Olympic Delivery Authority announces Planning Committee to deliver the Olympic Park
10 August 2006
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today announced the membership of its proposed Planning Committee.
The eleven-person committee will take up planning powers over an area based on the Olympic Park in East London in early September, when an Order transferring planning powers to the ODA is expected to have completed its Parliamentary process and come into force.
The Committee comprises two members from the ODA Board, four local councillors recommended by the local authorities and five people selected following open advertisement.
The Committee will be supported by a dedicated team, comprising a mixture of planners directly employed by the ODA and planners on loan from the local boroughs. This team will be led by the ODA's newly-appointed Head of Development Control, Vivienne Ramsey, who joins the ODA from the London Borough of Newham and who was awarded an OBE this year for Services to Local Government.
The composition of the Planning Committee is set out below (see Notes to Editors for further biographical information):
ODA Board members:
Lorraine Baldry, Chairman Designate of the ODA Planning Committee, said: "The ODA Planning Committee will work with local authorities and local communities to make sure that London 2012 delivers a great legacy as well as a great Games.
"We have assembled a Committee with wide-ranging and substantial expertise in regeneration, architecture and sustainable development, with individuals who have significant understanding of and involvement in the local area. There will be a lot to do, but we are ready to go."
Notes to Editors:
The Olympic Delivery Authority is a statutory corporation set up under the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006.
The Act allowed the Government to make an order designating the ODA as planning authority for a particular area. Following a consultation earlier this year, the Order will be laid in Parliament shortly.
We expect the transfer of powers to take place on 7 September. A first meeting of the Committee is planned to take place on 6 September, to conclude the necessary business to prepare the Committee for operation.
Like any planning authority, the ODA will be required to take its planning decisions openly, and in accordance with planning policies set out by local authorities, the Mayor of London and Government. The ODA's Planning Committee has been established to minimise the number of ODA board members with conflicts of interest.
Planning Committee Biographies:
Lorraine Baldry
Lorraine Baldry is Chairman of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and was previously Chief Executive of Chesterton International plc. Before that she was a Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley, Investment Banking Division. Lorraine is Chairman of Inventa Partners Ltd and Chairman of Central London Partnership. She has over 30 years experience in a wide range of industries including Financial Services, IT and Property and has held senior executive positions in some of the UK's leading companies in these sectors.
David Taylor
David Taylor is one of the country's leading exponents of urban regeneration and he has worked extensively in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He is chairman and joint founder of Silvertown Quays Limited, a special purpose company established to create a vibrant new heart for the Royal Docks in East London. David is former CEO of English Partnerships and personal adviser to John Prescott. Prior to that he had responsibility for Development at AMEC Plc. He also chairs Hull City Build and Elevate, the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder in East Lancashire.
Cllr Rofique Ahmed
Rofique Ahmed represents Mile End and Globe Town Ward in Tower Hamlets, and has done since 2002. He is Chair of London Borough of Tower Hamlets' Development and Strategic Development Committees, and was formerly Chair of the special committee that considered the 2004 Olympic and Legacy Planning Applications.
Cllr Conor McAuley
Conor McAuley has been a member of Newham Council since 1982. His roles have included: Deputy Leader of the Council, Chairman of Environment & Planning Committee and board member of the London Docklands Development Corporation.
He is currently the Operational Executive Adviser on Regeneration issues to Newham's elected Mayor, Vice Chair of the Thames Gateway London Partnership and a member of the board of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation. Conor led Newham's successful campaign for an International Passenger Station on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link at Stratford. He is also a non-executive director of the Newham Primary Care Trust.
Cllr Geoff Taylor
Geoff Taylor was first elected to Hackney Council in 2002, and has been chair of both the Planning Committee and the Education Scrutiny Committee. He was Speaker of Hackney Council, 2004-05 and is currently the Council's Historic Environment Champion. He wrote 'A Parish in Perspective' (2002), a history of South Hackney parish. He is a former local secondary school teacher and BT manager and has lived in Hackney since 1971. He has led a number of redevelopment and regeneration projects in South Hackney.
