A brief biography for each member of the LLDC Planning Decisions Committee can be found below.
Pam Alexander OBE (Chair) - Legacy Corporation Board Member
Pam Alexander has had a long career in housing and economic regeneration. She is Chair of Commonplace Digital Ltd, using technology to broaden community engagement and participation, a non-executive Director of the Connected Places Catapult, accelerating the use of new technologies to improve buildings, places and transport, an advisor to OnePlanet.com, a platform to integrate planning for zero carbon living, and an Ambassador on the London Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board.
Pam has previously held non-executive directorships including Chair of Covent Garden Market Authority at Nine Elms, NED of Crest Nicholson plc, Crossrail Ltd and Design Council, where she was Deputy Chair and Chair of Design Council Cabe, and chair of Peabody. Her executive career as Deputy CEO of the Housing Corporation and CEO of English Heritage and of the South East England Development Agency followed 20 years as a civil servant in the then Department of the Environment.
Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs - Legacy Corporation Board member
Sukhvinder has a track record of building high performing teams, responsive to the needs of local communities and other key stakeholders. She brings substantial experience of public sector regeneration from the midlands and south east. She is committed to investment in the physical and social infrastructure, using her knowledge of education, health and employment policies to secure 'balanced' growth for residents, visitors and the broader London economy. She is skilled in appraising major developments and in leading house building programmes from her membership of Swan Housing Association and the Home Group. Sukhvinder has proven expertise in good governance and served on the Board of Severn Trent Water and numerous Ministerial Committees including the Cabinet Office Better Regulation Executive and the Prime Ministers Taskforce on Deprived Communities. She Chaired Volunteering England during the Olympics.
Geoff Thompson MBE - Legacy Corporation Board Member
Geoff Thompson MBE FRSA DL was the World United Karate Organisation world heavyweight champion and world team karate champion between 1982 and 1986 and won more than 50 national and international titles during a distinguished sporting career.
Following his retirement from competitive sport, he established himself as an influential sports politician and administrator, taking on numerous public and private sector appointments with the aim of promoting equality, diversity and inclusion at all levels of society. Having experienced material deprivation and social and cultural exclusion while growing up in Hackney, Geoff is a lifelong advocate for the role that education, sport and culture can play in improving the lives of disadvantaged young people through the bidding, hosting and legacy of major games.
He is the Founder and Chair of the Youth Charter, a UK-based international charity and United Nations Non-Governmental Organisation that uses the ethics of sport and artistic excellence to tackle the problems of educational non-attainment, health inequality, anti-social behaviour and crime in some of Britain’s most troubled communities.
Geoff is also an Advisory Board Member of the Muhammad Ali Centre, Louisville, Kentucky. His public and private sector appointments have included chairing Sport England's Advisory Group on Racial Equality in Sport and serving as a member of its grant assessment panel, Director of the Sports Council Trust Company, board member of the New Opportunities fund, an honorary fellow of the former Institute of Leisure, Amenities and Management, fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Independent Assessor for the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. He was the Chair of the Board of Governors of the University of East London between 2017 - 2019.
In 1995, Geoff was appointed an MBE for his services to sport and in 2016, 2017 and 2018 he was included in the Top 100 BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) Leaders in Business List, in association with the Sunday Times and was also named in the Evening Standard’s top 1000 influencers in London. He is also a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester and was this year awarded an honorary professorship of the International Business School at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
Councillor Nick Sharman - LB Hackney (substitute - Councillor Jessica Webb)
Nick Sharman is Councillor for the Hackney Wick Ward of the London Borough of Hackney, where he chairs the Council’s Audit Committee. He has had a variety of Board level positions in both private and public sectors, including Operations Director at the London Development Agency, Managing Director of Amey's local government division and Deputy Chief Executive of the London Borough of Islington. Previously he was Chief Executive of Greater London Supplies, the Inner London Education Authority £100m purchasing and supplies business, Corporate Director of Greater London Enterprise and Assistant Chief Economic Adviser at the Greater London Council.
From 1998 to 2016, Nick was a Trustee of the New Local Government Network, the award winning local government think tank. From 2007-12 he was Chair of the CBI’s Local Government Panel and advised Government on service procurement issues.
Nick has a PhD in history from the University of Nottingham, an honours degree in economics, an MPhil in town planning from UCL, an MBA from Henley and an MA in history from Royal Holloway University of London. He has written widely on strategic and regeneration issues in local and regional Government and on the relationship between Britain and Spain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Counciller Marie Pye - LB Waltham Forest (substitute Councillor Terry Wheeler)
Cllr Marie Pye has represented Leytonstone ward in the London Borough of Waltham Forest since 2005. She was the Cabinet member for Housing for 8 years and Chair of East London Housing Partnership. She is currently a member of the Planning Committee and Chair of Growth Scrutiny.
Aside from being a councillor Marie has a professional background in equality. She was previously Chair of the TFL Disability Advisory Group, is an LGA Equality Peer and advises major organisations on inclusion.
Councillor Dan Tomlinson - LB Tower Hamlets (substitute Councillor Rachel Blake)
Dan Tomlinson is a Councillor for the Bromley North ward in Tower Hamlets, one of the wards falling within the LLDC boundary. He is also a researcher at a leading UK think-tank, where his work focuses on the impact that housing has on the living standards of low-to-middle income families in the UK.
Councillor James Beckles - LB Newham (substitute Councillor Rachel Tripp)
James was elected in 2014 as a Councillor for the London Borough of Newham. He served on the Newham council's Local Development Committee for four years, two of which he as deputy chair (2014-2016). James is the former Chair of the Strategic Development Committee and the current Cabinet Member for Crime and Community Safety.
Councillor Daniel Blaney - LB Newham (substitute Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE)
Daniel was first elected to the London Borough of Newham in 2018 and became the chair of its Chair of Strategic Development Committee in February 2019. Outside his council responsibilities, Daniel is a solicitor and secretary of his trade union branch.
Piers Gough CBE RIBA RA - Independent member
Piers established CZWG Llp Architects with his partners in 1975. He is widely recognised as an innovative architect, writer and leader in the profession and has designed many acclaimed buildings and master plans. He was involved with English Heritage for 12 years, first as a member of the London Advisory Committee and the Urban Panel then latterly as a Commissioner; he was then a Commissioner of CABE and a chairman of its Design Review Panels. In 2013 he became an independent member of the Planning Decisions Committee of the London Legacy Development Corporation.
Emma Davies BSc (Hons) MRICS - Independent member
Emma is experienced at delivering complex regeneration-led projects across the UK including projects such as St Andrews, Bromley by Bow. Emma has worked with corporate clients, RSL’s, developers and housebuilders, understanding the requirements and development drivers for each different type of organisation. Emma is an APC Assessor for the RICS (Planning and Development Division) and an External Examiner for the University Glasgow, Urban Studies Faculty.
James Fennell BA (Hons) MRTPI MRICS FRSA - Independent member
James has been the Chief Executive of planning and development consultancy Lichfields for 10 years. He has over 25 years’ experience of planning in London and across the UK. James is a chartered surveyor and chartered town planner and he chairs the Revo Planning working Group.
Viktoria Oakley MRTPI MRICS – Independent Member
bio to follow
