Speaker biographies

Trevor Beattie, Corporate Director, Strategy, Policy, Performance and Research, Homes and Communities Agency
Trevor Beattie is the Corporate Director for Strategy, Policy, Performance and Research at the Homes and Communities Agency. Previously, Trevor was Head of the HCA Set-up Team, seconded from his role as Director of Corporate Strategy at English Partnerships.

In this earlier capacity he was responsible for English Partnerships’ policy, communications and economics functions, as well as the Advisory Team for Large Applications (ATLAS), the National Consultancy Unit, Spatial Intelligence (GIS) and the Brownfield Team. Trevor delivered the Design for Manufacture Competition on behalf of Ministers and, more recently, he launched the Carbon Challenge. He created the ATLAS team and was for many years responsible for English Partnerships’ National Coalfields Programme. He has twice been English Partnerships’ Regional Director for Southern England.

Trevor joined English Partnerships, at its inception in 1993, having worked on the legislation to create it as a member of the Inner Cities Policy Unit in what was then the Department of the Environment (DoE). He was responsible for DoE’s sponsorship of the London Docklands Development Corporation in the 1980s, was Private Secretary to four successive Ministers for Local Government and Inner Cities and was a member of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Coalfields Task Force.

Kay Boycott, Director of Communications, Policy and Campaigns, Shelter
Kay is Director of Communications, Policy and Campaigns at Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity. Kay joined Shelter from the world of strategic brand management in February 2009. She has almost 20 years experience in brand marketing, communications, research and strategy consultancy in the global public and private sectors.

During her career she has worked on global brands for companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé and Johnson & Johnson. Kay also has extensive public sector experience, and was a Non-Executive Director of Hammersmith & Fulham PCT for the past five years.

Celia Carrington, Deputy Chief Executive and Group Director, Environment and Regeneration and Community, Swindon Borough Council
Celia Carrington is Deputy Chief Executive and Group Director, Environment, Regeneration and Community at Swindon Borough Council. She is responsible for overseeing Swindon's long term growth and the regeneration of the town centre. Prior to joining the local government world in September 2003, Celia worked for the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the Government Office for the South West, where she held a number of different posts including, Director for Local Government, Housing, Planning and Neighbourhood Renewal. Celia began her Civil Service career in the Diplomatic Service and spent five years in a range of posts including a two year posting to Venezuela.
Celia is an independent member of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s planning committee.

On 13 May 2010 Greg Clark MP was appointed Minister of State at Communities and Local Government.
Greg Clark was born in Middlesbrough and studied Economics at Cambridge University before being awarded his PhD at the London School of Economics. He was Director of Policy for the Conservative Party from March 2001 for three successive Leaders; William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, before being elected to Parliament in 2005. He was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in October 2008, having previously been Shadow Minister for Charities, Social Enterprises and Volunteering. Shadow Minister for Teesside since 2006, Greg Clark has also authored the book, Total Politics, looking at the decentralisation of political power.

Councillor Nick Cuff, Chairman of Regeneration, London Borough of Wandsworth
Nick is both a trained town planner having studied at the Bartlett, University College London and a sitting London Councillor. Before joining the City and East London Planning team at CB Richard Ellis, Nick spent over 5 years working in political lobbying and media relations including as a Shadow Ministerial adviser to the Conservative Front Bench.

In 2006, he was elected to the London Borough of Wandsworth where he sat on the Planning Applications Committee dealing with major schemes. He currently chairs the Borough’s Regeneration Committee and was responsible for the 2010 Wandsworth Conservative Manifesto. Nick has published several pamphlets over the last three years including most recently a paper on town planning reform for the Bow Group think tank. He is regularly writes and is quoted in the property and local government press.

Hugh Ellis, Chief Planner, Town and Country Planning Association
Hugh Ellis was appointed Chief Planner at the Town and Country Planning Association in March 2009. Prior to this, Hugh was National Planning Advisor to Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 2000. He holds a Diploma in Town Planning, a Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) in Urban Studies and a Doctorate in land use planning from the University of Sheffield. After spending a number of years working for the Coalfield Planning Co-operative on community planning projects Hugh took up a teaching and research post at the University of Sheffield where his key interests where sustainable development and community participation.

In 2006 Hugh co-authored the joint publication on the case for a Planning Policy Statement on climate change and worked on secondment to the Department of Communities and Local Government in the early development process of the current PPS 1 Supplement on Climate Change. His role in Friends of the Earth UK led to close involvement with the development of national policy including PPS 1, 4, 6, 9 and 22. He has also been closely involved in the passage of the 2004 and 2008 Planning Acts, including providing evidence to select committees and working closely with parliamentarians on both the Commons and Lords committee stages of both Bills.

Matthew Farrow, Head of Energy, Transport & Planning, CBI
Matthew is responsible for the CBI’s policy and lobbying work across all these core infrastructure topics. Matthew was the author of the CBI’s 2009 report: Decision time: driving the UK towards a sustainable energy future.