Cllr Terry Wheeler
Terry Wheeler is the London Borough of Waltham Forest Cabinet Member for Enterprise and Investment. He has longstanding interests in Planning and Regeneration. Previously Deputy Leader of the Council, he has also chaired Planning, Personnel, Education and Housing Committees and Leytonstone Community Council. He has also served on Local Government Association and Association of London Government committees. He is a Board Member of the Thames Gateway London Partnership and the North London Strategic Alliance, Corporation member of Waltham Forest College and Director of the Migrant Training Company and Ascham Homes. Prior to concentrating on his responsibilities as a senior councillor he was an Industrial Relations and Personnel Manager in the Construction and Manufacturing Sectors and Local Government. More recently he has been a recently he has been a further education lecturer.
Mike Appelton
Mike Appleton has 30 years experience in regional/urban policy implementation and project delivery. This includes: roles in Central Government, Public Agencies, being a Director of a major construction/development Group, and management consulting. Mike is a Director of Cibitas, a special purpose regeneration company. A current major involvement is a masterplan-led scheme adjacent to the 2002 Commonwealth Games stadium.
Mike has wide experience of the UK planning system from taking complex projects through to consent as a developer and through operating the statutory planning powers of the Commission for the New Towns/English Partnerships. Non- executive Board roles have included, Deputy Chair of a Housing Action Trust, a non-departmental public body, and three urban regeneration companies and public/private joint ventures. Mike was a working group member of the Urban Task Force and is a former member of the Housing Board for London.
Celia Carrington
Celia Carrington is Deputy Chief Executive and Group Director, Environment and Leisure at Swindon Borough Council. She is responsible for overseeing Swindon's long term growth and the regeneration of the town centre. Her span of control includes planning, transport, economic development, leisure and culture and environment and health. Prior to joining the local government world in September 2003, Celia worked for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the Government Office for the South West, where she held a number of different posts including, Director for Local Government, Housing and Planning; Director of Corporate Services; Decisions Officer on behalf of the Secretary of State for major planning appeals and called in applications; and was involved in the setting up of the Bristol Development Corporation. Celia began her Civil Service career in the Diplomatic Service and spent five years in a range of posts including a two year posting to Venezuela.
William Hodgson
William Hodgson is an architect based in Hackney. He was elected to the London Borough of Hackney from 2002-6, where he chaired the Planning Sub-committee and was the borough's Design Champion. He worked for a range of architects, including Jestico + Whiles and Ahrends Burton Koralek, before setting up his own practice. He teaches at the Bartlett School of the Built Environment at University College London, is an examiner for the Architects Registration Board and is a trustee of the Shoreditch Town Hall Trust.
Janice Morphet
Janice Morphet has over 35 years experience in local and central government in a number of roles including as a planner, director of technical services and as a local authority chief executive in London and elsewhere. She has also been a central government senior adviser on local government modernisation and e-government, where she led on partnership working. Throughout her professional career Janice has served on a variety of professional committees including a Joseph Rowntree inquiry into housing. Janice has also spent time as an academic, as a professorial head of a planning school and chair of the Conference of the Heads of Planning Schools. She is currently Visiting Professor of Planning at the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London. Janice has recently become a director of rmjm consulting where she is engaged on a variety of projects for the public and private sectors.
Dru Vesty
Dru Vesty is a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute and has held senior roles in the public then private sectors. She is a board member of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and Tower Homes. She has been a Director of a public/private partnership company and before that was Director of Property Development with British Gas Plc, where she reviewed its UK property asset management system and set up a property development operation to regenerate its portfolio of contaminated sites.
At the London Docklands Development Corporation from 1981-1991 she established its development control and development framework systems and was responsible for the regeneration strategy and £270m advance infrastructure programme for the Royal Docks.
Media Enquiries:
Contact the Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on 020 3 2012 700
The Committee comprises two members from the ODA Board, four local councillors recommended by the local authorities and five people selected following open advertisement.
