The Planner Live North

Jane leads the Planning business in Arup’s North West and Yorkshire offices and is the Global Town Planning Skills Leader. She is leading our global planning research and skills development on planning for inclusive communities, digital planning and sustainable planning. Jane has expertise in local planning policy and regeneration, particularly green belts, sustainability appraisals, regeneration and masterplanning.

She has assisted local authorities in preparing Local Plans and is an experienced expert witness. She has recently supported government in the delivery of the DLUHC Towns Fund Programme and a number of authorities in Levelling Up programmes. Jane is also regularly called up to contribute on national planning matters and has presented to the House of Lords Select Committee on Land Use and All Party Parliamentary Group on Planning.

Jane is also Greater Manchester Combined Authority Planning and Housing Commissioner, Visiting Professor of Planning and Geography at the University of Liverpool and Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute. She is a Non-Executive Director of a housing association.

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 is RTPI President 2024.

Lindsey is a Trustee for Design: Midlands

Chris has worked in the North East on planning and regeneration projects for over 25 years, working for the County Council since 2009. Prior to this, he was responsible for the Planning Policy & Design and Conservation function of the former Sedgefield Borough Council. He has been a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute since 1997 and a Planning Aid volunteer since 1998. His work with the County Council has encompassed developing and delivering a wide variety of complex, high value regeneration programmes and projects. He has been heavily involved with the RTPI award winning projects at the Witham Hall at Barnard Castle, Seaham Harbour Marina and Auckland Castle.  He is currently delivering the Towns Fund in Bishop Auckland (both Future High Streets Fund and Town Deal), the Story (the new home for the County Record and Register Office) in Durham City and the Seaham Garden Village mine energy district heat network project.

James is a Director in Quod’s Leeds office, with over 13 years’ private sector experience.  He works across a range of industry sectors on a national basis and is involved in all aspects of the planning process.

Using her skills in placemaking, strategy and communication, Lindsay works across the NW & WM region to deliver the innovative One Public Estate Programme promoting collaboration between public sector partners to kickstart regeneration, transform public service delivery and unlock sites for housing.

In a broad spanning career holding senior positions in public and private sector organisations she has a demonstrably strong track record of leading teams successfully in competitive processes.

Lindsay is a former NW RTPI Regional Chair, a RTPI Nurture Mentor, a recently appointed Places Matter Design Panel Member, and occasional guest lecturer on the MSc Urban Design & International Planning course at the University of Manchester.

Sam joined igloo in 2018 and is an executive director responsible for overseeing project delivery across the wider Midlands region. She also leads the Blueprint team, delivering a full range of services to this Nottingham-based, innovative public-private sector joint venture.

With over 30 years’ experience in development management, public-private sector partnerships and the residential sector, Sam works closely with clients, partners and local communities to ensure igloo’s work delivers value and impact.

Passionate about people, place and planet, Sam has championed igloo’s work since its earliest developments. She believes igloo’s progressive approach to design and sustainability provides genuine choice for customers and partners, as well as enhancing the Midlands region’s offer.

Toby Forbes Turner is the Planning Policy Manager at the City of Lincoln Council and has been a Chartered Member of the RTPI for 15 years. Prior to working at the City Council, Toby worked for a charitable community development organisation for 6 years before moving into Town Planning at Lincolnshire County Council where he led an EU funded flood risk project called FLOWS.  Toby is the lead officer at the Council responsible for inputting into the Joint Central Lincolnshire Local Plan that was recently adopted in April 2024 which contains ambitious policies on addressing climate change.

Emilly is a chartered senior town planner at Arup, based in Manchester, specialising in strategic sustainable policy with expertise in policy development, masterplanning and stakeholder engagement. She has worked across England on local, regional and national scales to support the delivery of positive transformational change within communities. Emilly is passionate about improving the accessibility and inclusivity of the planning profession to share the value of planning with everyone. In addition to being the North West Chair in 2023, Emilly has been a part of the Education, Careers and Mentoring Task Group, where she works to help promote careers in town planning, since 2019.

