Planning for Wellbeing

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.

"Josephine is the housing and health lead for the Department of Health and Social Care.

Her role is principally concerned with national government policy which aims to improve the quality of new and existing housing, with a particular focus on health.

Her role includes building workforce capabilities in relation to the health risks of poor quality housing and the strategies and design considerations needed to improve the quality of new and existing homes. She also collaborates on research projects related to housing design and retrofit and is part of the Design Council's expert network."

Isaac joined Lichfields in June 2021 after graduating with a First-Class Honours degree in Economics from the University of Sheffield. He has worked on a wide range of projects since joining Lichfields, including impact assessments, socio-economic studies and market analysis.

Isaac also has significant experience in developing bespoke toolkits, having led on the technical design and development of Lichfields’ Healthier toolkit - a comprehensive analytical tool that assesses the health impacts of new development. Most recently, he has completed Health Impact Assessments across a range of large-scale housing, commercial and industrial projects. He has a particular interest in the relationship between economic development and renewable energy, and has advised on a number of major solar and battery developments, including the proposed UK’s largest battery storage facility.

I am a Planner by profession specialising in health and all things sustainability. Working in the Spatial Planning Team at Gateshead Council I have been fortunate to be able to spread my professional wings in multiple ways, most recently undertaking my Masters in Public Health giving me a fresh perspective on how planners can do more.

I have worked in Public Health in a number of different roles. I am currently working in Gateshead Council’s Public Health team on the area of healthy weight and wider determinants. My interest lies in looking at further opportunities for public health and planning to work together to support the development of health-enhancing environments for our communities.

Ruth works within the Technical Services part of Homes England and provides high quality professional technical advice which adds value to Homes England’s projects and strategic/thematic work; inspiring and equipping others through the sharing of guidance, knowledge and promoting best practice and innovation. In particular, Ruth advises on planning, design, sustainability and regeneration issues. She has been involved in a wide variety of project work providing an advisory service to both internal and external clients, as well as contributing to best practice, running training events and seminars including many community participation events. Ruth has led a wide range of masterplanning and planning exercises for both large and small scale development projects. She has considerable experience of projects involving partnership working and multi-agency collaboration, together with the management of consultants, tendering and tender evaluation plus negotiating with developers on design, layouts and sustainability.

Ellen is a chartered planner with experience in local and central government. She joined Active Travel England as a Planning Policy Manager in 2023, leading the planning policy team and working on a wide range of projects, including pilot schemes to explore the role Active Travel England could play in supporting local-plan development.

Before this, she worked in the Planning and Infrastructure team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and as a Planning Advisor at Natural England. She also gained experience working in housing strategy, and planning policy and implementation at local authorities. Ellen has completed a PhD in Spatial Planning.

Helen, BA hons, MTP, RTPI, has worked in planning for over 20 years in a range of public sector organisations. Beginning her career in planning policy roles the East of England, including working for The Broads National Park. Following a move north she joined Sport England in ‘planning’ the Olympic Legacy, then a stint working for a Local Planning Authority in development management, before joining Active Travel England in March 2023. And because there is always more to life, Helen is also a qualified cycle instructor and an assistant scout leader, who is passionate about giving young people the skills and confidence to enjoy the great outdoors.

Rosalie has been involved in campaigns and research promoting healthy and sustainable communities for over twenty years. She is Policy and Project Manager at the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), focusing on the Healthy Homes campaign, as well as supporting local authorities to integrate healthy placemaking policies into local plans and design codes. She is also a visiting fellow with the University of Bristol on 'Tackling the Root causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development' (TRUUD) - a five-year research project funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership. Rosalie is a full member of CIEEM, affiliate RTPI member, a qualified 'Building with Nature' assessor and 'BREEAM Communities' assessor.