The Committee will be supported by a dedicated team, comprising a mixture of planners directly employed by the ODA and planners on loan from the local boroughs. This team will be led by the ODA's newly-appointed Head of Development Control, Vivienne Ramsey, who joins the ODA from the London Borough of Newham and who was awarded an OBE this year for Services to Local Government.
The composition of the Planning Committee is set out below (see Notes to Editors for further biographical information):
ODA Board members:
- Lorraine Baldry (Chairman)
- David Taylor (Deputy Chairman)
- Cllr Rofique Ahmed
- Cllr Conor McAuley
- Cllr Geoff Taylor
- Cllr Terry Wheeler
- Mike Appleton
- Celia Carrington
- William Hodgson
- Janice Morphet
- Dru Vesty
Lorraine Baldry, Chairman Designate of the ODA Planning Committee, said: "The ODA Planning Committee will work with local authorities and local communities to make sure that London 2012 delivers a great legacy as well as a great Games.
"We have assembled a Committee with wide-ranging and substantial expertise in regeneration, architecture and sustainable development, with individuals who have significant understanding of and involvement in the local area. There will be a lot to do, but we are ready to go."
Notes to Editors:
The Olympic Delivery Authority is a statutory corporation set up under the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006.
The Act allowed the Government to make an order designating the ODA as planning authority for a particular area. Following a consultation earlier this year, the Order will be laid in Parliament shortly.
We expect the transfer of powers to take place on 7 September. A first meeting of the Committee is planned to take place on 6 September, to conclude the necessary business to prepare the Committee for operation.
Like any planning authority, the ODA will be required to take its planning decisions openly, and in accordance with planning policies set out by local authorities, the Mayor of London and Government. The ODA's Planning Committee has been established to minimise the number of ODA board members with conflicts of interest.
Planning Committee Biographies:
Lorraine Baldry
Lorraine Baldry is Chairman of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and was previously Chief Executive of Chesterton International plc. Before that she was a Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley, Investment Banking Division. Lorraine is Chairman of Inventa Partners Ltd and Chairman of Central London Partnership. She has over 30 years experience in a wide range of industries including Financial Services, IT and Property and has held senior executive positions in some of the UK's leading companies in these sectors.
David Taylor
David Taylor is one of the country's leading exponents of urban regeneration and he has worked extensively in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He is chairman and joint founder of Silvertown Quays Limited, a special purpose company established to create a vibrant new heart for the Royal Docks in East London. David is former CEO of English Partnerships and personal adviser to John Prescott. Prior to that he had responsibility for Development at AMEC Plc. He also chairs Hull City Build and Elevate, the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder in East Lancashire.
Cllr Rofique Ahmed
Rofique Ahmed represents Mile End and Globe Town Ward in Tower Hamlets, and has done since 2002. He is Chair of London Borough of Tower Hamlets' Development and Strategic Development Committees, and was formerly Chair of the special committee that considered the 2004 Olympic and Legacy Planning Applications.
Cllr Conor McAuley
Conor McAuley has been a member of Newham Council since 1982. His roles have included: Deputy Leader of the Council, Chairman of Environment & Planning Committee and board member of the London Docklands Development Corporation.
He is currently the Operational Executive Adviser on Regeneration issues to Newham's elected Mayor, Vice Chair of the Thames Gateway London Partnership and a member of the board of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation. Conor led Newham's successful campaign for an International Passenger Station on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link at Stratford. He is also a non-executive director of the Newham Primary Care Trust.
Cllr Geoff Taylor
Geoff Taylor was first elected to Hackney Council in 2002, and has been chair of both the Planning Committee and the Education Scrutiny Committee. He was Speaker of Hackney Council, 2004-05 and is currently the Council's Historic Environment Champion. He wrote 'A Parish in Perspective' (2002), a history of South Hackney parish. He is a former local secondary school teacher and BT manager and has lived in Hackney since 1971. He has led a number of redevelopment and regeneration projects in South Hackney.
