Chairs and Speakers

After graduating from Portsmouth University, Toby Adam worked in an established practice in Cardiff, where he was responsible for dealing with nationwide leisure clients as well as education projects. He then gained valuable experience at a large multi-disciplinary practice, working for key commercial clients such as BT as well as leading the implementation of specialist health projects.

Toby leads consultant design teams in the “Caring” studio, including working on major projects such as Clevedon Hall, Ilkley and Chalfont Dene – care community projects for older people. He also has experience of stakeholder consultation techniques, and has been involved in exhibitions and community workshops on both strategic land and independent-living projects.

Toby is a Design Review Panellist for the Design Commission for Wales and an accredited RIBA Client Adviser.

Joe is a director and co-founder of a specialist strategic land promotion company called Fraser Strategic Land (www.fraserstrategicland.co.uk) and has his own planning consultancy, Highlight Planning (www.highlightplanning.co.uk). With his land promotion hat on he uses his planning skills to find sustainably located land and progresses it through the planning system so it’s ‘shovel ready’ for developers to build out. Through his planning consultancy, Joe provides a full range of planning services to clients from the early appraisal of sites, engaging with local authorities and undertaking community consultation through to the submission and negotiation of planning applications and appeals. Joe is the vice chair of RTPI Cymru and the RTPI’s Design Champion for Wales.

Mike Biddulph is an urban designer working in the Placemaking Team at Cardiff Council. At the start of his career he worked for Oxford City Council and then lectured about urban design for 23 years at the Universities of both Liverpool and then Cardiff, where he founded and initially directed their MA Urban Design. He maintains a keen interest in how design is dealt with by the UK planning systems, and has published extensively on urban design theory and principles, neighbourhood planning and design, master planning and design coding, various approaches to urban regeneration and renewal, as well as on aspects of street and public realm design. For the last 6 year in Cardiff he has offered advice on the design of all developments, including the significant neighbourhood extensions to the city. Mike is also currently a Commissioner at the Design Commission for Wales.

Dr Andrew Buroni is a Director within the Environment and Infrastructure team at Savills (UK) Ltd, responsible for Health and Social Impact Assessment Services. He has in excess of 22 years of experience of building health within planning and development, with project examples ranging from road, rail and airport infrastructure; national waste and mineral development frameworks; through to new nuclear power stations; windfarms; Local Plans, urban expansion and new town developments. 

Andrew provides clients with specialist advice on potential health, social and wellbeing outcomes, and aids projects in not only managing potential hazards, but drive more health conscientious planning to address existing burdens of poor health and inequality, enhancing healthy urban design, and facilitating health independent living for longer.

Robert is a chartered planner with over 13 years' experience in both the Public and Private Sector. He is a Director at C2J Architects & Town Planners and currently heads up the planning arm of the Cardiff and London offices. He specialises in spatial planning, development management and residential development. Robert has been a member of the Management Board / Executive Committee of RTPI Cymru since 2015, serving as Associate Representative. He has successfully undertaken the Associate Assessment of Professional Competence Route to chartered membership. He lives in Cardiff and outside of work is a keen golfer, rugby enthusiast and enjoys spending time with his young family.

Pete Frost is Natural Resources Wales Urban Green Infrastructure Advisor.  His work is to find ways to ensure there are enough green spaces of the right kinds in the right places to make Wales’ towns and cities better places for people and nature.

Pete introduced the Accessible Natural Greenspace Standards to Wales and was responsible for the development of the toolkit used to assess those standards. He helps local authorities plan for accessible natural green space and encourages people and institutions to manage their gardens for the benefits of pollinators. Pete founded and manages the Wales Green Infrastructure Forum which disseminates best practice and connects green infrastructure professionals across the country.

Pete is a fellow of the UK Urban Ecology Forum and a deputy chair of the IUCN/WCPA Urban Conservation Strategies Specialist Group.

Annabel has acted in a number of leading judicial reviews and planning inquiries of national significance. Clients include major developers and landowners, the UK and Welsh Governments, local authorities, statutory bodies, and individuals.

Annabel is consistently ranked for planning and licensing law in the leading independent directories, Chambers and Partners and Legal 500. She is described as "very commercial", "able to take on a lot of information and extract the key points", "well-reasoned and clear", "very useful and also very quick", able to "turn things around quickly" and as having "a very sharp legal mind" and being "a real asset to her chambers".

Annabel lives in Carmarthenshire in South West Wales and has particular experience of Welsh devolved public law and the planning system in Wales. She is a Councillor of Llandovery Town Council and Mayor for 2018-2019. She is also a Trustee of Prime Cymru, The Prince of Wales' charity for mature enterprise in Wales.

Jen is an experienced urban designer and planner with a particular interest in placemaking. Jen leads on DCFW’s placemaking agenda advising on policy and writing guidance.  Jen is also a co-chair of DCFW’s design review service and also delivers training to the public and private sector and coordinates events.  She has led on the development of guidance for Welsh Government including a Guide to Site and Context Analysis and Design and Access Statements.  Before joining DCFW in 2014 Jen gained more than seven years’ professional experience working at south Wales-based private sector firms, following completion of her degree in City & Regional Planning and her masters in Urban Design at Cardiff University.

Craig Howell Williams QC specialises in planning, environment and related areas of public law. He is acknowledged as one of the leading practitioners in the field and has acted in some of the most high profile cases.

He represents developers and operators, local authorities, third parties and others at public inquiries and in a range of other tribunals. He is regularly involved in large planning/major infrastructure schemes such as proposals for urban extensions, new settlements, airport expansions, new road and rail schemes, and also in employment, leisure, retail and other commercial development projects.