Between 2004 and 2009, Matthew was Head of Energy and Environment at the CBI, covering energy, environmental regulation and climate change policy. Prior to that he spent five years in Glasgow as Head of Policy at CBI Scotland, responsible for all the policy development carried out by CBI Scotland on behalf of its members, including transport, environment, skills and economic development.

Between 1990 and 1999 he worked in a range of policy roles at the CBI’s headquarters in London, including education and training, the growth of smaller firms and tourism.

Paul Finch, Chairman of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
Paul Finch became chairman of CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) in mid-December 2009. He is Programme Director of the World Architecture Festival, and editorial director of the Architectural Review and Architects’ Journal.

Born in London in 1949, he gained a History degree at Selwyn College, Cambridge. Deputy editor, Estates Times from 1976 to 1983. Editor, Building Design, 1983-94. Editor, Architects’ Journal, 1994-1999. Editor, The Architectural Review 2005-2009. A commissioner at CABE and deputy chair, 1999 - 2007. Joint editor, Planning in London since 1994. Honorary FRIBA 1994; Honorary doctorate, University of Westminster, 2004; Honorary fellowship, University College London, 2006; Honorary member, British Council for Offices, 2006.
Paul Finch received an OBE for services to architecture in 2002.

Professor Sir Peter Hall, Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration, University College London

Sir Peter Hall is Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College London. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and has taught at the London School of Economics, the University of Reading and the University of California at Berkeley.

From 1991-94 he was Special Adviser on Strategic Planning to the UK Secretary of State for the Environment, with special reference to Thames Gateway and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. He was a member of the Deputy Prime Minister's Urban Task Force (1998-9), the Expert Advisory Committee to the Barker Review of the planning system (2006) and the Eco-Towns Challenge Panel (2008). In 2009 he co-authored a report on future train stations for the Secretary of State for Transport, and launched SINTROPHER, a €22 million EU programme promoting new transport technologies, particularly tram-trains, to assist European regional development.

He is author, co-author or editor of nearly 40 books on urban and regional planning and related topics, including The World Cities, Urban and Regional Planning, Cities of Tomorrow, Cities in Civilization, Urban Future 21 and The Polycentric Metropolis.

Bruce Knight, FAICP, President of APA
Bruce Knight is Planning Director of Champaign, Illinois, and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. He also has worked as a city planner in Liberty, Missouri, and Iowa City, Iowa, and as a regional planner with the Mid-Iowa Development Association Council of Governments in Fort Dodge Iowa. Knight joined APA in 1980 and became a certified planner in 1985. He was elected to the AICP College of Fellows in 2003. Knight served two terms on the APA Board of Directors from 2000-2008. He served two terms as APA Illinois Chapter President from 1997 to 1999, and served on the Fellows of AICP Task Force and selection committee and the APA Mission Statement Task Force. He also chaired the 2000-2005 National APA Awards Juries. Knight has a B.S. in Urban Planning from Iowa State University and an M.A. in Public Affairs from the University of Iowa.

Jim MacKinnon, Director and Chief Planner, Scottish Executive
Jim was born in Forres in 1952 and educated at Forres Academy. He graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Geography in 1974 followed by a Diploma in Town Planning with Distinction from the University of Strathclyde in 1977.

He joined the former Scottish Office from Motherwell District Council in 1979 and has held a wide variety of posts and responsibilities in planning. He was a member of the UK delegation to the Committee on Spatial Development and was appointed as an expert advisor on the National Spatial Strategy for Ireland.

Following a year as Head of Planning Division in the Scottish Executive he was appointed Chief Planner and Head of Planning and Building Standards Group in November 2000 where he has led the reform of the planning system which includes the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006, the National Planning Framework and a range of measures to promote culture change in planning. In January 2008 he became Director for the Built Environment with responsibility for architecture and place making, building standards and planning. He is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and in November 2008 was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Kevin Murray, Kevin Murray Associates
Kevin is a leading urban planner and community consultation facilitator, with more than 25 years' experience in the fields of planning, regeneration, urban design and economic development. He was a director of two multidisciplinary consultancies before establishing Kevin Murray Associates.

Kevin is a Past President of the Royal Town Planning Institute, a founding member of the Urban Design Alliance and the Academy of Urbanism and a member of the Egan Task Group on Delivering Sustainable Communities. He was an adviser to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) on the Academy for Sustainable Communities.

Cleo Paskal, Associate Fellow at The Royal Institute of International Affairs
Cleo is Associate Fellow, Energy, Environment and Development Programme at The Royal Institute of International Affairs. With expertise in the geopolitical, economic, strategic and security implications of large-scale environmental change, she has won eighteen major awards for published works and wrote a 13-part Emmy-winning documentary TV series.

Cleo’s most recent publication, “Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic, and Political Crises will Redraw the World Map”, looks at how climate change could change borders and/or completely extinguish countries.

Liz Peace, CEO of the British Property Federation
Liz became the CEO of the British Property Federation in 2002, following a long and varied career in the MoD, working on a diverse range of projects from Northern Ireland, to nuclear safety to land acquisitions and public enquiries. In the 1990s she became a key player in the team that set up the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and led the first stage of the privatisation process, including the re-branding of the organisation as QinetiQ plc.

