Southend-on-Sea Borough Council group manager of development control and building control Peter Geraghty has been elected junior vice-president of the Royal Town Planning Institute and so will become the Institute's president in 2013.
He said he was delighted at his election and, working in public service, understood the pressure planners are under both in consultancies and local authorities.
He defeated David Marshall and Ken Burley and turnout was the highest for five years.
"We need an Institute that demonstrates to government the value of planning to the future prosperity of the country and promotes the importance of planning to the localism agenda," he said.
He believes the Institute should promote the profession by:-
- doing all it can to protect the public service and the interests of planning professionals;
- standing as the acknowledged voice on spatial planning and planning practice;
- continuing with its change agenda to meet the challenges of the future and the demands for improved member services.
Meanwhile the Institute has also appointed Craig McLaren as the new national director of RTPI in Scotland.
He formerly worked for the Institute and 16 years ago helped set up Scotland's head office. Since then he has been chief executive of the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum and director of Communities Scotland's Centre for Regeneration until its integration into the Scottish Government.
