Lydia Clarkson has more than 25 years experience in the built environment having worked in local government, real estate, BIDs and most recently as a public realm advisory consultant.

In her role at City of Westminster, she was responsible for West End actions plans in Covent Garden and Soho, following which she became Head of Public Realm and Policy for Shaftesbury Plc delivering more than £10m of investment in public realm across the West End. She currently works in two roles as Head of Placemaking for Central District Alliance BID and an Associate Director for Momentum Transport Consultancy.

Lydia is also the Chair of the West End Streets Group for Business LDN which meets quarterly to champion the delivery of landmark public realm schemes in the heart of the capital.

Ben Clifford is Professor of Spatial Planning and Governance at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. Ben’s research and teaching focus centrally on the reform, operation and outputs of the statutory planning system in the UK, including having considered issues of devolution, policy implementation, infrastructure delivery, local authority housing delivery, deregulation and housing quality, outsourcing and professionalism in planning. Ben has been widely published including five books relating to his research and currently leads a large multi-disciplinary research project looking at the health and wellbeing impacts of permitted development housing. At the Bartlett, Ben is also the Programme Director for the MSc Spatial Planning and MSc Spatial Planning Degree Apprenticeship courses. Ben has held a visiting position at the University of Melbourne and is a member of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Peer Review College.

Jennie is Head of ESG and Sustainability at Landsec, leading the implementation of the sustainability strategy across the company’s £11bn portfolio.

A 20-year veteran of corporate sustainability, Jennie has helped companies translate ESG opportunities and challenges into actionable advice and real results. Jennie’s roles have been varied, from Responsible Business Director at Capita to sustainability roles at RSA Insurance Group, Kent County Council and Linklaters.

Jo is a qualified town planner and environment specialist with more than two decades of local and regional government experience across London and the South East leading multi-disciplinary teams on a range of environmental sustainability projects. Currently Head of Environment at Southend-on-Sea city council as strategic lead for the climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience programme, as well as delivering frontline services across resource management, and parks and open spaces. Jo is a visible and vocal advocate for DEI and is on the Leadership and Mentoring sub committee of the BAME Planners Network.

Bébert Longi is a Planning Apprentice currently working for Richmond and Wandsworth Councils. He joined the sector after completing three placements across the built environment as part of the first cohort of the Future of London Emerging Talent Programme including a placement in a private sector consultancy working on large mixed-use scheme and as a policy advisor in the Leasehold, Land and Planning Systems directerate – permitted development team at MHCLG. He has a background in Politics and Policy, with a Politics BA from the University of Portsmouth and an MA in Politics, Governance and Public Policy from the University of Sheffield and is currently studying a masters at the Bartlett School of Planning at UCL.

Meeta is a UK qualified lawyer and chartered town planner. She works on a wide range of development at all scales, but she specialises in large mixed-use, residential and/​or commercial redevelopment schemes, including urban extensions, both in London and across the country. She advises on all aspects of planning and associated areas, including highways, compulsory purchase, CIL, heritage, affordable housing and scheme viability, on both contentious and non-contentious issues.

Before Town Legal, Meeta spent 12 years at King & Wood Mallesons (previously SJ Berwin) and before that was a planning officer at Westminster City Council.

Meeta is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Town Planning Institute, a non-executive Director of Public Practice and a co-founder of Planning Law Women.

Mike is a chartered town planner and MBA qualified manager with over 40 years’ experience in local government, most of that in London, with 14 of those years at service head level and above. In 2015 Mike left local government and set up his consultancy, Mike Kiely planning + regeneration, to specialise in assisting local planning authorities to perform better and be more effective. His extensive experience in successfully delivering major planning and regeneration projects means he can add value over and above the chief planning officer role, constructively challenging accepted thinking and proposing innovative solutions. He is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, formerly president of the Planning Officers Society and now chair of its Board. He works closely with government and across the sector to shape planning in England.

Philip joined Allford Hall Monaghan Morris in 2001, having previously worked for high-profile practices in New York and London. A Director since 2021, he leads project teams committed to a mix of projects at a range of scales and across a wide variety of sectors.

Philip’s projects currently in design include a two-building housing project above Southwark Underground Station, and a once in a generation opportunity to work with the Worshipful Company of Carpenters on their Livery Hall in the City of London. Projects currently on site include the re-use of the Woolworth Building on Marylebone Road, and a new affordable housing building at Acorn House on Grays Inn Road.

Philip is an external examiner at Greenwich University, as well as a member of the Hackney Design Review Panel. Philip taught Masters for the first 5 years of the London School of Architecture, where he led the final year studio.

Josephine Vos is a senior manager at Transport for London, leading the London Plan team in the Spatial Planning directorate. She is currently developing the replacement London Plan in partnership with the GLA planning team. Her career at TfL started with working on planning the Northern line extension to Battersea Power Station in 2012, after which she moved on to join the team responsible for the Mayor’s Transport Strategy and London Plan where she led on the spatial and growth policies as well as on transport strategy, policies and standards. She studied spatial planning at the Bartlett, UCL and also has degrees in politics and international law.

Wendy is a Chartered Town Planner with over 20 years’ experience in both the private and public sector. Wendy has pursued her passion in the built environment by studying an MPhil in Town Planning where she specialised in Urban Design and is now a Principal Planning Officer at Merton where she is involved in dealing with major applications ranging from Strategic Housing and Industrial sites.