Regional Management Board

Laura is a Senior Planner at Gillings Planning with experience in the public, private and third sector. Laura has been involved with the RTPI since she was a student member in various roles including the Young Planner Trustee and Chair of the South Coast Young Planners Network.  Laura was awarded RTPI South East Young Planner of the Year in 2019 and featured on the Woman of Influence list for 2022.

Laura’s experience includes projects in the education, residential and care sectors. Laura enjoys running public consultation events and connecting with future generations with planning through school and university talks. Outside of work Laura runs a Brownie unit, where she goes by the name of Flamingo, loves reading, podcasts and enjoys long walks… especially when they end at the pub!

Simon is a Senior Planning Officer and has gained his planning experience in central and local Government. He has focused on developing national and local planning policy, especially on retail, transport and infrastructure matters. Simon is a Chartered member of the RTPI and has been involved with the RTPI South East since 2018. He also supports the Kent Young Planners Network and has been a Steering Group member since July 2017. Simon takes a keen interest in infrastructure policy as well as issues surrounding community engagement in the plan-making process and promoting town planning as a profession. 

Jayanand is an Associate member of RTPI and an elected General Assembly member. He also represents the International committee of the RTPI. He has a Master’s degree in Built Environment and a Prince 2 qualification. Jayanand volunteered with Planning Aid England dealing with neighbourhood planning. In addition, he worked with a European funded organisation offering voluntary service for the construction sector. He has worked on numerous residential projects, both large and small in commercial and various other sectors. His skills have been considerably enhanced by working on a large number of diverse projects in the U.K.

Joney (pronounced ‘Honey’) is a Chartered planner and a Principal planner at RPS. She is originally from Venezuela, where she obtained a town planning degree and worked as a planner for 3 years. In 2012 she moved to the UK and worked as a planning officer in policy and DM on different LPAs in London and the South East. She specialises in residential, commercial and leisure developments and enjoys spending time with her partner, her baby and her 2 dogs, as well as singing in a choir. She volunteers with Bookmark, a charity that helps children improve their reading abilities.

Will joined South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils as a Senior Planing office in November 2020. His previous roles was as a Senior Planner at Edgars since January 2018. Will has experience of plan making in Yorkshire and the South east. Before joining Edgars, he worked for an Oxfordshire local planning authority and also has several years' experience of working privately and as a researcher. He is a specialist in Neighbourhood Planning and recently achieved a PhD in urban governance with a focus on Localism. Will achieved his master's degree in Town and Regional Planning from Leeds Beckett University in 2012 and is a member of the RTPI South East regional committee. He has been published in several journals and books.

Claire has been a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute since 1992 working in local government planning (development management and policy), including as the Head of Planning at Mid Sussex District Council from 2008-2016.  She then started her own consultancy Plan4Localism and also advised the High Weald AONB Partnership for 6 years. In 2022, she joined the South Downs National Park Authority and is now the Planning Policy Manager leading on the review of the South Downs Local Plan and the minerals and waste plans that they produced jointly with other LPAs in Sussex and Hampshire.