Thames Valley Young Planners' Network

Following her role as a Committee Member on the East Midlands Young Planners Committee, Mel joined the Thames Valley Committee as Vice Chair in January 2023 and became chair in Summer 2023.

Mel, now a Senior Planning Manager at Davidsons Homes, has over 8 years’ experience in the private sector following her time at Fisher German LLP and Bidwells.

Her current role involves managing planning applications and plan promotion within the strategic land team across the Northants, Beds, Bucks, Cambs, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire areas.

She was awarded Young Planner of the Year (East of England) in 2022.

Mel is also an active member of the Women in Planning South Midlands Committee.

Joining the committee in 2021, Izzie is now Vice-Chair.

Izzie is a Transport Planner at Paul Basham Associates, having joined the company in June 2018 after graduating Oxford Brookes University with a BSc degree in Geography. In December 2020, Izzie completed the St John’s Ambulance Mental Health First Aid course, having taken an active interest in Mental Health awareness. 

Izzie is also a dedicated a committee member of the Women in Planning Thames Valley Branch, Izzie has got experience in planning events and CPDs and has highly developed teamworking skills including active listening and problem solving.

Izzie was also awarded the ‘Next Gen of the Year’ award at the OxProp Fest in 2023.

Since 2016, Annabel has undertaken roles within both planning consultancy and housebuilding and in September 2022 joined Brookbanks as Development and Planning Manager, providing planning and project management expertise to major scale residential developments including a New Town.

Annabel is an active member of the development community, as well as her former role as Chair of the RTPI TVYPN, she has undertaken regional positions with the; Association for Consultancy and Engineering Emerging Professionals, Building Magazine Graduate Panel and Women in Planning.

Annabel is passionate about continual learning and looks forward to leading an excellent variety of events through 2023 after wholeheartedly enjoying delivering the Young Planners' Conference last year.

Suzi is a Principal Planner at Bidwells, based in the company’s Milton Keynes Office.

Suzi is involved in a range of projects across the Oxford to Cambridge Corridor. She has promoted strategic land, provided planning appraisal advice, and implemented planning strategies. Notable schemes that she has worked on include MK Gateway and Campbell Wharf.

Suzi was the Chair of Women in Planning South Midlands for five years and a social media lead for Women in Planning UK. She was named a Women of Influence 2020 in the Planner and shortlisted for the RTPI South East Young Planner of the Year in 2023.

Olivia is a Principal Consultant at Evoke Transport, based in the company’s Reading Office.

Olivia is involved in a range of projects across the Thames Valley, including town centre schemes and rural developments. She has over 5 years’ experience in the transport planning industry and has experience working in all sectors, predominantly residential, commercial and education schemes.

Olivia joined the committee in January 2024 and is looking forward to helping to organise events to connect young planners across the region.

Florence joined Lichfields as a Planner in 2022, having completed her master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield.

Florence has experiences working on a range of projects across the Thames Valley, including residential development, hotel scheme and strategic land promotion work. She is currently working towards her Chartership. She joined the committee in January 2024.

Will is an Assistant Planner at David Lock Associates, starting in 2023 following the completion of his MSc Spatial Planning course at UCL (University College London). He joined the TVYP committee in July 2024.

Will is involved in a range of commercial/residential projects across the Thames Valley, and the wider United Kingdom. He has promoted strategic land, provided planning appraisal advice, and implemented planning strategies from a range of Major to Large Scale Strategic sites, including Marston Valley

Rainie is an Assistant Planner at David Lock Associates based in Milton Keynes since 2023, following her graduation from master’s degree in Urban Design and Planning at University of Sheffield. 

Rainie has experiences involving in a wide range of residential and commercial projects in England, especially across the Thames Valley Region. She is currently working towards her RTPI Chartership. 

She joined the committee in August 2024 and is looking forward to connect the young planners across the region by organising different networking and CPD events.

Sara joined David Lock Associates as an Assistant Planner in 2023, after completing her Masters degree in Planning at the University of Manchester.

Sara has been involved in a range of projects including strategic scale research and development campuses, residential, and commercial schemes across the Oxford to Cambridge Corridor.

She joined the TVYPN committee in August 2024 and is eager to deliver a variety of events for young planners in the region to connect.

Following the completion of her MSc in Spatial Planning at University College London, Ilaria joined Stantec's Reading office as a Graduate Planner in September 2023 and is currently working towards RTPI chartership. An earlier BA degree in Archaeology inspired an interest in changing land use, especially the ways in which the built environment can be reshaped to improve wellbeing in communities.

Since then, Ilaria has been involved in a range of mixed-use, residential, later living and strategic land promotion work across the Thames Valley and wider region.

She joined the TVYP committee in August 2024 and is passionate about giving young planners the opportunity to connect to contribute towards the future growth of the planning industry.