Claire is a Chartered Town Planner (MRTPI) with over 17 years’ experience in the development industry. As an experienced Planning Director, for a growing housebuilder, her current expertise lies in the management, co-ordination and delivery of residential development projects throughout the UK with a particular focus on Yorkshire, the North East and the Midlands.  Claire has successfully secured planning permission for the delivery of over 3,000 new homes during her 5 years at Strata.  Prior to working for Strata Claire worked for a planning consultancy based in Leeds for 12 years dealing with a variety of schemes in the residential, retail, education and leisure sectors.

Holly is a Senior Planning and Enabling Manager at Homes England, with a background in both the public and private sectors.  She has experience of working on a range of complex residential projects.  

Holly graduated with a Masters in Planning from the University of Manchester in 2016 and became a Chartered member of the RTPI in 2018. She joined the RTPI NW Regional Activities Committee in 2022 and currently supports the Awards Task Group.

Will is a Chartered Town Planner (MRTPI) and is Chair for the RTPI Yorkshire region.  In his professional role Will is a Principal Planning Consultant for Atkins in Yorkshire, and is working on a pivotal railway project for the North of England. 

He is also Co-Chair for International Co-Operation for the Commonwealth Association of Planners Young Planners (CAP YP) Steering Group, and helps to represent CAP YP on the new multi-disciplinary Commonwealth Youth for Sustainable Urbanisation (CYSU) steering committee.  During 2022 Will helped to launch and progress the CYSU initiative at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda, and at COP 27 in Egypt.

Darren is a Director at Pegasus Group in Liverpool. He comes from a multidisciplinary background having previously worked client-side in wind energy and residential development before moving into consultancy. He now advises public and private sector clients on a variety of developments across England, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man. He holds two master’s degrees – a Master of Town and Country Planning (Hons) degree from the University of Manchester, and a Master of Science in Design and Construction of Zero Carbon and Ultra-low Energy Buildings from the University of Dundee. Darren is Chair of the Planning Aid England North West Task Group and co-founder of the North West Neighbourhood Planning Network.

Emma is a Director of Strategic Communications at Turley, and Head of the team in the North. She devises and delivers strategic communications campaigns involving local communities and political stakeholders to achieve successful planning outcomes for her clients. Her talents lie in communicating and engaging effectively and inclusively with stakeholders using both digital and traditional communication channels to build support and consensus on contentious development projects. Emma’s approach is insight-led and focussed on developing an evidence-based understanding of people, through conversation and interaction with a range of stakeholders to deliver social value.

Emma leads a team of PR,  corporate affairs,  political engagement and social value experts within her team. She is CIPR qualified with a background in urban design. She believes that well-planned communication is an essential part of de-risking the planning process and achieving the successful regeneration of places for future generations.

Dr David Mountain is Research Manager at the Royal Town Planning Institute, and an Honorary Research Fellow in Planning at the University of Manchester. He completed his PhD at the University of Manchester in 2022, which was titled “A Critical History of Urban Regeneration in British Architecture and Planning, 1960s-80s.” He has lectured and taught widely in planning and architecture. He has a Masters in Urban Studies from University College London, and a BA in History of Art from Goldsmiths.

Hannah is a professional town planner by background and has worked across the public and private sectors. She is currently Associate Professor in Planning Practice at the University of the West of England and was selected as The Planner's “Women of Influence 2022: Academia”. She is passionate about research informed practice, and practice informed research. Her most recent consultancy projects have included: the role of local planning authorities in delivering brownfield land (for the Planning Advisory Service); improving post-planning processes to deliver better places (for the West of England Combined Authority and winner of the 2021 RTPI Sir Peter Hall Award for Research Excellence); and project-hindsight:  post-decision implementation (for the National Infrastructure Planning Association). She is currently leading research for the RTPI on strategic planning. 

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.

As an independent chartered planning consultant Richard’s work spans strategic spatial frameworks & strategies and local, infrastructure, and neighbourhood plans. Richard’s strategic planning expertise builds on his prior experience of leading the production of the Yorkshire & Humber  Regional Spatial Strategy and a Joint Structure Plan. He was a strategic planning advisor for PAS and an RTPI Ambitions for the North steering group member. He has worked at a senior level in Local Government and for small and large private practices. Current roles include the Yorkshire RTPI Regional Activities Committee (previously policy advisor & chair) and the TCPA Policy Council.