His experience is extensive with versatility across many different kinds of legislative regime, including planning and infrastructure, DCOs and TWA orders, highways, heritage and listed buildings, compulsory purchase and compensation, Wildlife and Countryside legislation and outdoor advertising.

Craig is consistently rated as a leading planning silk in Chambers and Partners Directory and in Legal 500, as well as a top rated planning silk in the Planning Magazine Survey. He was recently described in Chambers and Partners Directory as "a fantastic advocate and adviser. A go-to on planning and CPO matters" and in Legal 500 as "intellectually smart and astute".

Craig was appointed and served as Junior Counsel to the Crown (B Panel) and has since then appeared in a number of significant court cases.

Craig was appointed by the Secretary of State to serve as Lead Assistant Commissioner for the West Midlands region to hold hearings and report into proposals to modify Parliamentary constituency boundaries.

He was appointed by the National Procurement Service for Wales to its first panel of approved counsel to advise and appear for Welsh public sector organisations.  

Craig is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator and a RICS Accredited Evaluative Mediator, a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the RICS President's Mediation Panel. He was also appointed to serve on the first DCLG's Planning Mediation Services Panel.

Julie James was born in Swansea but spent significant portions of her youth living around the world with her family. Julie spent her early career in London and then moved back to Swansea with her husband to raise their 3 children and to be closer to her family. Julie is a committed green campaigner, environmentalist and a keen swimmer and skier.

Until she was elected as Assembly Member for Swansea West, Julie was a leading environmental and constitutional lawyer. Prior to this, she was assistant chief executive at Swansea Council. She spent most of her legal career in local government, working as a policy lawyer with the London Borough of Camden before returning to Swansea to work for West Glamorgan County Council and then the City and County of Swansea.

Since being elected Julie sat on the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, Enterprise and Business Committee and Environment and Sustainability Committee. Julie published the ‘Influencing the Modernisation of EU Procurement Policy’ Report as Chair of the Enterprise and Business Committee’s Procurement Task and Finish Group. Julie also sat as Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee’s Common Fisheries Policy Task and Finished Group.

Julie James was appointed Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology in September 2014. In May 2016 Julie was appointed as Minister for Skills and Science. Julie was appointed Leader of the House and Chief Whip on 3 November 2017. In 2018 Julie was appointed Minister for Housing and Local Government and in 2021 was appointed as the new Minister for Climate Change.

Emyr was called in 1999 and practised in Cardiff until joining FTB in 2018. Before coming to the Bar he took a first in PPE at Jesus College, Oxford and was a lecturer at Keble College whilst undertaking research in political philosophy. He has been recommended for planning and chancery work in Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 for many years. Appointed to the Welsh Government's panel in 2013 he has a thorough knowledge of Welsh planning law and policy, and of Welsh law in general, and is the current editor of the Wales section of the Green Book.

His main areas of interest are:

• Infrastructure
• Environment
• Local Government
• Planning
• Compulsory Purchase and Compensation
• Public Law
• Property and Chancery Litigation

Peter Kraftl is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Birmingham, UK. His research focuses on children and young people's everyday lives - from their experiences of living in master-planned urban developments in the UK, to the planning of educational spaces for young people, to their interactions with and learning about environmental processes and resources, such as food, water, energy and plastic pollution. He has published 10 books and over 100 journal articles and book chapters on these topics. For the past decade, with Sophie Hadfield-Hill, he has worked with UN-Habitat, Homes England, the RTPI and several Local Authorities to ensure children's voices and experiences are considered in the planning of new urban places. He currently co-leads projects about children & treescapes and young people's (post-)Covid resilience in urban places. He is also an executive member and Children, Young People and Families co-lead for the NIHR School for Public Health Research.

Dr Rachel Lee is Policy and Research Manager at Living Streets, the national charity for everyday walking. She joined the organisation in 2012 from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. She has led on a number of key reports, such as Street Management and Maintenance, The Pedestrian Pound, and Overcoming Barriers and Identifying Opportunities for Everyday Walking. As well as having presented evidence on the impact of pavement parking and e-scooters to the Transport Select Committee, she represents Living Streets externally in coalitions, expert groups and in the media on a wide range of issues, from air quality, active travel, EV charging infrastructure, health, planning to road safety.

Atefeh is a strategic planner at Atkins and co-founder of ‘Neurodiversity in Planning’. Atefeh’s passion for inclusivity and accessibility of urban opportunities and the wealth of knowledge she has gained through her planning career and her lived experience as a neurodivergent individual motivates her to promote neuro-inclusive place-making. Atefeh is interested in sensory landscaping and biophilic design that can improve everyone’s experience and participation in the built environment and help achieve high-quality sustainable developments.  

Tom is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine with the Cardiff and Vale local public health team. He trained as a doctor in Cambridge and London, and in public health in Oxford.  Tom is passionate about making transport systems work for people, to improve physical health and mental wellbeing, reduce inequalities, improve social cohesion and air quality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Tom worked with Cardiff Council to develop a Clean Air Plan for the city, and on their transport vision to revolutionise how people get around the City. He has led the development of the Healthy Travel Charters, which are rolling out across organisations in Wales, with over 50 leading public and private sector organisations now signed up. Organisations signing a Charter commit to 15 actions to make walking, cycling and taking public transport easier for their staff and visitors, and support the switch to electric vehicles.

Cheryl Williams is a Principal Public Health Specialist in Public Health Wales. She is currently undertaking a secondment with the Wales Health Impact Assessment Support Unit (WHIASU), working across Wales on spatial planning and health. This includes the development and support to use a range of tools and resources to facilitate joint working between planners and health professionals. Early in her career Cheryl worked as a town planner, in Coventry City Council and Cardiff Council, having initially qualified in planning before having a career change and moving into public health.