our
team
Our Team
Our 'core team' reflects the depth and diversity of interests and knowledge highlighted elsewhere on this site. In addition, we have close contacts with many other consultancies and professionals, and can draw upon this wider network of expertise to create and manage teams to meet the requirements of individual projects.
In the 'mini biographies' of the core team we provide an insight into what we get up to 'at work', but also what we do in our own leisure time. None of us claim to be business entrepreneurs; we simply want to pursue fulfilling vocations that help realise the true value of leisure in improving quality of life.
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Graham
is a town planner by training and a sports and recreation planner by experience. He has worked in local
government, for Sport England, and with a large private consultancy. He established Leisure and the Environment
in 1996, and has since been involved in a wide range of sport and recreation planning projects.
Graham lectures occasionally, and has written a considerable number of articles for professional journals.. He is married to Yvette, and is a taxi driver for four children. His spare time interests are reading, cycling and travel.
Paul has been with Leisure and the Environment since 2000 and during that time he has been responsible
for:
- Children’s Play Strategies for North Warwickshire Borough, Staffordshire Moorlands, Peterborough City, Preston City, Stafford Borough, and Eden District Councils.
- A national audit of Play Strategies for the Children’s Play Council (CPC)
- Drafting sections of the Children’s Play Council’s good practice guide to local Play Strategies Planning for Play
- A Community Transport Strategy and Action plan for Dumfries and Galloway Council and their Accessible Transport Forum
- Cultural Strategy Research and Consultation on Play and Youth for South Somerset District Council.
- Sport and Active Recreation Strategies for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and Bridgnorth District Council (including Play and Youth Facilities).
- Associated Best Value Reviews for Bridgnorth and Redcar and Cleveland Councils.
- Playing field studies in Sheffield, Carlisle, Stockton-on Tees, and Stevenage (including consideration of Youth Facilities).
- North West regional management of the Football Foundation Register of English Football Facilities (REFF) project.
- Lottery bids for Somerset County Council (Sports Hall), Chard Town Council (Healthy Living Centre) and Laurence Jackson School, Guisborough (Synthetic Turf Pitch).
- Assessing SRB grants on a regular basis for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.
Prior to his joining L&E Paul worked in Local Government for over 15 years, first at Lancaster City Council and then at South Somerset District Council (where he was the Community & Leisure Manager - responsible for Sport (Facilities and Sports Development), Recreation, Play, Youth & Community Development work, Parks & Greenspace, and Countryside Services).
Paul has extensive practical experience in the planning and delivery of sport services in rural areas along with the policy and strategy issues associated with this.
Karl
has worked with Leisure and the Environment for over five years on various projects including the Stafford
Play Strategy and the Register of English Football Facilities (REFF) project. He is currently working
as our lead consultant with the NPFA on their review of the 6-Acre Standard (including revision of their
LAPS, LEAPS and NEAPS typology for play areas). Karl has considerable experience of project research
work and planning/undertaking consultation meetings.
Karl has also worked with the sustainability team at the Institute for Public Research (IPPR) looking at the role of sport in public policy, road safety and liveability. He is particularly interested in the implementation of policies that enhance quality of life and encourages strong community. He was involved in government commissioned research work on the concept of open space, "liveability" and the development of homezones. He is a principal author of the well received report "Streets Ahead: safe and liveable streets for children".
Sophy Hallam BA Hons, MASophy is an experienced project manager who coordinates the team's work on data collection and analysis. Her expertise with a wide variety of software including websites, database, publishing and excel spreadsheet analysis helps the team to make efficient use of the data available and informs the final strategy development process.
Sophy is a skilled trainer and facilitator who has a wide experience of designing and implementing consultation processes and in particular, of working with communities that are traditionally hard to reach such as those in areas of low skill, high levels of worklessness and high levels of ethnic diversity.
A
geographer by inclination and a planner by training, Michael Presland has been involved in sport and
recreation for over 20 years. After spells with local planning authorities in Norfolk and Cumbria, and
Milton Keynes Development Corporation, he joined the Sports Council in 1989, initially as the regional
planner in the East Region. Over the next 12 years he led work on the 'Places' and Facilities programmes,
including the distribution of funds through the National Lottery, wrote the 1994 Regional Strategy for
Sport and Recreation and a major study on the future for golf in the region, and developed an interest
and expertise in strategic planning for sport, including Sport England's Facilities Planning Model and
playing pitch strategies. In particular, he undertook Sport England's statutory planning role in the
protection of playing fields. At the same time he worked closely with local authorities, governing bodies
and others in wider sports development, and sat on the National Orienteering Service Team.
Since becoming involved with Leisure and the Environment, Michael has undertaken playing pitch and open space strategies for a number of local authorities throughout the country, facility planning work, lottery and other funding applications for local sports groups and is increasingly involved in community regeneration schemes through sport. His professional interests remain in planning for sport, both in strategic and land-use planning but as a means of achieving sports development outcomes, and also the wider benefits of sport to the regeneration and development of communities. Michael was part-time Clerk for Lakes Parish Council in Cumbria, and closely involved in local community projects including the Market Towns Initiative, and is particularly interested in issues affecting rural communities.
Michael now lives with his family in Norfolk. He is passionate about sport, but now his playing days are mostly over (apart from some recreational orienteering and the occasional game of golf) restricts himself mainly to supporting Luton Town, and looks forward to their promotion to the Championship, where there may be the odd local derby to watch in East Anglia next season.