Matt is a Divisional Planning Manager at Richborough, promoting strategic residential and commercial sites across the UK.  With 17 years’ experience, he has a unique insight into the profession, having worked in the public sector (West Lancashire and St Helens) as well as for developers (The Emerson Group – Jones Homes/Orbit Developments) and consultancies (Indigo, WSP, Nexus). He graduated with a Distinction in the Master of Civic Design at the University of Liverpool in 2007 and became a Chartered Member of the RTPI in 2011.  Matt joined the Regional Activities Committee in 2021.

Timothy Crawshaw MA MRTPI FRSA is an International Planning and Development Consultant in the areas of urban design, planning, green infrastructure, energy efficiency and sustainable transport. With experience in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, alongside an expanding UK practice, he has a specific interest in the role of the nature based approaches to addressing the climate emergency, alongside improving health and wellbeing outcomes and tackling inequality.

Timothy is an experienced lecturer, trainer and facilitator with a passion for community development, and he continues to champion the role of planning as a key part of the solution to the challenges of our times. Timothy is currently the Chair of the Tees Valley Nature Partnership and Chair of the Historic Towns and Villages Forum.

Nina Pindham is a specialist planning and environmental law practitioner. She advises a wide range of clients including developer clients, energy providers, local authorities and private clients at all stages from pre-application advice, through any appeal processes. Specialisms include residential development, minerals and waste, environmental prosecutions and High Court Litigation and she has experience in controversial minerals development, both for developers and minerals authorities and in relation to historic consents, prohibition orders, and enforcement proceedings.

Matt is a NERC funded ONE Planet PhD at Northumbria University. Matt is conducting interdisciplinary research on Green Belts using a mixed-methods approach to better understand the socio-ecolgical benefits these policy zones, and how they can be better mainstreamed in policy. His research bridges the natural and built environment disciplines and works at the science-policy interface.

Matt's research interests include Natural Capital; Ecosystem Services; Peri-Urban Landscapes; Urban Nature; Socio-Ecological Landscapes; Regional Planning; Landscape Planning; Environmental Policy Mainstreaming and particaptory research methods.

Simon is a journalist and the deputy editor of The Planner, the RTPI's member magazine. Over the years, his work has seen him reporting on parish council meetings, planning committees and a murder trial; mentoring young journalists from inner cities; interviewing Kosovan refugee children in Serbia and village kids in Tanzania; ghostwriting the autobiography of a successful immigrant entrepreneur; and interviewing influential figures in UK planning. He believes everyone has a story to tell and specialises in helping them to tell it.

Jennie has a co-design practice. She works with communities in the field of planning and urban design to ensure that local knowledge shapes outcomes. Her work explores the relationships between people and places and uses storytelling to creatively engage communities and imagine future stories. She is a Planner Woman of Influence and currently working with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, leading the research and writing of design guidance for gender inclusion in the borough.

Joe is an author and national newspaper journalist. He is studying for a PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University's Leverhulme Unit for the Design of Cities of the Future and the Centre for Place Writing. His research is a creative writing project involving communities in North-east Manchester to rediscover and re-imagine the city's 'lost' River Irk and influence wider regeneration of the area. Joe is a nature columnist and regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph, and writes for other national publications including The Independent. His books include Stowaway: the disreputable exploits of the rat; Forecast: a diary of the lost seasons; and A Shadow Above: the fall and rise of the raven (all published by Bloomsbury).

Sam is an Associate Planner at AtkinsRéalis with fifteen years’ experience of working in both private sector consultancy and local government as a town planner and project manager. He has led major high profile and complex projects with direct responsibility for delivering through to completion within scope, budget and timeframe. His experience includes securing planning permission for major residential, infrastructure and city/town centre projects across the UK. He has a passion for delivering changes in the built environment that make a difference to local communities.

Alex has over 15 years’ experience working in development and regeneration across the public and private sectors.

As Delivery Director at Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Alex is working to realise the significant growth and development aspirations set out in the Greater Manchester Strategy.  He leads a team of property professionals supporting the Greater Manchester Local Authorities in delivering major projects across the conurbation, leveraging funding and expertise to drive the creation of high-quality places where people want to live and work.