The Regional Activities Committee provides a wide range of services to members throughout the East of England.
Activities we organise and are involved with include:
- CPD training events
- Regional Awards for Planning Excellence
- Research
- Social events such as spa days and 5-a-side
- Networking events and dinners
- Activities for young professionals
- Careers advise and competitions
For further information on any of the above meetings, contact your Regional Co-ordinator Fiona Fowell by email at [email protected]
From 1 January 2023, we look forward to welcoming Errin Marshall, Graduate Planner at Savills, to the committee.
The 2023 RAC Members are:
Regional Activities Committee
Anthony Collier
Regional Chairman
Anthony Collier
Regional Chairman
Anthony works with Hertfordshire County Council through WSP, specialising in transport and strategic planning. Anthony has a background and interest in healthy and active travel and now brings that to his work on infrastructure planning, settlement strategies and site masterplans.
Anthony regularly presents at Hertfordshire University, supporting their growing transport and planning courses.
David Ames
Regional immediate past Chair
David Ames
Regional immediate past Chair
David is currently Executive Director for Stewardship & Development at Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, the community benefit society that owns the freehold of the Letchworth Garden City Estate, reinvesting surplus from its main property portfolio back into the community through its charitable commitments. This is the successor organisation to Ebenezer Howard’s First Garden City Ltd, which developed Letchworth in the early 1900s. He has worked in planning for 32 years, in both the public and private sectors, including within Planning Departments at Broxbourne (whilst studying on a part-time basis at South Bank University), Welwyn Hatfield and South Cambridgeshire District Councils. He was Planning Manager at Linden Homes (Chiltern) and an Associate Director of Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners before running his practice for five years.
David is a regular speaker on garden cities in the UK and internationally and a guest planning lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. He has worked on various development schemes, including town centre regeneration, urban expansions, commercial development and many housing developments. In his current role, David is responsible for the regeneration of Letchworth Town Centre, the Foundation’s housing, environmental and sustainability strategies and the first expansion of Letchworth since the 1980s.
Adam Banham
Regional Hon. Secretary
Adam Banham
Regional Hon. Secretary
Adam has been a member of the East of England Regional Activities Committee since 2012, and has served as regional chair in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 he will be representing the region as a member of the RTPI’s General Assembly. Adam lives in Norfolk, works as a local authority planner, and is currently focused on preparation of the Greater Norwich Local Plan.
John Dagg
Barrister
John Dagg
Barrister
John is a barrister, specialising in planning and property, having qualified initially as a town planner . He studied at Durham and Liverpool Universities and worked for City, County and Borough Authorities on both development plans and development management before joining the Bar. He attended the Inns of Court School of Law and trained in London Chambers. He practised for many years in London before joining Trinity Chambers , Chelmsford .
He has undertaken a wide variety of planning and related cases for planning authorities, parish councils, residents' groups, trading firms , universities , schools , churches and individuals. Much of his work is in the East of England and London. Recently it has included
some major residential appeal inquiries ,enforcement appeals , local plan examinations and appearances in the Magistrates' and Crown Courts , the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
For several years he has been a member of the East of England RTPI Regional Activities Committee and has organised the Region's annual planning law update conference in Cambridge.
David Carlisle
Associate Director at AECOM
David Carlisle
Associate Director at AECOM
David Carlisle is an Associate Director at AECOM where he specialises in plan making and planning for large-scale new communities providing support to: developers; Local Planning Authorities; and neighbourhood planning groups. He works collaboratively with Government departments and non-departmental public bodies on site promotion, viability and green/blue infrastructure projects. Prior to joining AECOM, he was a member of Croydon’s spatial planning team (2006 – 2012) and worked on the Local Plan from inception through to adoption. David helps supporting employees through the Assessment of Professional Competence and contributes to Continuing Professional Development activities.
Peter Geraghty
Hertsmere Borough Council
Peter Geraghty
Hertsmere Borough Council
Currently Executive Director at Hertsmere Borough Council. Peter is an as experienced practitioner having worked across all sectors – private, public and voluntary. He has over thirty years’ experience working in the fields of planning and development. Peter has held senior leadership roles in several local authorities including at Southend on Sea Borough Council, where he was Director of Planning and Transport. Peter was also Chief Planning Officer for Brentwood Borough Council in Essex and Head of Planning and Conservation at Broadland District Council in Norfolk where he had responsibility for managing the authority’s planning service and advising on major development proposals.
Phil Grant
Axis
Phil Grant
Axis
Wendy Hague
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council
Wendy Hague
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council
Wendy has been a member of the EoE RAC since 2006 and served as Regional Chair in 2017. Wendy lives in Cambridgeshire and has worked in Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire as a local authority planner and as a consultant.
Beverly McClean
Suffolk County Council
Beverly McClean
Suffolk County Council
Lee Melin
Lee Melin
Lee is a Chartered Town Planner with more than 25 years’ experience, the majority of which has been gained in planning consultancy in London and the East of England. He is currently employed as a Planning Manager for regional house builder, Hill, working across their portfolio of projects. Lee has been a member of the Regional Activities Committee since 2015 and is the serving Honorary Secretary of the East of England branch.
