Regional Management Board

Laura is a Senior Planner at Gillings Planning with experience in the public, private and third sector. Laura has been involved with the RTPI since she was a student member in various roles including the Young Planner Trustee and Chair of the South Coast Young Planners Network.  Laura was awarded RTPI South East Young Planner of the Year in 2019 and featured on the Woman of Influence list for 2022.

Laura’s experience includes projects in the education, residential and care sectors. Laura enjoys running public consultation events and connecting with future generations with planning through school and university talks. Outside of work Laura runs a Brownie unit, where she goes by the name of Flamingo, loves reading, podcasts and enjoys long walks… especially when they end at the pub!

Simon is a Senior Planning Officer and has gained his planning experience in central and local Government. He has focused on developing national and local planning policy, especially on retail, transport and infrastructure matters. Simon is a Chartered member of the RTPI and has been involved with the RTPI South East since 2018. He also supports the Kent Young Planners Network and has been a Steering Group member since July 2017. Simon takes a keen interest in infrastructure policy as well as issues surrounding community engagement in the plan-making process and promoting town planning as a profession. 

Joney (pronounced ‘Honey’) is a Chartered planner and a Principal planner at RPS. She is originally from Venezuela, where she obtained a town planning degree and worked as a planner for 3 years. In 2012 she moved to the UK and worked as a planning officer in policy and DM on different LPAs in London and the South East. She specialises in residential, commercial and leisure developments and enjoys spending time with her partner, her baby and her 2 dogs, as well as singing in a choir. She volunteers with Bookmark, a charity that helps children improve their reading abilities.

Will is a chartered member of the RTPI and a Planning Policy Team Leader at Oxford City Council, having joined in 2024. He was previously a Principal Major Applications Officer at South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils and was Senior Planner at Edgars Limited.  Before relocating to the Southeast, Will has been involved in plan making in Yorkshire, where he was on the Regional Activities Committee for the RTPI Yorkshire region. He also volunteers for the RTPI on the Planning Aid England Committee and RTPI Volunteers Steering Committee. He holds a PhD in Localism, Neighbourhood Planning and Urban Governance and has also been a sole practitioner preparing neighbourhood plans with communities

Claire has been a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute since 1992 working in local government planning (development management and policy), including as the Head of Planning at Mid Sussex District Council from 2008-2016.  She then started her own consultancy Plan4Localism and also advised the High Weald AONB Partnership for 6 years. In 2022, she joined the South Downs National Park Authority and is now the Planning Policy Manager leading on the review of the South Downs Local Plan and the minerals and waste plans that they produced jointly with other LPAs in Sussex and Hampshire.