MBE for John England

Dr John England has been awarded an MBE in the 2010 New Year Honours list for his services to retail planning.

John England is a Director of England & Lyle Limited, Chartered Town Planners, based in Darlington. He has been a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute since 1973 and has been a supporter of RTPI NE/RTPI Northern Branch through most of that period, particularly when there have been retail-related CPD events.

After an early career in local government planning, mostly with the former Cleveland County Council, John joined WS Atkins Consultants in 1987 as Head of Planning in the Northern Regional office in Middlesbrough. In 1995 he formed a new town planning consultancy partnership, England & Lyle, with Ian Lyle – based in Darlington. Jeremy Good later became a Partner and all three are now Directors of England & Lyle Limited. England & Lyle has since become established as one of the largest independent planning consultancy firms in the North of England.

During his time with WS Atkins John became interested in retail planning consultancy and in 1997 was awarded a PhD by Newcastle University for research carried out part-time on retail impact assessment. This was followed in 2000 by a book on Retail Impact Assessment: a Guide to Best Practice, the first book to be published on this topic in the UK.

John now specialises in retail planning and town centres and has extensive experience in retail consultancy work for local authorities, developers and retailers. He has become recognised for his expertise in retail planning nationally, and has developed a detailed knowledge of the application of the policy tests in PPS6. He looks forward to being able to apply this experience in helping clients to understand the new PPS4 policy guidance on town centres.

In recent years John has gained experience in advising clients on retailing in market towns, notably in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and in 2009 was appointed to the Board of ‘Action for Market Towns’.

RTPI NE extends its congratulations to John: for an RTPI member based in this area to feature in an Honours list is comparatively unusual, to say the least!

Julian Ringer, RTPI NE Chair, commented: "Dr John England through this recognition brings heart to all professional planners in the Region. He has demonstrated through a combination of hard work, enterprise and dedication that planners can achieve in both the public sector and the private sector. John has taken the opportunity later in his career to continue his formal education achieving his PhD and has used this as a springboard to pursue his passion for town centres. Congratulations from the Branch and let’s hope that he is the first of many professional planners to be recognized". Julian Ringer, Managing Director, SEQM,  Ouseburn Bldg, Newcastle upon Tyne,  079770420090191 or 2651034

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Author:

Kay Lough

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

14-Jan-10

Categories:

Nations & Regions 

Sections:

News & Media

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