Two longstanding RTPI members, Professor Tony Crook, CBE FAcSS FRTPI and Maria Dunn BSc (Hons) MA MRTPI, have been recognised for their outstanding service to the institute at the RTPI’s General Assembly meeting on Wednesday 13 October.
The award is presented to RTPI members who have shown sustained and outstanding service to the institute. It is given to subject matter experts who help elevate, mentor and inspire others and whose work has made a lasting and positive impact on the profession.
Maria was nominated by Stephanie Eastwood, East Midlands Chair. She is a chartered Town Planner with over 15 years’ experience in local government and is currently Head of Development Policy at Birmingham City Council. She was awarded the RTPI West Midlands Young Planner of the Year Award in 2013 and was shortlisted for the National Young Planner of the Year Award in 2014 and featured on The Planner’s Women of Influence list in 2019. Maria has been a Planning Aid Volunteer since 2005, and a member of the West Midlands Regional Activities Committee since 2013.
Speaking at the General Assembly, Maria said: ‘I am incredibly honoured and absolutely delighted to have received the RTPI’s Outstanding Service Award. I have thoroughly enjoyed volunteering for the RTPI in a number of roles over the last 15 years. It has provided me with an excellent opportunity to gain new skills and knowledge and contribute to shaping the future of the planning profession, and more recently, the opportunity to help young planners establish their own careers. I am especially grateful to my colleagues, in the Region and nationally, for the support that they have given and I look forward to continuing my voluntary work with the RTPI.”
Tony was nominated by Sue Bridge, Chair of the Board of Trustees. He is Emeritus Professor of Town & Regional Planning at The University of Sheffield where he was also previously Pro-Vice Chancellor. His research covers private rented housing and planning obligations. His latest book ‘Planning Gain’: (Wiley Blackwell) won the RTPI Research Excellence Award in 2016. In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and was appointed CBE in the 2014 New Year Honours.
Speaking about his award Tony said: “I am delighted to receive this honour. To be acknowledged in this way by my professional institute means a lot to me. And to receive it from an alumna of the university where I served as Deputy Vice Chancellor has brought a real poignancy to the occasion. I came into planning to make a difference, believing that planning could help make societies more socially just, ones that were economically competitive, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable. The award will take pride of place in my study at home." You can read Tony's full acceptance speech here.
