Scottish Executive Committee

Pamela is Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health Manager for West Dunbartonshire Council. She has worked for the Council for over 17 years and previously worked for East Ayrshire Council. Pamela studied Planning at Queens University Belfast. She has a strong interest and is passionate in creating high quality places and buildings. West Dunbartonshire is one of the smallest Councils in Scotland however it is one of the more ambitious Councils and the planning process is being used to assist in changing the prosperity and future prospects of the area by creating high quality places.  

She is responsible for pioneering the Place and Design Panel, the first time a Design Panel has been set up in a more deprived area. She was also responsible for setting up the award winning  elected member briefing at the pre application stage a process that  together with the Place and Design Panel has become embedded in the planning process.   

She is Senior Vice Convenor of Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS) Executive Committee. She was  pleased to be recognised as a “Women of Influence  - The Planner” in terms of her role in encouraging teams to work collaboratively across local authority, NHS, private sector and local communities and being not afraid to do things differently.

Laura is Senior Planner in the Masterplanning, Design and Conservation Team at Aberdeen City Council. She has worked at the Council for over 12 years and prior to this worked across the North East in Local Development Planning, Strategic Planning as well as in a  Development Management role.  Laura’s interests are in Masterplanning, Placemaking, Conservation and the reuse and redevelopment of historic buildings. She has been involved in a variety of projects and developments across the City, but most recently the fantastic redevelopment of Union Terrace Gardens. 

Laura enjoys working closely with colleagues and knows the importance of peer support and the continued engagement with colleagues and other RTPI members.  She also thoroughly enjoys a little planning debate between Colleagues on a Friday afternoon. Finally Laura is also a member of the General Assembly and the Chair of the Communication, Education and Lifelong Learning Sub-committee.

Having worked in the planning industry for a number of years, Maura has a wide ranging knowledge and experience of working with the different sectors across the Scottish Planning System.

Maura hopes to bring her experience in planning consultancy to support the RTPI in Scotland, helping them achieve their aims by encouraging collaborative working both across the many intertwined disciplines and between different sector planners themselves.

Maura is looking forward to becoming involved in evolving debate, discussion and promotion of best practice as Scottish Planners navigate and move forward through the next year of planning.

Kirsty Macari ​is Co-Head of Undergraduate Programmes in DJCAD at the University of Dundee with a remit across Architecture and Urban Planning along with Contemporary Art Practice.  Kirsty studied Town and Regional Planning and Urban Design combined with significant public service practice across Planning and Economic Development before joining the University of Dundee. She is also undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Education and integrates student learning with practical applications to inform future practice.  She is a Director in private practice, Board Member of Architecture & Design Scotland and an Academician with the Academy of Urbanism. A strategically focused planner who works across sectors to drive the integration and promotion of social place-making. Kirsty believes in engaging the full spectrum of people that make up our places through digital and transdisciplinary place-making to support wellbeing for resilient communities. She continues to be a member of the RTPI General Assembly and the Education and Lifelong Learning Committee. Kirsty has recently taken up the role as Vice Chair of Planning Schools Forum.

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 Vice-Chair of the Policy Practice & Research Committee and member of the Nominations Sub-committee, as well as a member of the RTPI Scotland Executive Committee and past RTPI Scotland Convenor.

Gillian is the Manager of Spatial Planning – Research & Development team within the Development Plan Group at Glasgow City Council. She has a BSc (Hons) in Town Planning from Heriot-Watt University and BSc (Hons) in Human Geography from the Open University. She is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and currently the Chair of the Partnership and Accreditation Panel. She is the RTPI nominate representative on the Technical University Dublin Partnership Board, where she is the vice-chair. She previously had a similar role with Queens University Belfast.

Gillian had a lead role for the Council within the Horizon 2020 Connecting Nature project, where Glasgow was one of the front runner cities. Gillian was also on the European practitioner review panel for the IPCC 6 Climate Change report summary for practitioners.

Gillian started her career in Banff & Buchan / Aberdeenshire before moving to Glasgow 18 years ago. She therefore has a broad breadth of experience working both very rural and highly urbanised areas. Gillian takes a place-based approach with a nature based solutions focus to hopefully create climate adaptive spaces and places. Her main focus is on:

• Place-based approach using nature-based solutions to create climate adaptive spaces and places
• Innovation in new policy such as subsurface, NBS, Net zero, climate benchmarking and adaptability
• Date driven decision making, impact assessment and monitoring using GIS as the key tool
• Adaptability, innovating and thinking outside the box

Gillian is one of the 50 The Planner's Women of Influence 2022.

