News Release : 18 April 2001

APPOINTMENTS TO THE NEW SPATIAL PLANNING TEAM

The South East England Regional Assembly is pleased to announce the first group of appointments to its new spatial planning team. Ray Bowers has been appointed Head of Spatial Planning and he will be supported by three Regional Planners. The team will complement the small Transport team, headed by Martin Tugwell, which is already in post and preparing the new Regional Transport Strategy. "Paul Bevan and I are delighted that we have been able to find such good quality candidates to create the new team. With their varied but complementary experience, they will soon make a valuable contribution. Alison has already joined us and the others will arrive in May," said Mike Gwilliam, Regional Planning and Transport Director. "We intend to make further appointments later in the year". Further information about the new members of the team are contained in the notes to this release. For additional information, contact Mike Gwilliam.

Notes to Editors:

1. Please find attached the biographical details mentioned above, with photographs.
2. The South East England Regional Assembly was set up in January 1999 to provide a voice for the region's eight million people, both in the UK and Europe. The Assembly covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire and Surrey. It has 111 members, including elected councillors nominated by 74 local authorities, and 37 members from other sectors of the community including social, environmental and economic partners.
3. The Assembly meets in full three times a year, and an Executive Committee of 27 meets eight times each year. All of these meetings are open to the public.
4. The Assembly took over the role of Regional Planning Body on 1 April 2001, when SERPLAN ceased to exist.

Ray Bowers The Assembly's new Head of Spatial Planning, has over 30 years experience of planning in both the public and private sectors, and especially at regional and strategic levels. He worked for 5 years for Babtie, the planning and transport consultant, and for two London Boroughs, Surrey County Council and Berkshire County Council. His most recent appointment prior to joining the Regional Assembly was as the Planning and Transport Manager for West Berkshire Council, a unitary authority. Ray also contributed extensively to the work of SERPLAN, and chaired its economic working group.
Alison Bailey A chartered town planner who has spent the last ten years working with SERPLAN. During that time the main focus of her work was housing, demography and related topics. Most recently these included the review of Regional Planning Guidance for the South East and related studies of housing capability, urban capacity, affordable housing, and the relationship between households and dwellings. She has recently successfully established a framework for monitoring housing supply. Alison will continue to work on housing and demography for the Assembly.
David Payne He holds an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning and spent the first part of his career with the RSPB in the North West, South West and latterly in South East England as a Conservation Officer. Since 1999 he has been Regional Government Liaison Officer with the Environment Agency, and was seconded to the Regional Assembly as part of this role, helping embed sustainable development into policy and practice, leading the drafting of the Assembly's new Sustainable Development Framework.
John Pounder A chartered town planner who began his career in local government at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. He has spent the last four years at ECOTEC where he has undertaken research and consultancy for a wide range of clients including the European Commission, DETR, Government Regional Offices and local authorities. This work has included environmental appraisal, the role of planning in the development of economic clusters and research on good practice on the managed release of housing sites.

Contact

Lesley van Dijk, PR Executive - 01483 555223

Alex Butlin, PR Executive - 01483 555221

Notes to editors:

1. The Regional Assembly is the “voluntary regional chamber” for the South East. It was established in January 1999 to give a representative voice to the South East region which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.
   
   
2. The Assembly is made up of 111 members including elected councillors nominated by the region’s local authorities and 37 representatives from other sectors of the community (including business, trades unions, education, housing, health, sports, culture, tourism, faith groups, environmental, community and voluntary organisations).
   
   
3. The Assembly has three areas of core business:
1. It is the representative voice of the South East, engaging and representing its member organisations and, through them, the wider public.
   
   
2. The Assembly has a specific role under the Regional Development Agencies' Act 1998 to ensure the accountability of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to the region.
   
   
3. The Assembly has been the Regional Planning Body for the South East since April 2001. It has responsibility for proposing strategic planning and transport policies to Government.

Last updated: 21 August 2007