Cllr Terry Wheeler
Terry Wheeler is the London Borough of Waltham Forest Cabinet Member for Enterprise and Investment. He has longstanding interests in Planning and Regeneration. Previously Deputy Leader of the Council, he has also chaired Planning, Personnel, Education and Housing Committees and Leytonstone Community Council. He has also served on Local Government Association and Association of London Government committees. He is a Board Member of the Thames Gateway London Partnership and the North London Strategic Alliance, Corporation member of Waltham Forest College and Director of the Migrant Training Company and Ascham Homes. Prior to concentrating on his responsibilities as a senior councillor he was an Industrial Relations and Personnel Manager in the Construction and Manufacturing Sectors and Local Government. More recently he has been a recently he has been a further education lecturer.
Mike Appelton
Mike Appleton has 30 years experience in regional/urban policy implementation and project delivery. This includes: roles in Central Government, Public Agencies, being a Director of a major construction/development Group, and management consulting. Mike is a Director of Cibitas, a special purpose regeneration company. A current major involvement is a masterplan-led scheme adjacent to the 2002 Commonwealth Games stadium.
Mike has wide experience of the UK planning system from taking complex projects through to consent as a developer and through operating the statutory planning powers of the Commission for the New Towns/English Partnerships. Non- executive Board roles have included, Deputy Chair of a Housing Action Trust, a non-departmental public body, and three urban regeneration companies and public/private joint ventures. Mike was a working group member of the Urban Task Force and is a former member of the Housing Board for London.
Celia Carrington
Celia Carrington is Deputy Chief Executive and Group Director, Environment and Leisure at Swindon Borough Council. She is responsible for overseeing Swindon's long term growth and the regeneration of the town centre. Her span of control includes planning, transport, economic development, leisure and culture and environment and health. Prior to joining the local government world in September 2003, Celia worked for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the Government Office for the South West, where she held a number of different posts including, Director for Local Government, Housing and Planning; Director of Corporate Services; Decisions Officer on behalf of the Secretary of State for major planning appeals and called in applications; and was involved in the setting up of the Bristol Development Corporation. Celia began her Civil Service career in the Diplomatic Service and spent five years in a range of posts including a two year posting to Venezuela.
William Hodgson
William Hodgson is an architect based in Hackney. He was elected to the London Borough of Hackney from 2002-6, where he chaired the Planning Sub-committee and was the borough's Design Champion. He worked for a range of architects, including Jestico + Whiles and Ahrends Burton Koralek, before setting up his own practice. He teaches at the Bartlett School of the Built Environment at University College London, is an examiner for the Architects Registration Board and is a trustee of the Shoreditch Town Hall Trust.
Janice Morphet
Janice Morphet has over 35 years experience in local and central government in a number of roles including as a planner, director of technical services and as a local authority chief executive in London and elsewhere. She has also been a central government senior adviser on local government modernisation and e-government, where she led on partnership working. Throughout her professional career Janice has served on a variety of professional committees including a Joseph Rowntree inquiry into housing. Janice has also spent time as an academic, as a professorial head of a planning school and chair of the Conference of the Heads of Planning Schools. She is currently Visiting Professor of Planning at the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London. Janice has recently become a director of rmjm consulting where she is engaged on a variety of projects for the public and private sectors.
Dru Vesty
Dru Vesty is a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute and has held senior roles in the public then private sectors. She is a board member of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and Tower Homes. She has been a Director of a public/private partnership company and before that was Director of Property Development with British Gas Plc, where she reviewed its UK property asset management system and set up a property development operation to regenerate its portfolio of contaminated sites.
At the London Docklands Development Corporation from 1981-1991 she established its development control and development framework systems and was responsible for the regeneration strategy and £270m advance infrastructure programme for the Royal Docks.
Media Enquiries:
Contact the Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on 020 3 2012 700
Related websites
- Website explaining the planning powers transferred to the ODA
- Contact us
- Web accessibility statement
- Jobs
- Privacy policy
- Terms of use
- About this site
- Freedom of information
- Copyright
The official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games