Lisa graduated in 2015 from the RTPI-accredited Town & Regional Planning course at the University of Dundee and became a chartered planner in 2017. Lisa is an Associate at Montagu Evans based in their Edinburgh office and works as planning advisor on several of the firms main planning and development projects across Scotland, advising clients on planning strategy, masterplanning, stakeholder engagement and planning applications across a diverse range of sectors, with particular interests in living, education and healthcare. Lisa has volunteered for the RTPI throughout her planning career both as a former Committee Member and Past Chair of the Scottish Young Planners’ Network. Lisa continues to be an assessor for RTPI APC.

Duncan is a Chartered Town Planner with over 10 years’ experience across infrastructure consenting, environmental assessment and policy development. He is a Senior Planning & Environmental Policy Analyst at ScottishPower Renewables (SPR), with responsibility for leading policy and strategic work to facilitate the efficient deployment of offshore renewables projects. Duncan advises on infrastructure consenting regimes, manages strategic stakeholder engagement in the offshore space, provides consenting strategy advice and co-ordinates SPR’s response to offshore planning and environmental policy consultations. Prior to joining SPR Duncan had 9 years’ consultancy experience, including leading the delivery of planning and EIA services for major infrastructure projects and managing Strategic Environmental Assessments to support the development of spatial plans across the UK.

Duncan has been involved with the RTPI since joining the West of Scotland Chapter Committee as Events Co-ordinator in 2014 and has twice served as Convenor of the RTPI West of Scotland Chapter (2016 and 2020). He is also a member of Scottish Renewables’ Offshore Enabling Group and the Offshore Wind Industry Council Pathways to Growth (OWIC P2G) Co-ordination Group, the UK Offshore Wind Sector Deal’s workstream focused on addressing consenting barriers to the achievement of offshore wind deployment and net zero targets.

Craig is Service Lead for Planning & Building Standard at South Ayrshire Council. As a Chartered planner and a qualified Building Standards surveyor, he has enjoyed the benefit of working in Building Standards before  moving onto Planning. Having worked for Local Authorities and in  the private sector he has a wide range of experience and knowledge.

John is a Planning Officer at Perth & Kinross Council and has been a member of the Scottish Young Planners Network (SYPN) Steering Group since 2020. He graduated from the University of Westminster in 2016 with an MA in Urban and Regional Planning, and has subsequently worked in Development Management at the London Borough of Hounslow and at Falkirk Council. He is a past Honorary Secretary of RTPI London and was elected to Chartered Membership of the Institute in December 2019 before relocating to Scotland. John served as Convenor of the RTPI West of Scotland Chapter in 2022. He has a particular interest in exploring how planners can collaborate more effectively with other built environment professions to deliver sustainable places. John is also passionate about ensuring early-career planners, particularly those in the public sector, are equipped with the right skills to achieve this.

Ross McFarlane graduated with a first-class MA (Hons) Urban Planning degree from the University of Dundee on 22 June 2023, and is currently undertaking an MSc in Spatial Planning with Sustainable Urban Design at the same University. He has a strong passion for urban planning as a key tool in the sustainable development of the worlds places and sees it as key in engaging with others and improving people's lives. Ross was this year’s recipient of the RTPI (Scotland) and RTPI Student Award.

Mizzy, short for Marie-Isabelle, works for Dumfries and Galloway Council as the Built Heritage Policy Officer. She came to Scotland in 2013, having had a varied planning career with Development Management, Conservation and Regeneration in England and now in the Policy team. Her original degree is in Zoology, then a post-graduate Diploma in Town and Country Planning, at Queens University, Belfast. She completed a Masters in Historic Building Conservation at Oxford Brookes University (1994) and a post-graduate certificate in Urban Design at University of Central England (2008). She has an everyday interest in outdoor pursuits in the natural landscape, the wellbeing and the sustainability of small communities which are so critical to the success of Scotland. She has been MRTPI since 1990 and a member of IHBC since 1998.

