Minerals Planning Conference

Lindsey Richards BA (Hons) DipTP FRTPI

Lindsey is a chartered town planner with over 30 years’ experience in planning, design and delivery. She has extensive background primarily working in the public sector, experienced in community engagement and bringing together multi-disciplinary teams to deliver key housing projects.  Lindsey’s previous roles included leading the planning team at Milton Keynes Partnership, responsible for the expansion of Milton Keynes and introducing the Milton Keynes Tariff.  Lindsey moved to English Partnerships (now Homes England) in 2009 to head up the delivery team in the Midlands. 

Lindsey’s last role was Head of Planning at Homes England, where she worked  in a consultancy role providing specialist advice to Homes England delivery teams. Lindsey was responsible for driving design quality standards and introducing BfL12 ( forerunner to BfHL) as an assessment tool on Homes England sites. She was a member of the Garden Town and Villages Programme Board and worked closely with DLUHC on policy formulation.  Lindsey strongly advocates the value that early community engagement contributes to projects and oversaw the introduction of a community engagement strategy and toolkit to support Homes England projects. 

Lindsey was Head of Profession within Homes England. She undertook a mentoring role to promote the profession and support licentiate members.  Lindsey established the Planners Network within the Agency and oversaw  training and Homes England annual planning conference. 

Lindsey stepped down from her role at Homes England in April 2023 to concentrate on her Vice-Presidential role with the RTPI.

Lindsey is a member of the General Assembly of the RTPI, vice chair of the Education and Lifelong Learning Committee and became a Fellow in 2018. She was RTPI President 2024.

Lindsey is a Trustee for Design: Midlands

Catriona is an independent consultant providing support on a wide range of spatial planning issues but specialises in strategic/ joint planning arrangements and has authored three major publications on the subject.

Catriona is a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s England Policy Committee, is Deputy Chair of the Town and Country Planning Association and Strategic Planning Specialist for the Planning Officers’ Society.

In 2022 Catriona was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University for her services to Planning, was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute and was one of the Planner magazine’s Women of Influence.

Max Heaver is currently the policy lead for the Land Use Framework in Defra, where he previously worked on wider environmental planning and biodiversity net gain policy and legislation. His work has focussed on the application of environmental economics in business and policy contexts, having joined Defra from environmental economics consultancy.

Christina joined Devon County Council as a Graduate Planner in 2008 and has since gained a wide variety of experience in planning policy. She was appointed as Principal Planning Officer – Minerals and Waste Policy in August 2019. In this role Christina represented Devon County Council at the South West Aggregate Working Party, was responsible for the preparation of the Local Aggregate Assessment and coordinated input for the 2019 Aggregate Mineral Survey. In November 2021 Christina commenced a secondment at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as Minerals and Waste Team Leader.

Richard is recognised as a leading practitioner in planning and environmental law, advising and appearing in residential, minerals, waste, energy, and infrastructure proposals, and frequently in environmental litigation. He has appeared recently at some of the largest and most complex plan examinations and advised on major strategic proposals for  FTSE 100 minerals and waste companies operating throughout England and Wales, including: EfW, aggregates, PFA, specialist block, cement, high PSV, including complex ROMP, Habitats and MWFSA cases.

Rob is Chief Planner and Director of Housing at Northumberland County Council, one England’s largest single tier authorities. Previously positions have included Chief Planner at Sheffield City Council and at Derbyshire County Council. Rob is a former director of the Planning Officers Society, sat on the Policy Board of the Town & Country Planning Association and conducts LPA improvement support programmes for the Planning Advisory Service. He has a long history of involvement local, strategic,  economic and environmental planning. He has contributed to the development of planning & environmental policy, legislation and practice in England, Scotland, regional government and in Germany.

Lisa Kirby-Hawkes is Head of Development Management and Flood and Water Management at Hampshire County Council. She has held a variety of roles in the minerals planning field including development management, monitoring, enforcement and minerals planning policy. 

Lisa has been working with the Minerals Products Association (on behalf of Minerals and Waste Planning Officers Society (MWPOS)) on the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain for minerals. She is also part of a MWPOS working group looking at recruitment and retention issues in minerals planning.

