Town and City Centres - A Brave New World

Jonathan has a wide-range of planning experience, and a particular specialism in retail, leisure and other forms of urban development. He has a wealth of experience in advising developers, operators and financial institutions on town centre, retail and leisure projects and also leads Town Centre and Retail Studies for the public sector. He is an experienced expert witness and has given evidence at numerous Appeal and Call-in Inquiries and Examinations in Public.

Paul is Director of Policy and Research at the think tank Centre for Cities, which tracks the performance of the UK’s 63 largest urban areas. He is a regular regional and national media commentator, including print, radio and TV, and speaks at conferences across the UK on subjects relating to the performance of city economies.

Charlotte is Executive Director of Growth and Business Development at Karbon Homes, a leading social landlord.  She joined Karbon as part of the newly formed Executive team on its creation in May 2017.

She is responsible for Karbon’s development programme of over 700 new homes a year, the investment plans for Karbon’s existing 30,000 properties, and also leads the strategy and insight, and communication and business development teams.

Charlotte has a passion for housing’s role in the economic and social regeneration of the North East and Yorkshire.  This was borne from senior roles with One NorthEast and The Northern Way - a precursor to the Northern Powerhouse.

Charlotte began her career in the Civil Service Fast Stream, where she undertook roles in several high-profile areas in the Scottish Government. 

Charlotte is an alumnus of Cambridge and York universities and holds a PhD in Medieval History.  

She holds a number of non-executive roles, including:

• Member CBI North East Council and CBI National Infrastructure Board;
• NED Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust;
• Chair Chartered Institute of Housing’s Policy Advisory Committee;
• Member Newcastle University Lay Court and Estate Capital Strategic Planning Committee;
• Member Bank of England Residential Property Forum

She also holds a CaCHE Fellowship exploring the role that housing associations can play in the Foundation Economies of ‘Left Behind Places’.

Nick has 25 years’ experience working with heritage across England, Scotland and Wales Scotland.  He is a heritage specialist working on the conservation, adaptation and reuse of historic building and places.

As a heritage professional he has worked across the widest range of sites and buildings; from Mesolithic hunting camps to Post-Modern Civic Centres.  Before joining Lichfields he led Historic England’s Listing team for the North of England for 10 years, overseeing listing programmes in towns as varied as Berwick upon Tweed, Halifax and Hull.  At Lichfields he brings this thorough understanding of heritage values and experience of managing change to help steer developments through the consents processes; the transformation of the Leeds General Infirmary in the heart of city, tall buildings to complement the historic character of Digbeth, Birmingham or the regeneration of Coventry’s remarkable post-War Precinct.

Tom is a chartered town planner and manages the applications casework referred to Theatres Trust as a statutory consultee across the UK, along with providing advice on planning matters to theatre owners and operators, developers, local authorities, campaign groups and other interested parties. This has included participating in pre-applications, appeals, inquiries and examination in public.  Theatres Trust is the national advisory public body for theatres and was set up through an Act of Parliament to promote and protect theatres for the benefit of the nation.  The Trust covers all theatre buildings whether active, vacant or in other uses, including arts centres and sites converted to theatre and performance use.  Its Theatres at Risk Register, updated annually, identifies and supports the theatre buildings at greatest risk across the UK.  It actively engages with Government and local authorities to improve policy relating to cultural uses, a notable success in recent years being the introduction of the ‘Agent of Change’ principle into national frameworks and legislation in England and Scotland.

Prior to this role Tom worked at London Borough of Tower Hamlets where he led on key aspects of their new Local Plan including town centres for which he has particular interest.  He undertook research on how the planning system might better protect pubs from unnecessary loss which resulted in the Council being an early adopter of specific pub policy and helped inform development of policy elsewhere.  He has helped support community groups whose pubs have been threatened by change of use.

Tania is an architect. She grew up in Edinburgh, studied at Newcastle and Venice Universities, and worked in Chicago, London, Sydney and Glasgow before joining FaulknerBrowns in 1993. She is predominantly responsible for leading and managing large multi-disciplinary teams and has delivered over 2 million sqft of complex mixed-use schemes, transformative city-centre retail, innovative leisure and place shaping projects. These include the reconfiguration of Monument Mall, a masterplan for Newcastle’s city centre retail core, three food-focused market halls in London and is currently working with Northumberland County Council on a new culture hub and market place for Blyth and with Newcastle City Council and the traders in Grainger Market to evolve the city’s most vital retail asset.

Tania’s passion for urban regeneration and place-shaping, coupled with her detailed understanding of the commercial leisure and retail sectors, has led to roles with various industry bodies.  She sits on the Strategic Board of Revo (supporting the retail property community), is a Committee Member of the Leisure Property Forum, and is a Non-Executive Director of NE1 (Newcastle’s Business Improvement District.) Tania was appointed as an Expert to the Government’s High Streets Task Force, part of a national effort supporting local authorities and communities in transforming their high streets. And also to the Board of Trustees at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, the UK’s largest dedicated contemporary art institution. She is a Fellow of The Institute of Place Management and also of the RSA. In 2018, Tania was awarded European Woman Architect of the Year at the Women in Construction & Engineering Awards, a platform that celebrates women role models in industries that remain predominantly male-dominated.

John is Director of Regeneration and Economic Development and leads on all physical regeneration strategy and delivery as well as inclusive economic growth and inward investment. John also has responsibility for Strategic Transport, Planning and Culture. A town planner by background, he has spent nearly 30 years working across Tyneside. After a short stint in the private sector, John worked for NTC between 1995-2007 after which he was Head of Development at Bridging Newcastle Gateshead which was one of the Government’s Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders. Following 8 years at South Tyneside Council as Head of Regeneration he returned to NTC in 2019 in his current role.

Individual seniority / organisation structure: John is part of the Council’s Senior Leadership Team and reports to the Chief Executive.

Outside of work, John is a keen musician having played in bands throughout his life.