Peter has been a chartered town planner since 1986. He is currently a Project Manager with Scottish Enterprise and leads on planning policy within the Place Department. He has previously worked in local government and as a planning and development consultant. He represents Scottish Enterprise on the Key Agencies Group. He is semi-retired and is a part time Postgraduate Researcher at Dundee University.  

Ailsa graduated from Aberdeen University in 2010 with an MA with Honours in Rural Surveying and Spatial Planning. Ailsa secured a graduate position with Scottish Land & Estates before working as a Land Agent with Strutt & Parker LLP. Ailsa joined Aberdeenshire Council in 2014 working predominantly in Development Planning.  Ailsa now leads the Council’s Planning Information and Delivery Team. Ailsa qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2013 and as a Chartered Planner in 2016. She is also SP=EED Verified. Ailsa was commended at the 2019 RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence in the Young Planner of the Year category. Ailsa has previously sat on the RTPI SYPN Steering Group and is currently Convenor of the RTPI Grampian Chapter. Outwith planning, Ailsa can be found at the curling rink or at home on the farm with her young family.

Robert is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute with over 7 years of experience, working for local authorities in both England and Scotland. He has held the role of Planning Officer in the Development Plans Service at Shetland Islands Council since December 2018.

He graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2016 with an MA in Town and Regional Planning. He started his planning career by gaining experience in the Development Management and Planning Policy teams at Nottinghamshire County Council, with a focus on minerals and waste development. Prior to his planning career, Robert worked in the heritage sector in England and holds an MA in Heritage Management.

Matthew is a chartered town planner with over ten years experience in Planning. He has worked in Development Planning, Development Management and Enforcement for councils both north and south of the border since graduating from Heriot-Watt University in 2013. Matthew currently works as a Planning Officer at West Lothian Council in the Development Planning & Environment team helping to deliver the next Local Development Plan. Matthew is the vice convenor of the South East Scotland Chapter.

Stewart is a Chartered Town Planner with 4 years of professional experience. He has experience across several areas of planning, having worked in both Development Planning and Development Management functions of Local Authority planning departments and in the private sector. He is currently a Consultant Town Planner within the Infrastructure Planning team at WSP, working on a wide variety of projects in the water, transport, energy and local government sectors across Scotland.

Stewart has been involved with the RTPI since joining the Central Scotland Chapter as an Ordinary Member in 2020, and later moved on to take up the Communications role for West of Scotland Chapter in 2022. Stewart became Convenor of the RTPI West of Scotland Chapter in 2023 following election as a Chartered Member of the RTPI.

James graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 2013 (MA (Hons) in Geography and Spatial Planning) and is a Chartered Member of the RTPI. James is a Senior Planner with Aberdeenshire Council's Strategic Development Delivery Team, and works primarily on National and Major Energy and Transmission Developments. He has been a member of the SYPN since 2019 and is the current Chair for 2024.

Kevin Murray, BSc DipTP MSc FRTPI AoU FAcSS, is a Glasgow based town planner and urbanist, a Past President of the RTPI, Honorary Professor of Planning at Glasgow and Dundee Universities, and Founding Director and Past Chair of The Academy of Urbanism. He is Chair of Partners in Planning.

An alumnus of Aberdeen and Oxford Brookes Universities, Kevin is a practising consultant, specialising in strategy, regeneration and stakeholder engagement for clients across the public, private and community sectors.

His practice Kevin Murray Associates (KMA) has won awards and commendations for their work, including around engaging communities creatively in the planning and regeneration of their towns and cities.

As RTPI President Kevin was involved in establishing the Young Planner of the Year Award and special President’s Award, the publication of the New Vision for Planning, and the recasting of the Institute’s logos that we have known for a generation.

Kevin has also been the host of the RTPI Awards Ceremony and the AoU Urbanism Awards, on multiple occasions.

Stuart Salter is Managing Director at Geddes Consulting. He specialises in project implementation through the planning system including all matters relating to housing land supply, policy shaping and development viability. Other areas of practice include procurement of affordable homes, masterplanning, education infrastructure capacity and stakeholder engagement.

Stuart is currently involved in many major strategic and short-term development proposals throughout Scotland.

He co-chairs the Scottish Planning Consultants Forum.