Mark Russell is an Executive Director of the Mineral Products Association (MPA), the trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, dimension stone, lime, mortar and silica sand industries in Great Britain. Alongside responsibility for planning and mineral resource issues, Mark is also Director of the British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA), the representative body for the UK marine aggregate sector. He has worked in the minerals industry for 25 years, following previous experience gained in the ports sector and an environmental consultancy. Mark holds a degree in marine geography from the University of Wales, College Cardiff and a Masters degree in marine resource development and protection from Heriot-Watt University.

New to quarry industry, joining the company Summer 2024​

​BSc Environmental Bio-GeoScience – University of Leeds​

​My carrer path has been through education, conservation and local authorities: National Trust, Natural England, West Yorkshire Councils. ​

​Background in woodland management delivering works including access, harvesting, replanting and creation schemes.​

Skills and experience gained all apply to quarry restoration."

Completed a BSc in Environmental Conservation in 2013 at Sheffield Hallam University. Volunteered at The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), Peak Park Conservation Volunteers (PPCV) and also worked with the Sheffield Wildlife Trust's Wildscapes team undertaking practical land management and conservation. Following on from this, my first full time job in the environmental industry was working as Conservation Grazier for the Surrey County Council's Downlands Trust on the North Downs - focusing on the restoration of chalk grasslands. After two Shepherding calendars I then moved into the commercial sector and to FCC Environment where I eventually became the Restoration and Ecology Manager for the South of England. I spent three years there undertaking landfill restoration and designing functional, deliverable landscape schemes. I then joined Tarmac in March 2020, and despite a rocky start during Covid, I have finally found my feet and have been in my current role for 5 years. 

Maggie Simpson is Director General of the Rail Freight Group, the representative body for rail freight in the UK. Since joining in 2005 she has worked to promote growth in rail freight and to support member companies of the Group in their activities.  She is also a Trustee of the Railway Benefit Fund.

Minerals are relied upon by virtually all other forms of new development. As acknowledged in the NPPF, it is essential that there is a sufficient supply of minerals to provide the infrastructure, buildings, energy and goods that the country needs. It follows that planning for minerals – to ensure an adequate supply whilst minimising environmental impacts – is equally important.

This is a highly specialised and rewarding area of planning. It requires a broad range of knowledge regarding the availability, distribution and need for various different minerals, as well as an understanding of minerals planning policies and procedures. 

The Introduction to Minerals Planning CPD Masterclass will provide you with a detailed introduction to all of these subjects. It is equally suitable for qualified planners who may wish to move into this specialised area (or to update their existing knowledge) and to those in training who have yet to finalise their intended career path. It will be of particular interest to those with an interest in geography and geology but does not require any prior knowledge of these subjects.

The Masterclass will enable you to understand:

• Why we need minerals to grow the economy;
• Where the various types of minerals can be found;
• How to minimise or avoid the potential adverse impacts of extracting minerals;
• The importance and feasibility of beneficial quarry restoration; and
• Why monitoring and enforcement are needed throughout the life of a quarry.

I am the Director of Cuesta Consulting Ltd., a niche geological and minerals planning consultancy firm. I am both a Chartered Geologist and a Chartered Town Planner, with almost 40 years’ post-doctoral research and consultancy experience. I have been the lead author of guides to good practice on various aspects of mineral planning, produced for central Government departments in both England and Wales. I also provide specialist advice, reports and expert witness services to Mineral Planning Authorities and mineral operators. I am also a highly experienced lecturer and have been on the organising committee of Extractive Industry Geology (EIG) Conferences Ltd since 2004. From 2017 to 2022 I was the Secretary of the UK Minerals Forum (UKMF).

The Planning and Environment Group at No5 is widely acknowledged by industry professionals and the legal press as being one of the leading sets of planning and environment barristers in the country. Host to some of the leading barristers in the field, members have been involved in many of the UK’s major cases over the last three decades. Expertise includes energy and infrastructure projects, minerals and waste, retail and commercial development, residential developments (including new town settlements), environmental law, Compulsory purchase, and Enforcement.