Robert Purton
David Lock Associates (Co-opt)
Robert Purton
David Lock Associates (Co-opt)
A recognised expert in his field with over 30 years of development experience. He has been bi-annually elected on to the East of England Regional Royal Town Planning Institute’s Management Board since 1995. After graduating from Oxford Polytechnic’s planning school Robert worked in both West Berkshire and then the City and District of St Albans Councils. Robert is a Director at David Lock Associates where for the last 21 years he has advised on the provision of strategies to deliver implementable industrial and commercial planning permissions. This work extends from regional promotion, resolving site specific constraints – such as contamination, co-ordinating projects teams, negotiating planning obligations and advising on the implementation of schemes. Much of his work involves delivering logistics, power, energy, data centres and both large scale City centre office and health care facilities.
Sam Metson
Bidwells
Sam Metson
Bidwells
Graham Bloomfield
William H Brown
Graham Bloomfield
William H Brown
Graham is Land & Planning Partner for William H Brown, heading up their Land & Planning service for clients and landowners. He has been employed in planning since 2003 with significant experience comprising local authority, consultancy, regeneration, housebuilder and developer roles, becoming a Chartered Planner in 2010. Graham was formerly the Young Planners’ Representative for RTPI East of England and has been a Member of the RAC since 2013. He has a particular interest in the APC process having been an Assessor since 2011 and sitting on the APC Advisory Board from its original inception in 2012 until 2015. He re-joined the panel in its new form as MAAP in 2020 and also provides APC training events on a regional and national basis.
John Sturzaker
Ebenezer Howard Professor of Planning at the University of Hertfordshire
John Sturzaker
Ebenezer Howard Professor of Planning at the University of Hertfordshire
As of April 2021 John will be the Ebenezer Howard Professor of Planning at the University of Hertfordshire. John has a background including experience in planning practice and academia, having worked initially in planning policy in the North East of England before studying for a PhD on rural affordable housing. From 2010 he worked at the University of Liverpool, his research and teaching focussing on rural planning & housing and neighbourhood/community planning. John was elected as a Fellow of the RTPI in 2019.
Daniel G. Wilson
Crest Nicholson (Eastern)
Daniel G. Wilson
Crest Nicholson (Eastern)
“Dan is a Chartered Town Planner who specialises in delivering sustainable developments that transform places and leave a positive lasting impact on local communities through holistic, inclusive growth. Dan is experienced in delivering strategic urban extensions, a brand-new garden village, urban regeneration schemes, student accommodation, hotels, and more. Since graduating from Cardiff University (MSc in International Planning and Development), Dan has gained over 8 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. Dan is currently a Planning Manager at Crest Nicholson PLC, where he manages every aspect of planning in the Eastern region.
Dan previously sat on both the RTPI West Midlands Regional Activities Committee and RTPI West Midlands Ball Committee. He also served as Junior Vice-Chair, Vice-Chair and in 2020 was Chair of the RTPI West Midlands Young Planners Committee. That same year, Dan won the RTPI West Midlands Young Planner of the year award and, in 2021, was highly commended by the judges in the national Young Planner of the year awards. In a previous life, Dan was President of a Students’ Union and Regional Chairman of the Commonwealth Student Association (Caribbean Chapter).”
Bethany Jones
Young Planner Chair
Bethany Jones
Young Planner Chair
Beth is a Planning Policy Officer at Colchester Borough Council, assisting in the delivery of the Colchester Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans across the Borough. She graduated from the University of Coventry in 2015 with a BSc in Geography and Natural Hazards. Beth began her planning career in Minerals and Waste Planning Policy at Essex County Council in September 2015 and enrolled on the MSc in Town Planning at Anglian Ruskin University straight away. Having graduated in 2018, Beth then undertook a different role at Essex County Council, as a Development and Flood Risk Officer.
Following a renewed interest in planning policy through completing her master’s dissertation, Beth joined the Planning Policy Team at Colchester Borough Council in summer 2018. Through her role at Essex, Beth has developed two areas of specialism within planning and is keen to encourage more planners to explore Sustainable Urban Drainage. Particularly in our changing climate, SUDs can play a key role improving design quality and providing multi-functional open spaces. Outside of work, Beth is a keen traveller with most recent visits being Bali and Prague. Although not an active sports player herself, Beth enjoys watching and supporting a range of sports including Norwich City FC and the England Roses Netball teams.
Student/Licentiate Members
Alexia Kallini
Hertsmere Borough Council
Alexia Kallini
Hertsmere Borough Council
Alexia Kallini is a Planning Officer at Hertsmere Borough Council, focusing on development management. Following her undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering in Greece, Alexia attended the City Planning, MSc at the University of Glasgow (2019-2020) and served as the Student Representative for RTPI West of Scotland until December 2020. Alexia has a passion for urban conservation and the historic environment.
Errin Marshall
Savills & RTPI East of England Young Planner Vice Chair
Errin Marshall
Savills & RTPI East of England Young Planner Vice Chair
Errin is a Graduate Planner at Savills in their Cambridge office. Having graduated from Queen’s University of Belfast in 2020, Errin joined the RTPI Masters Apprenticeship scheme at Savills and is currently working towards her chartered membership status.