Architecture, Planning, and Place Committee

The Trust aims to influence local, regional and national planning matters in so far as they affect the City of Bath and its environs. We do this by campaigning and providing expert advice and opinion of planning applications, planning policy and legislation, and other matters affecting the World Heritage Site and its environs. The Trust’s Architecture, Planning, and Place Committee, which meets monthly, considers all relevant planning applications and submits comments to the local planning authority. That committee draws together expert volunteers from the world of planning, architecture, public policy, conservation management and building development.  The Committee is supported in its work by the Trust’s senior conservation officer, a professional conservation-trained planner. Staff and Committee members also welcome early engagement with developers and architects at an early stage of plans in order to influence the development of a project. Meetings are attended by Caroline Kay (BPT Chief Executive), Joanna Robinson (BPT Senior Conservation Officer) and Alexandra Best (BPT Planning and Conservation Assistant). Members of the Committee:

Name	Title/organisation	Expertise/experience
Victorian Thornton Trustee Committee Chair	Open House and Open-City	Founder of Open House and Open-City, architecture education charity advocating the value of design in creating vibrant, liveable cities – Design Training for London’s Planning Councillors, Green Sky Thinking, Youth Local Neighbourhood Design, My City too, Lives of Buildings, Sustainability through Retrofit, etc. Other positions and roles include President and Trustee, Architectural Association, Trustee, Bath Preservation Trust, Jury Member RIBA Royal Gold Medal; Board Member Irish Architecture Foundation; Women in Architecture Judge; RIBA Research Committee, Education expert Farrell, Advisory Board, and Bartlett 2050 Leadership Programme. Also, author of Open House and co-author of London’s Guide to Contemporary Architecture. Awarded Honorary Fellowship of RIBA, 2003, Honorary MA from London Metropolitan University, 2006, and OBE in 2012 for services to architecture and education.
Caroline Kay	CEO Bath Preservation Trust	Caroline Kay has been Chief Executive of Bath Preservation Trust since September 2007. Since that time she has overseen the redevelopment of No 1 Royal Crescent, a £5m project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and philanthropic giving, as well as the expansion of the Trust’s campaigning and educational work.  Before joining BPT, Caroline worked for many years as a consultant in Arts and Heritage projects with UK/US consultancy AEA Consulting, and as an expert adviser for the UK Heritage Lottery Fund.   She started her career working in the House of Lords, and also worked for the Welcome Trust. She has a first-class degree from Oxford University in Physiology and Psychology and a Masters in Organisational Psychology from Bristol University. She has been a Trustee of the National Trust since 2018 and a Director of Bath Bridge.
Joanna Robinson	Senior Planning & Conservation Officer Bath Preservation Trust	BPT Conservation Officer, BA(Hons) Town & Country Planning, MA Town Planning, PGDip Architectural Conservation. Joanna studied in Bristol and the Netherlands before beginning her career in Planning at Exeter City Council in 2002. After gaining a qualification in architectural conservation she became Exeter City Council’s only Conservation Officer where her work focussed on the delivery of conservation area appraisals and management plans and development management. She joined the Bath Preservation Trust in 2007 where she coordinates campaigning activities, advises on planning and building conservation issues and manages related projects.  She has worked with B&NES Council on published guidance for cleaning Bath stone, and the Bath Landscape Setting Study. She is the author of Making Changes, BPT’s published guidance for listed buildings and the co-author of Warmer Bath, a guide for improving the energy efficiency of traditional homes – RTPI national award-winning guidance developed in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Energy.
Alex Best	Planning and Conservation Assistant Bath Preservation Trust	BPT Planning and Conservation Assistant, BA History & Ancient History, MA Conservation Studies. Alexandra has studied in Exeter and York, and formed part of the Student Planning Forum at the University of York whilst volunteering with the York Civic Trust. She has volunteered with Historic England and the National Trust as part of a project surveying and recording medieval paintwork at Fountains Abbey. She has been in full-time post with BPT since 2019.
Amy Frost	Architectural Curator of the Trust & Curator of Beckford’s Tower –	Dr Amy Frost is the Architectural Curator of the Bath Preservation Trust based at the Museum of Bath Architecture and specialises in British architecture of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.  Alongside her work on the built heritage of Bath she is also an expert on the life and aesthetics of the British collector and writer William Beckford (1760-1844) and is the Curator of Beckford’s Tower & Museum in Bath.  She is a part-time Teaching Fellow at the University of Bath, School of Architecture.
Robert Dunton Trustee	Retired Conservation Architect	Rob has recently retired as a conservation architect and director of Donald Insall Associates, with whom he worked for 42 years on a wide variety of historic buildings. Part of this involved ‘pump priming’ projects in the City of Chester following the Historic Town Report, and three decades of conservation, alteration and repairs to Oxford and Cambridge Colleges. Latterly he headed the Practice’s Bath office.
Tom Marshall Trustee	Retired Chartered Surveyor	MA (Cambridge University) and a retired Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and commercial property consultant, specialising in development and real estate investment.  Formerly deputy chairman of Lambert Smith Hampton, the national commercial property consultancy. Non-executive director and Chairman of the Cheshire Building Society (now part of the Nationwide B.S.) Non-executive director of The Manchester Airport Group – owners of Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth, Humberside, and Stansted airports.
Robert Hellard Trustee Chairman of Environs Committee,	Chartered  Civil Engineer	As Chair of the Environs Committee, and with strong rural roots, Robert has a special interest in rural planning issues relating to the Green Belt, AONB and WHS Setting.  He benefits from a practical Engineer’s understanding of buildings, structures and traffic.
