Committees

Chris Bryson is Director of Planning with Gravis Planning, a consultancy with offices in Belfast and Dublin, and leads a team of planners on large-scale development schemes. A graduate of Queens University Belfast, he has over 18 years’ experience working on a wide range of projects throughout Northern Ireland. Prior to joining Gravis Planning, Chris worked for the Planning Service (DoE) in the Belfast office, as part of the Development Control city centre team.

Emma is a Senior Planner with over 7 years professional planning experience, having worked across both the public sector and private sector in England. Since moving back to Northern Ireland in 2021, Emma has joined JUNO Planning and Environmental Ltd and has started to develop her knowledge of the planning sector within Northern Ireland. Emma has extensive experience on all aspects of planning and has significant experience in dealing with complex major planning applications and working within large multidisciplinary project teams on high profile developments.

Emma was awarded NI Young Planner of the Year in 2023.

Nick Salt is a Senior Planner with Turley and has been based in their Belfast office since joining in January 2022.  In that time, he has worked on several major projects in throughout the UK and Ireland, including significant urban regeneration schemes, major logistics proposals and residential schemes.

Nick graduated from Queens University Belfast in 2017 with a Planning and Development MSc, having made the switch from a short career in politics.  He has previously worked in development management for the Isle of Man Government, and more recently with local planning authorities throughout England during a spell with Capita.

Catharine is the Community Planning Manager for Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council and is responsible for managing and facilitating collaboration between a number of statutory partners delivering services to improve the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of local people. She has been a town planner for over 30 years having previously worked in Wyre Borough Council and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council before returning to Northern Ireland to work in the voluntary sector on planning projects with community groups. A graduate of Birmingham Polytechnic, Catharine strongly believes in the importance of involving communities in making decisions which ultimately impact on their lives.

Catharine was RTPI NI Chair in 2023.

Chris is currently the Acting Service Unit Manager (Principal Planner) for the Planning Enforcement team at Ards and North Down Borough Council in Northern Ireland, where he has worked for seven years.

After Chris gained a BSc (Hons) degree in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Dundee he worked for the Department of Environment for Northern Ireland’s Planning Service from August 2002 to March 2015 in both Development Management and Planning Enforcement roles across several Area Planning offices.

Chris is the NI Representative for the NAPE Executive Committee, which he has been since February 2017.

Sophie is a Senior  Planner working for Capita Local Public Services to provide development management support to Local Authorities across England and Wales. Sophie has significant experience in working on complex major schemes, including residential schemes and urban regeneration schemes. Prior to this, Sophie worked within the development management team at Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.

Sophie graduated from Queens University Belfast in 2019 with a City Planning and Design MSc, after achieving a first class BSc degree in Environmental Planning. 

Sophie is Chair of the NI Young Planner Committee.

Julie recently joined the Planning Inspectorate as an Examining Inspector considering applications for Development Consent Orders for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects across England and Wales. For the previous 19 years she was a member of the Planning Appeals Commission and undertook a range of planning appeals, referred work, including the North-South Electricity Interconnector, and was most recently involved in independent examination of the Belfast City Council and Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council LDPs.  

Julie’s 35 year work experience also includes posts with various public sector bodies in N Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England in development management, enforcement, development plan, economic development and promotion of countryside access.

She is a graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester University and the Open University.

Mark is an associate planner with Gravis Planning and has previously worked in development management for Planning Service (DOE), Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council and Ards & North Down Borough Council with over 20 years experience.
Having studied at Queens University Belfast, Mark obtained a BSc Honours degree in Environmental Planning and a Postgraduate diploma in Town and Country Planning

Catherine is a graduate of Queens University Belfast, and a senior planner in the Northern Ireland Civil Service with 27 years of experience working in the public sector. She has held posts in development management, enforcement, conservation, area planning, and policy and legislation. During the transformation of planning and local government which took effect on 1st April 2015, she held a key post working on the making of the Planning Act 2011, and she led the introduction of community planning to Northern Ireland, developing cross-sector relationships and overseeing a significant capacity building programme.
More recently Catherine project managed the Planning Engagement Partnership to produce a report with recommendations on how to improve community engagement in planning and place shaping, and she continues to work on improving community engagement in the planning process.

Diane has been engaged in planning practice for over 20 years having started her career in the Department of the Environment Planning Service holding various posts in development management and development plan. Diane also worked for the Department for Regional Development Regional Planning in the implementation of the Regional Development Strategy. In 2012, Diane attained a PhD from Queen's University, Belfast on the topic of collaborative planning and equality in Northern Ireland. Having worked at the Planning Appeals Commission since 2006, Diane has conducted numerous planning appeals, been involved in a public inquiry into a major road scheme and has just completed her second examination of a local development plan.

Despite his short career, Justin is a Spatial and Smart City Planner with a demonstrated history of diversified experience developing and implementing smart city planning tools and PlanTech along with working on major transportation, regeneration, development, and renewable energy projects. 

Justin graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 2018 with a First-Class BSc degree in Environmental Planning. During his time at undergraduate level, Justin received awards for the highest performing planning student in his second year of study and the prestigious Simon Kirk Award for the highest performing final year student.  

Justin joined AECOM’s brilliant Traffic, Transport, Streets, and Highways Planning Teams, working on major schemes across both the North and South of Ireland to great success and learning a wealth of diversified experience.   

With a significant passion to make an impact on the future of the planning profession, Justin then undertook the role of Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate, leading on a novel two-year public and private sector collaborative research project between QUB Planning and VU.CITY exploring the future of digital planning through the creation and use of 3D digital twins, City Information Modelling, emerging PlanTech, and embedding these tools within the planning process. Under Justin’s leadership, this industry based KTP project was recently graded ‘Outstanding’ across every assessment category by Innovate UK’s KTP panel; a very rare accolade, and Justin has been nominated for a ‘Future Leader’ award.  

While leading the aforementioned project, Justin also returned to education and is currently close to completing a part-time Master’s degree in Planning and Development at QUB, has co-authored a peer-reviewed academic paper due for publication in International Planning Studies, diversified his growing skillset with qualifications in UX Design, Agile Business Analyst, and has been awarded an ESRC NINE PhD studentship on Digital Planning and PlanTech to commence in October 2021 with QUB.

Emily is currently completing a PhD at Queen's University Belfast under an ESRC NINE DTP studentship. Emily's PhD is a collaborative piece of research between the University and Derry City and Strabane District Council, investigating the 10 year legacy of the city hosting the inaugural UK City of Culture in 2013. Her research focuses on culture-led regeneration and the impact cultural events can have, particularly in a post-conflict context. She is due to complete her PhD in Spring 2024. 

Prior to this, Emily graduated from Queen's University Belfast in 2019 with a MSc in City Planning and Design, following her achievement of a first class BSc in Environmental Planning. 

Emily is Vice Chair of the NI Young Planners Committee.