Meet the Community Planning Alliance team
Rosie Pearson
CHAIRMAN
Rosie has been campaigning for approximately 10 years and her local Essex group has fought and won 2 campaigns. Their biggest success was defeating an inappropriate local plan proposed by 4 councils, backed by government and involving 3 new towns and 2 local plan examinations.
She is passionate about the environment, the right housing target, the right housing types, and community empowerment. |
Marj Powner
VICE CHAIRMAN
Marj is based in Greater Manchester and has been heavily involved in local community issues for the last 20+ years. In addition to other community roles, she is currently both Chair of Friends of Carrington Moss and Vice Chair of the Save Greater Manchester Green Belts group.
She is also working with a range of experts to increase community engagement in the air pollution / air quality debate. |
Caroline Dibden
SECRETARY
Caroline has been involved in planning for almost 26 years, having served as a District Councillor on planning and housing committees, as a parish councillor, on a Village Design Statement, as a member of an AONB planning panel and as a member of the South Downs Joint Committee. She is currently Vice-President of CPRE Hampshire.
She wants to see affordable homes for local people, better urban regeneration and a habitable planet. |
Rebekah McGrane
VICE SECRETARY
Rebekah considers herself to be the baby of the CPA team, in knowledge and experience, if not in years.
Having steadfastly ignored all things 'political' for the first 40-ish years of her life, in 2018 she found herself working with Priti Patel MP to save a nature-rich meadow from destruction by developers. Despite losing that battle, the experience left her with an urge to continue fighting to improve the planning system, both for nature and for local communities. |
David Holness
TREASURER
David is a Chartered Accountant. He lives in SW London and is the Treasurer of the Conservators of Petersham Common, which is 17 acres of common land, adjacent to Richmond Park. He is also a member of the C20 Society, a charity which campaigns "to save outstanding buildings and design that have shaped the British landscape since 1914".
Additionally, he is a founding Trustee and Treasurer of a charity that fund raises for a school in Sierra Leone. |
Nick Burton
VICE TREASURER
Nick began campaigning as a member of the successful No Expressway Group, that halted the construction of the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway.
He has since been responsible for initiating the public survey that demonstrated a 90% rejection of Government's plans for one million homes in the so-called 'Ox-Cam Arc', and has also taken the lead in establishing the Stop the Arc Group as a charitable Community Benefit Society. |
Claire Baker
Claire has been Chair of Owlthorpe Fields Action Group for 3 years. She is also a member of CPRE, Sheffield Bird Study Group, and Nature Recovery Sheffield. Passionate about the environment, she enjoys wildlife photography, in particular birds and butterflies.
Professionally, she is a Chartered Process Engineer and sits on the Industry Advisory Board for the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at University of Sheffield. |
Deborah Lovatt
Deborah has been campaigning for 7 years and was the founder of the Buckinghamshire Environment Action Group, who are challenging the Government's ambitions to stimulate rapid economic growth within the so-called 'Ox-Cam Arc'.
Deeply concerned about nature depletion, she has written about the exaggerated claims made for biodiversity net gain. In addition, she has a particular knowledge of planning matters related to airport expansion. |
Kevin Dale
A trustee of LEAP Almshouses, providing truly affordable housing in East Anglia. A founder member of the CPA, Kevin has been campaigning for residents in planning for 25+ years, representing them at Planning Appeals and a Call-In Inquiry. With advocacy on local TV and radio, plus one occasion on primetime national TV.
He is a Fellow of the Geological Society, with an amateur interest in soils and a professional interest in underground CO2 mitigation. |
Lou Stothard
Lou has been an environmental and political campaigner for most of her life. She has dedicated the past 15 years to the protection of trees, hedgerows and public green spaces, including parks and playing fields.
She is a co-founder of the For Trees UK campaign group, whose main aim is to bring about the legal changes needed to ensure absolute protection of trees, woods, hedgerows. orchards and their habitats. |
Peter Alexander-Fitzgerald
Peter has been involved in policy and campaigning for over 25 years, most notably as Chair of the CPRW. He is also a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites UK World Heritage Committee, and the Stonehenge Alliance
A graduate of both Aberystwyth and Lampeter universities, his specialisms include landscape conservation, industrial archaeology (especially mining and mill sites) and the development of transport networks. |
Sammi Cook
Biography to follow
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Simon Thomas
Simon has been campaigning for 15 years, against in-appropriate housing type; in the wrong locations; without infrastructure; use of greenfield instead of brownfield; and the environmentally destructive nature of the NPPF.
After 5 years as a Parish Councillor in Hampshire, he wants to see real community engagement in the planning process, and the protection of our planet - with genuine changes to be made urgently. |
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Regional Reps :-
Danica Priest
REGION: BRISTOL
Danica fell into campaigning unexpectedly in 2021 when she found out a beloved nature site in a deprived area was under threat of development from unaffordable housing. Since then she has helped shape planning policy in Bristol with the campaign group Friends of the Western Slopes.
Danica is passionate about wildlife protection, tenants rights, nature, storm water management, holding the wealthy and powerful accountable, and empowering communities. |
Denise Stewart-Thomson
REGION: SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS
Denise has been an active participant in CPA activities from the very beginning. Her interest and experience in planning matters comes from her involvement in a local community campaign, which she initiated, coordinated and ultimately won.
She feels the CPA's 'Grassroots Map' is definitive proof that, across the four Nations of the UK, those campaigning to safeguard their community's environment and amenities all have the same obstacles to overcome. |
Julian Cheyne
REGION: EAST LONDON
Biography to follow
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Malcolm Briggs
REGION: DORSET
Malcolm is a recently-retired marketing consultant who became involved in planning issues after discovering that his local area was in danger of being subsumed in extensive new developments. Developments that his County Council are unable to stop due to developer land-banking and his LPA's failure to meet government housing targets.
He is the founder and current Chair of 'Gillingham Deserves Better', an action group fighting over-development. |
Mike Dixon
REGION: CORNWALL
Biography to follow
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Roger Dawson
REGION: LINCOLNSHIRE
Biography to follow
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Steff Lindsay
REGION: N.E. SCOTLAND
Biography to follow
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