Christine Lalley BA Dip DBE MSoc Sci MRTPI
Christine
has been a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute for 20 years and has worked in local government
and private practice. Eight years were spent with a local authority planning department dealing with
area regeneration, Local Plan policy and countryside matters. During this time Christine completed a
Diploma in Urban Design. This was followed by four years in two contrasting private companies handling
a wide variety of heritage and planning projects from a small visitor centre in a National Park to cost
benefit analyses for national museums. Since then Christine has consolidated her practical experience
by completing a Masters Degree in Heritage Management and passing Royal Horticultural Society exams.
Heritage, horticulture and design of the built and natural environments have been life long interests.
Christine firmly believes the quality of the environment has a strong influence on the quality of life
for the whole community.
Peter
is a Chartered Town Planner and worked for a number of years for Local Authorities on Teesside. In addition
to the initiation and management of key strategic regeneration projects in the South Tees area he was
responsible for built and natural heritage issues.
In 1989 he was appointed to Langbaurgh Borough Council's newly created Tourism and Leisure Department to manage the authority's Community Leisure, Tourism, Visitor Services, Countryside, Events, Sports Development, Museums and Motorsports functions.
Involvement in European projects enabled Peter to put together the Tourism/Resort Guidelines which were highlighted in Tomorrow's Tourism.
Reorganisation in 1996 and subsequent departmental changes have added Libraries, Parks and Countryside, Leisure Services and Finance and Administration to his management skills portfolio.
Having now left Local Government Employment he is still Chair of the National Tourism Best Value Group which he helped to co - found. The group now has some 170 local authority members and continues to contribute to the development of integrated quality management for destinations.
He is also Vice President of Tourism-Site a European Internet based network organised to enhance sustainable tourism development practices across Europe.
Living on the edge of the North Yorks Moors National Park he capitalises on the availability of the open moors for recreational activities. He is also Secretary of the Cleveland Industrial Archaeology Society and a Governor of a large Local Comprehensive, chairing their Sports College sub committee.
Andy
has considerable experience of Children’s Outdoor Play Provision.
- Andy is a Member (Annual Inspection status) of the Register of Playground Inspectors International Ltd. (RPII) and an approve RPII Trainer & Examiner at Routine & Operation Inspection levels.
- He is the lead ‘play’ consultant that developed and continues to develop PlaySafe - the leading Management, Maintenance & Inspection Software package for Children’s Play (fixed) Provision.
- Currently, he is involved in the ongoing development to extend PlaySafe to cover all aspects of Open Space provision.
- He took the lead role in developing the NPFA - Six Acre Standard – Children’s Section (1992)
- Andy has considerable experience of training and now specialises in Playground Inspection training & PlaySafe use and application training.
- He has developed specifically in the context of Children’s & Youth Outdoor
Play Provision:
- Best Value Performance indicators
- Play Value Criteria
- Standards for provision at both existing urban developments & in rural communities that are considered relevant and achievable within the ‘spirit’ of the NPFA – Six Acre Standard and in the context of the latest planning guidelines for Open Space provision overall.
- Standards related to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and ‘necessary alterations’ requirements that become mandatory by October 2004.
Andy has undertaken over 180 commissions on behalf of the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA). He worked for Milton Keynes Development Corporation for 17 years commencing as Children’s Play Development Officer, then Principal Youth Development Officer, then Community Development Manager & culminating as Recreation & Community Development Manager. During his time with Milton Keynes Development Corporation he developed (approximately):
- 500 Play Areas
- 50 Local Parks
- 30 Playing Fields
- 35 Community Buildings
Andy has also worked for Local Government and National Voluntary Organisations.
He has extensive practical experience in:
- Open Space Planning, Funding & Policy
- New Housing Development Issues
- Working with & for Local Communities
- Public Consultation
- Training
- Risk Assessment
Jim Phillips, BSc (Hons), MA, MISPAL
Jim has substantial experience in the parks and leisure industry, and has an honours
degree in Environmental Biology and a Masters degree in Management. He is an experienced Project Manager
having been involved in a wide range of green space related projects including Heritage Lottery Fund
programmes; service development and planning; business planning; green space strategies; Green Flag assessments
and applications; PPG 17 assessments; and, staff training and parks management plans.
His expertise is primarily in management of and strategic planning for open space and service delivery. He has built up a considerable reputation for best practice within this sector. He has spoken at several national conferences. He is also the Author of an ILAM (now ISPAL) publication, ‘Service Planning for Park Rangers’.
His skill and knowledge set for open space covers strategic planning, local management, scientific/environmental understanding and financial awareness.
Philip Chichester, BA (Hons), BTP, MRTPI, MISPAL
Phil has several years experience in the planning and leisure industry, and has an honours degree
in Town and Country Planning and a further Bachelor degree in Town planning, focused on Urban Planning.
Phil was previously the strategic planning officer for Bristol City Council, and a regional planning advisor to Sport England.
Phil has extensive experience of using GIS and advising on the LDF process and developing Supplementary Planning Documents for contributions to greenspace.
Tim has over 15 years experience in the leisure industry in the public, private
and education sectors.
He has extensive operational experience including management of new sports facilities and developing funding applications for new and improved sports provision. Tim has developed a wide range of sports based strategies for local authorities. He is also experienced in producing feasibility studies and options appraisals for the public and private sectors.
He is currently a tutor on the ISRM Sport and Recreation Supervisory Management Certificate and city and Guilds Higher Professional Diploma in Sport and Recreation Management