Simon Morray-Jones Trustee	Architect, SMJ Architects	Simon Morray-Jones qualified as an Architect (BSc. B.Arch RIBA) in 1983 and now heads a RIBA Chartered Practice of seventeen, based in the city centre, which specialises in upgrading historic properties whilst adapting them to the twenty-first century.  He has considerable experience in all aspects of new build projects and the restoration, conversion and extension of listed buildings (Grade 1, 2* and 2). He has received numerous awards for such work. Simon has been a Trustee of the Bath Preservation Trust since 2005.
Mark Wilson-Jones	Architect, and lecturer at University of Bath Architecture/design	Mark is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Director of Postgraduate Research. He teaches architectural history and theory at different levels. His research concentrates on ancient architecture and its design, along with the ramifications for developments since the Renaissance. Mark is an architect and architectural historian. After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge and a diploma in architecture (RIBA Part 2) at the University of Westminster (then PCL) he went on to win tenure of the Rome Prize in Architecture at the British School at Rome. Before moving to Bath in 2000 he combined research into architectural history and archaeology with private practice in London and Rome and part-time teaching at the University of Rome and several American Universities and research institutes. His book Principles of Roman Architecture was the first ever book to be awarded both the Banister Fletcher Prize and the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion.
Ann Godfrey	Retired chartered town planner/ landscape officer	Ann Godfrey MA (Cantab), BA (Landscape Architecture), MRTPI (Ret’d). Now retired from paid employment. Chartered Town Planner for 30 years with experience as both provider and recipient of ‘planning’. Consultant for 20 years with clients/jobs throughout the UK, following experience in local government and Milton Keynes Development Corporation. Latterly, also designed and monitored landscape schemes. Active member of local amenity societies since 1968. Involved in Planning Aid from 1975-85 & 2002-12.
Ainslie Ensom	World Heritage Enhancement Fund Administrator; MSc in Architectural Conservation	Following a career in Fashion and Textile Design and Botanical Illustration, Ainslie Ensom gained an MSc in Historic Building Conservation at Bath University, and now works in the field of practical conservation. Administrator for the World Heritage Site Enhancement Fund since its inception in 2009, she organises and oversees projects such as the on-going historic street sign conservation programme.
Kay Ross	Architectural historian	Kay Ross MA (Historic Archaeology of the Modern World) Cert HE (Vernacular Architecture) has researched both architectural and garden history for many years, forming McLaughlin Ross llp with David McLaughlin, Conservation Architect, in 2005. The practice specialises in the understanding, conservation and development of historic buildings and churches, ancient monuments, conservation areas and historic landscapes, as well as new buildings in historic settings. A key aspect of Kay’s work involves producing historic and archaeological building and landscape evaluations, conservation plans and heritage impact assessments.
Stephen Dalley-Smith	Architect	Stephen has worked as an Architect in private practice in the Bath area for over thirty three years.  For the past twenty years he has run his own practice working with new build and Listed buildings in the City of Bath and the surrounding rural areas. RIBA Housing in the Countryside Award 1999 and other local awards.
Mary Stacey	Trustee of Cleveland Pools	Mary Sabina Stacey MRTPI, IHBC. B.A., M.A., BTp, Dip Arch Cons, Management. Retired local government officer, specialising in heritage conservation. Latterly with B&NES, posts included Built Heritage Manager, Combe Down Stone Mines Project Leader, and finally Development Manager. Trustee of Cleveland Pools.
Angela Crofts	Retired architect	Angela C Crofts B.Sc  B.Arch (Wales) Post grad Dipl in Architectural Conservation (Bristol). Now retired. Ran her own practice in Bath for 35 years focusing on work to Listed Buildings and New Build within Conservation Areas, primarily in Bath but also in Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire . Formerly Architectural Conservation Convenor for RIBA Wessex. Former member of Conservation  Advisory Committee for South Gloucestershire District Council.
Varian Tye	Retired Conservation Officer	Recently retired from B&NES as Senior Conservation Officer in the Historic Building Team, Varian dealt with a wide range of historic buildings in the City, World Heritage Site, and the surrounding rural area.  Varian has worked in local authority Conservation/Historic Building Teams for over 30 years.   He is a member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation.  Varian has a Diploma in Town and Country Planning from Bristol Polytechnic and a post graduate Diploma in Architectural and Building Conservation from Leicester Polytechnic.
Rob Mitchell	Architect Mitchell Ely Gould Architects
Michael Mutter	Retired architect and town planner	Chartered Architect and Town Planner RIBA MRTPI (retired) with extensive international and national buildings design and urban planning expertise, graduate of the University of Bath School of Architecture (1972), living and working 50 years in Raby Place, Bath; long-term resident adviser at UN-HABITAT; long-term Senior Adviser at DFID/FCO; 20 years in African and Asian countries; and former partner in major UK Architectural Practice.
Anthony Paine	Designer	Anthony Paine FCSD, FBID is an international designer of classical and traditional buildings, interiors and gardens, with his own practice for the past 45 years. Originally a builder, he trained as a surveyor before switching to architecture and interior design.  His work has included a hotel in Frankfurt, an extended farmhouse complex in Provence, Georgian shops in Spitalfields, a traditional chalet in Gstaad, a folly by the Baltic, a private palace and gardens outside Tangiers, and a classical villa near Munich.  He is also known for his retail design work for Gieves & Hawkes, for whom he designed more than 120 stores across the world between 1991 and 2007.  A Brother of The Art    Workers Guild since 1991 and Master in 2015.  anthonypaine.com