Since her appointment at the BPF she has managed to change the Government’s perception of the commercial property industry, to dissuade the Government from legislating on commercial leases, to win innumerable changes to planning and tax legislation and, working as part of a pan-industry alliance, to persuade the Government to introduce REITs. Most recently Liz played a key role in achieving the abandonment by the Government of their plans for a Planning Gain Supplement. She is currently campaigning for the re-instatement of Empty Property Rates Relief and for other measures that would support the industry through the current downturn.

Liz believes there are still plenty of challenges left, not least reaching agreement with Government on how best to deliver the sustainability agenda, and continuing the BPF’s mission to improve the industry’s standing with politicians, the media and the public at large.

Liz was awarded a CBE in the 2008 New Year Honours list for services to the property industry.

Sir Michael Pitt, Chair, Infrastructure Planning Commission
Mike graduated from University College London with a first class honours degree in Engineering. During the first half of his career he was involved in the planning, design and construction of transport and other infrastructure in this country and abroad, working for the private and public sectors. He has held senior posts in a variety of local authorities, including Director of Property and Director of Technical Services at Humberside. From 1990 to 2005 he was Chief Executive of Cheshire and Kent County Councils.

More recently, he has worked on a wide range of consultancy assignments, including a year long appointment as independent Chair of the Government’s review of the 2007 floods. He has been Chair of a number of other organisations including NHS South West, the GMC’s National Revalidation Programme Board, two companies and a charity.

Alex Plant, Chief Executive, Cambridgeshire Horizons
Alex took up the role of Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire Horizons in early 2008. Cambridgeshire Horizons is the not for profit organisation driving forward the delivery of sustainable new communities in Cambridgeshire. Alex joined Cambridgeshire Horizons from the Government Office for the East of England (GO-East), where he was Deputy Regional Director with particular responsibility for Development and Infrastructure, taking forward the Governments’ growth agenda across the region.

Prior to joining GO-East, Alex was Head of Economic Policy & International Aviation at the Civil Aviation Authority, and before this worked in HM Treasury on various micro-economic policy issues and led for HMT on competition policy throughout the process of reforming the UK competition regime and introducing the 2002 Enterprise Act. He previously held a number of other Whitehall positions, in particular covering elements of tax policy. He is a graduate of Nottingham University and has studied competition and regulation economics at City University, London.

Edwin Poots MLA, Minister of the Environment, Northern Ireland Executive
Edwin Poots MLA was appointed Minister of the Environment in the Northern Ireland Executive on 30 June 2009. He was educated at Wallace High School, Lisburn and Greenmount Agricultural College. He was elected to Lisburn City Council in 1997 and the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998. He is currently Chairman of the following organisations: Lisburn City Centre Management, Lisburn Rural LEADER Group, Lisburn City Council’s Economic Development Committee and the Maze Implementation Panel. In a voluntary capacity he is a youth leader in his local church.

Steve Quartermain, Chief Planner, Communities and Local Government
Steve took up the post of Chief Planner at the Department of Communities and Local Government on 11 August 2008. The Chief Planner’s role is to drive forward planning reform and delivery agenda, work with senior stakeholders – national and local government, the planning profession and across business, environmental and social sectors and to champion planning, and as Head of Profession to be the voice of planning in government. Steve also deals with planning applications of major significance and political sensitivity.

Alexis Robert, Urban Policy Specialist, OECD Urban Development Programme
Alexis Robert is an urban policy specialist with the OECD Urban Development Programme. She co-authored the OECD’s report on Competitive Cities and Climate Change, which identifies key urban policy tools for addressing climate change while promoting regional economic growth.

Her research includes assessments of national spatial planning and land-use policy frameworks within the context of the OECD National Urban Policy Reviews and Metropolitan Reviews series, and analyses of best policy practices for urban sustainability, green growth and multilevel governance. Before joining the OECD, Ms. Robert supported negotiations in the United States to create federal environmental and transportation regulations by consensus, worked in local land-use and housing planning in several counties in California, and supported negotiations on the use of irrigation water in Ecuador.

Ms. Robert holds a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Foreign Languages from Lewis & Clark College.

Rosemary Thomas, Deputy Director, Welsh Assembly Government
Rosemary Thomas was born and educated in N Ireland. She studied Geography, followed by Town and Country Planning, at Queen's University, Belfast. After leaving college, Rosemary worked briefly in the N Ireland Housing Executive, before moving south to work in Ireland. She moved to Wales in 1979 to work in local government before joining the civil service - the former Welsh Office- pre-devolution in 1993. Rosemary has held a range of posts within the public sector, ranging from transport and strategic policy, to special projects and urban regeneration; she has also worked on agricultural and rural policy. She was appointed to her current post, Chief Planner, by the Welsh Assembly Government in 2005.

Rosemary is a Member of both the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and was Chair of the former South Wales Branch of the RTPI.