Ebbsfleet Development Corporation: board appointments
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government today announced his intention to make 5 appointments to the board of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation.
Following an open recruitment exercise, the Secretary of State has decided to appoint David Holt, Louise Hardy, Bob Lane, David Lock and Katie Perrior to the board. Mr Holt is also to be appointed as the Corporation’s Deputy Chairman.
The 5 appointees will serve alongside the corporation’s chairman, Michael Cassidy, 3 members nominated Kent County Council, Dartford Borough Council and Gravesham Borough Council, and the corporation’s chief executive.
Minister of State for Housing Brandon Lewis said:
The 5 successful candidates bring a wealth of experience in masterplanning, housing, infrastructure, finance and communications. Alongside Michael Cassidy and the members nominated by the local authorities, they will play a major role in securing the delivery of the Ebbsfleet garden city.
Chairman Designate of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation Michael Cassidy said:
I welcome these appointments. They will ensure that the board has at its disposal the skills and expertise needed to deliver its important remit. I look forward to working with all of my fellow board members to deliver a successful garden city.
The appointment of the corporation’s chief executive will be announced shortly.
Further information
At Budget 2014, the chancellor set out plans for a new Urban Development Corporation to deliver a garden city settlement of up to 15,000 homes at Ebbsfleet in Kent. This is being taken forward in consultation with local MPs, councils and residents.
Michael Cassidy CBE was appointed as the corporation’s chairman designate last year.
The government intends to lay secondary legislation later this month which would establish the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation during April.
The 5 successful candidates for the board were selected on the basis of merit following open competition.
David Holt is a chartered management accountant with 20 years experience as a board-level finance director in the private sector. He left Land Securities last year after 11 years in senior finance roles, including finance director for the Retail Division and group director of finance.
Before that he held senior finance roles with Coats Plc (including group chief auditor) and Unilever. He will shortly step down as a board member of Circle Living. He is a board member and senior independent director of Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where he also chairs the Audit Committee.
Louise Hardy is a civil engineer. She is a former director of Laing O’Rourke, where her role focused on the delivery of infrastructure for the Olympic Park. As a senior project manager at Bechtel Ltd, her projects included a £150 million portfolio of station refurbishments for Tube Lines, delivering a section of the Transylvanian Motorway, and delivering elements of HS1 at Ebbsfleet.
Most recently, she was European Project Excellence Director at AECOM.
Bob Lane OBE is currently a board member of Dover Harbour Board and (until September) the Homes and Communities Agency. He is also a trustee of Brooke Weston Partnership (managing 10 academy schools). He was previously chairman of London Thames Gateway Development Corporation. He was chief executive of Catalyst Corby, North Northants Development Company and Speke Garston Development Company in Liverpool.
David Lock CBE is currently strategic planning advisor to David Lock Associates Ltd, a town planning, urban design and masterplanning consultancy firm. He founded the company in 1988 and was its chairman until 2013 and its managing director until 2007. He also served as chief planning adviser to the Department of the Environment and planning manager for Milton Keynes New Town Development Corporation.
Katie Perrior is director and co-founder of iNHouse Communications and a board member of Trading for Good. She is a former cabinet member of the London Borough of Bexley, where she had responsibility for community affairs and community safety and most recently children’s services. She was the Conservative Party’s senior media officer between 2004 and 2006 and has held press office roles with the Conservative Party, ITV News and Channel 4 News. She was involved on the communications side of Boris Johnson’s campaign for Mayor of London in 2008.
Two of the successful candidates declared political activity undertaken in the last 5 years:
- David Lock: elected chair of Calverton Parish Meeting and Calverton Residents Association (non-political role)
- Katie Perrior: held elected office and ran Boris Johnson’s public relations campaign for Mayor of London in 2008 (Conservative Party)