I am passionate about our shared human environment, and I’m keen to ensure that as a society we create a beautiful and sustainable built environment, that promotes wellbeing and facilitates prosperity.

Born to be a planner…
I grew up in a beautiful small village on the banks of the Thames at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. My interest in how we manage the human environment was piqued at a very young age when a new landowner tried to block the public footpath that crossed his land and was our only access to the riverbank. A public enquiry ensued in which many villagers collaborated to prove that this footpath had been in constant use from time immemorial; our footpath was saved! This process generated many documents that were eventually passed to me as scrap paper for drawing on the blank side; but I was far more interested in the text, photographs and most importantly maps that had been used as evidence.

Because of this experience, I knew when I was in primary school that I wanted to be either a planner or cartographer when I grew up. I loved maps and started to amass a significant collection from the age of 7 onwards. I used to trace copies of my maps and then draw in new roads, buildings, and parks. I always excelled at geography and did my GCSE work experience in the planning department at South Oxfordshire District Council.

Becoming a public sector planner…
My career preferences remained intact throughout my schooling. At age 17, by which time I found myself living on the Antrim Coast, I was obviously thinking about my next steps for when I left school; by surprisingly lucky chance the Northern Ireland Civil Service advertised positions for both trainee cartographers in the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland and trainee planners in the Town and Country Planning Service. I eagerly applied for both, got interviews for both, and was then offered both. I had to choose one! I decided I would rather influence development as a planner than just record it as a cartographer.

I worked in public sector planning for over 25 years, working my way up from trainee planning assistant to senior planner. I gained experience across a range of specialisms including development plan preparation, policy formulation, development management (determining planning applications), planning enforcement, and urban regeneration. I found the low priority given to producing creative, proactive and up-to-date plans incredibly frustrating. I was always bursting with creativity but was unable to share or publish my ideas; I felt handicapped by being on the inside and consequently silenced. Eventually it became soul destroying and I felt I had no option but to leave.

Enhancing my skills…
In the years since leaving the public sector, I have done some interesting and enjoyable freelance planning work, and gained valuable experience in the geospatial industry (geographic information systems/ science) in both the voluntary and private sectors.

Looking to the future…
I have now reached a stage in my career where I would really like to use my skills and experience to make a difference to people’s lives. I believe the best way I can do this is to help communities engage with the planning system to demand better built environment outcomes for the places where they work, rest, and play.