Hugh Ellis
Hugh’s responsibilities as TCPA Policy Director include leading on policy development, briefings and engagement with central government and politicians. In 2018 he led the secretariat for the Raynsford Review, setting out a blue print for a new planning system in England. Since 2015 Hugh has co-authored three books, including ‘Rebuilding Britain’ and ‘Town Planning in Crisis’ with Kate Henderson, and ‘The Art of Building a Garden City’ with Katy Lock and Kate Henderson. Hugh was closely involved in the passage of the 2004 and 2008 Planning Acts, including providing evidence to public bill committees and working closely with parliamentarians on both Commons and Lords committee stages of subsequent planning legislation. Hugh has given oral evidence to the House of Commons Select Committees on various planning inquiries. He has led on TCPA campaign work on ‘planning out poverty’ and planning for people, and he is a strong critic of policies such as Permitted Development. Hugh sits on the UK Government Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Planning Sounding Board.
Hugh regularly delivers workshops to local authorities, including with Oxfordshire County Council on place-shaping, in Warrington as part of the North West Improvement and Efficiency Partnership climate change skills programme, in Wales on climate change adaptation, and with the TCPA New Communities Group on issues such as strategic planning. Hugh has also delivered a number of local training sessions and local conversations on the invitation of Elected Members on planning committees, such as in Derbyshire, Oxfordshire and Sheffield. He is also the MC for the TCPA’s music event ‘Land of Promise’.
Prior to joining TCPA in March 2009, Hugh was the National Planning Advisor to Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, before which he spent a number of years working for the Coalfield Planning Cooperative on community planning projects. He has a Doctorate in Land Use Planning from the University of Sheffield, and he is an Honorary Professor at Queens University, Belfast.
