from Planning Officer through to Principal Planning Officer.  Chris’ later years at SDC were characterised by involvement in various large-scale renewable energy schemes including numerous solar and wind farms; as well as large urban extensions to Bridgwater. 

In 2015 Chris moved on to Bath & North East Somerset Council where he was both Principal Planning Officer and latterly DM Team Manager responsible for the oversight of many of Bath’s urban redevelopment sites as well as day-to-day team management.  Recently Chris has swapped Georgian Bath for Regency Cheltenham and is now Head of Development Management, Enforcement and Compliance at Cheltenham Borough Council.

Outside of work, Chris is very occupied dealing with his two children and tries to look after his high-maintenance garden.  Chris also enjoys travel both with and without his children!

Graham Stephens is a Main Board Director at Stride Treglown and responsible for their UK Town Planning and Masterplanning team.  He has over 27 years experience acting as Lead Consultant and/or Planning Lead for schemes with a total capital value of over £2bn. Based in Bristol, he has notable experience in leading University Estate Strategies, Masterplans and Major Planning applications. Notable clients include Royal Holloway University of London (Masterplan and outline permission), University of Reading (Whiteknights Campus Development Plan), UWE Bristol (Masterplan Coordinator), University of Wales Trinity Saint David (SA1 Waterfront Innovation Quarter), University of Plymouth (Campus Plan and University of Derby (Estate Strategy consultant lead).

Other notable SW projects and roles include leading the c45ha Dorset Innovation Park Local Development Order for Dorset Council and assisting Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as a strategic advisor.  He is currently leading the Whitehouse Street Regeneration Framework commission for a public/private partnership in Bedminster, Bristol.

Graham led team and submission resulting in Stride Treglown being awarded the title of National Town Planning Consultancy of the Year in 2016 (Planning Awards) and an RTPI National Consultancy Finalist in the same year.  He has been a RTPI SW Judge since 2018.

Since completing her MSc Planning degree at the University of Plymouth in 2018 Faye has been working as a Town Planner in a multi-disciplinary team at Bailey Partnership.  Faye was elected as a Chartered Member of the RTPI in September 2022, and has now secured the role of Senior Town Planner within the company.

During her career Faye has dealt with a variety of applications within the South West of the UK, across public and private sectors including: retail; leisure; education; healthcare; residential; and listed buildings.  These have ranged from small scale building conversions to major housing developments.  Faye is committed to delivering high quality place making in a way that protects our environment.

Faye is also part of the RTPI South West Young Planners Devon, Cornwall and Somerset Steering Group, having been a volunteer with this group since 2020.

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.   

Hollie started her planning career in 2018 while completing an MSc in Spatial Planning and Development at the University of Reading. She has spent most of her time since then in private consultancy and is currently the Senior Town Planner at Master Land and Planning, based near Salisbury. Hollie works across a wide range of residential schemes through southern England and has a particular focus in her current role supporting a number of Neighbourhood Planning Groups in Wiltshire with the preparation of their Neighbourhood Plans.

Hollie has also had experience working in the Swindon Borough Council Policy team, working on the preparation of evidence to support the emerging Local Plan. Hollie was elected as Chartered Member of the RTPI in April 2024.

Hollie has recently become the Chair of the newly formed RTPI Young Planners Group in Wiltshire.

Liam is a Chartered Town Planner and is currently a Senior Planning Officer within the Cranbrook and Major Projects Team at East Devon District Council. Liam has over 6 years’ experience and has previously worked at Bristol City Council and DPP Planning Ltd.

Since graduating from Cardiff University in 2018, Liam has worked on a mixture of applications across in public and private roles and currently manages large scale housing delivery and employment schemes in East Devon.  

Liam has been a member of the Devon, Cornwall and Somerset Young Planners Steering Group since April 2022 and was elected to Vice Chair in 2025.

Rachel is an experienced Chartered Town Planner having spent over 20 years at Bath & North East Somerset Council before leaving in 2018 to join Mendip District Council where she secured the role of Head of Planning managing a large multi-disciplinary team and oversaw a major review of the development management service.  Rachel now runs her own Planning Consultancy with extensive experience in development management providing services to both private clients and local authorities.  Rachel is also member of the RTPI South West Awards for Planning Excellence Judging Panel. Apart from planning, Rachel enjoys spending time with her family and friends as well as competing in Agility with her 3 dogs.

Ros discovered planning as a career whilst at school through a friend's Dad who worked in the Local Plans team in the South Hams. Having successfully avoided becoming a geography teacher, she started her planning career in the private sector based in Manchester and Leeds specialising in commercial planning. Securing a job at Teignbridge DC facilitated a move back to Devon and for 15 years she worked in policy and major projects before leading the Development Management team. In 2024 she established Eastman Planning Services and as well as undertaking consultancy work she especially enjoys delivering professional training, including through the RTPI and the Right to Build Task Force. Working for herself has also enabled Ros to give back to the profession in other ways such as being an APC Assessor and a member of the General Assembly and the Education and Life long learning committee of the RTPI.

Stuart is Chartered Town Planner and qualified Urban Designer.  As Head of Development Management, Stuart now oversees the Development Management service for Plymouth, including two Area Planning Teams, Strategic Developments, Planning Technical Support and Building Control. Stuart has been with Plymouth City Council since 2015, previously working as Strategic Growth Manager leading on growth area visions/ masterplans, urban regeneration strategies and placemaking programmes. Stuart has been involved in a number of Plymouths successful award submissions in the past few years and is keen to help the panel to drawn out and recognise planning excellence in the region. Originally from Birmingham, Stuart has held a number of posts in the Midlands and in New Zealand before relocating to the south west.

Tim has spent the majority of his career working as a Planner for various local authorities in Somerset and was Head of Service covering the area of both Taunton Deane and West Somerset, where he oversaw the delivery of major housing growth leading to Taunton's designation as a Garden Town. In April 2019 Tim left the Councils to set up his own Planning Consultancy. He now works regularly alongside the Planning Advisory Service providing service reviews and training for local planning authorities across the country, with a particular emphasis on improving development management performance and Planning Committee decision-making. Tim Burton Planning  also undertakes private sector work advising architects and SME developers on how best to navigate the complexities of local authority planning processes. Tim is a regular volunteer member of the Design Review Panel and has recently chaired a number of their on-line review sessions. Tim has been a member of the RAC for just over three years and appreciates this opportunity to engage with other planners from across the region promoting the positive role of planning.