Experience

DHA Planning Group

• United Kingdom
• Architecture and Planning
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Director

  • Sep 2017 - Present

• Associate Director

  • Jan 2016 - Sep 2017

• Associate

  • Jan 2015 - Dec 2015

• Senior Transport Planner

  • May 2014 - Jan 2015



Kent County Council

• United Kingdom
• Government Administration
• 700 & Above Employee

• Strategic Transport and Development Planner

  • Oct 2011 - May 2014

  I held a senior position within KCC's Development Planning Team, managing a team of three people providing professional advice on the transportion aspects of planning applications. I led for KCC on strategic transport planning in the Boroughs of Maidstone and Tonbridge and Malling; both of which are experiencing significant levels of housing and employment growth. My role involved the commissioning, management and interpretation of multi-modal transport models to support the preparation of Local Plans and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedules. I was also responsible for the negotiation and delivery of developer-funded transport interventions, including a £10 million Quality Bus Corridor incorporating South East England's first Statutory Quality Bus Partnership Scheme (SQPS) and a new bus/rail interchange. I acted as an expert witness for KCC in planning inquiries and supported Maidstone Borough Council in the preparation of its forthcoming Park and Ride Strategy.

• Transport Planner

  • Apr 2010 - Sep 2011

  Working within KCC's Transport Policy Team, I played a leading role in the preparation and delivery of the County Council's transport strategies. I co-authored Growth without Gridlock: a Transport Delivery Plan for Kent which sets out a bold and innovative approach to the delivery of strategic transport infrastructure, including a Lower Thames Crossing and a Manston Airport Parkway Station, and was formally presented to the Secretary of State for Transport. I also prepared the third Local Transport Plan for Kent (2011-16), which involved the development of a robust value for money methodology for the assessment and prioritisation of local transport capital schemes, and supported the production of the Rail Action Plan for Kent, which sets out KCC's prioriites for the new Integrated Kent Franchise and Network Rail Control Period 5. The preparation of each of these strategies was subject to full public consultation and close working with elected Members. I was also responsible for the coordination and submission of external funding bids for transport infrastructure projects. Examples included the the development of a successful £5 million bid to the Government's Regional Growth Fund for a rail journey time improvement scheme in a deprived area of East Kent. This involved the management of a team of external consultants, along with commercial negotiations with private sector partners and liaison with stakeholders and politicians, to challenging timescales. I specialised in strategic rail policy and worked closely with Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies to plan and deliver enhancements to Kent's rail network, which includes the UK's first high speed railway.



Department for Transport

• United Kingdom
• Government Administration
• 700 & Above Employee

• Policy Advisor

  • Aug 2009 - Mar 2010

  Whilst on KCC's Graduate Programme, I successfully applied for a six-month secondment (subsequently extended to eight months) to the Department for Transport (DfT)'s Regional and Local Strategy Division. The secondment exposed me to a wide range of responsible and high-profile roles. These included frequent Ministerial briefings; the dissemination of the DfT's statutory Guidance on Local Transport Plans to local authorities in each English Region; and the management of a study into the value for money of local transport capital investment on behalf of HM Treasury, which played an influential role in the Coalition Government's decision to preserve these funding streams in the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review. During my time at the Department I made a number of valuable contacts within central and local government which have proven of great benefit to KCC.

• Graduate Transport and Development Planner

  • Oct 2008 - Jul 2009

  After joining the Transport and Development Stream of KCC's Graduate Programme, I was placed with the Sustainable Transport Team and asked to manage a £1 million ITSO Smartcard Project. This involved the procurement, part-funding and delivery of Smartcard-enabled Electronic Ticket Machines and a back-office management system and the negotiation of related funding agreements with the County's commercial bus operators. I also prepared a successful Kickstart funding bid worth £400,000 to the DfT for the pump-priming of enhanced bus services linking Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells with the new Pembury Hospital in West Kent.