Panel Chair 

Sharon Darcy

Sharon brings over 20 years of board experience and has sat on multiple expert advisory panels, including for Ofgem, the UK Regulators’ Network and the National Infrastructure Commission, and has been a Council member of Which?. Sharon was most recently the CEO of Sustainability First, a leading environmental, social and economic think tank focused on utilities.

Policy Director - Green Alliance 

Dustin Benton

Dustin is policy director at Green Alliance, leading their work across energy, resources, and the natural environment, with a particular focus on getting on track to net zero emissions. Between 2020-21, he was on secondment with Defra, where he was chief analytical advisor to the National Food Strategy.

Strategic and Digital Planning Advisor - 

Pinsent Masons LLP

Dr. Sue Chadwick

Sue’s background is as a solicitor specialising in planning law with a sideline in academia. Her current specialism is digital planning, specifically the intersection between regulatory norms and emerging technologies and the implications of increasingly surveillant spaces and places in terms of equality and human rights.

Infrastructure Specialist - Royal Town Planning Institute

Harry Steele

Harry is the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Infrastructure Specialist, focusing on all elements of infrastructure planning from transport to energy and climate change. Having previously worked on some of the nation’s biggest infrastructure projects, he now helps to shape the future of planning through research projects and collaboration with decision-makers throughout the UK. 

Chairman of the Community Planning Alliance and Founder of Pylons East Anglia

Rosie Pearson

Rosie is a planning and environmental campaigner with a passion for wildlife and the countryside. She campaigns for greater community participation in the planning system, at the earliest possible stages, for greater environmental protections, and for the right homes, jobs and infrastructure in the right places. Her current roles, all voluntary, include being Chairman of the Community Planning Alliance, founder of Pylons East Anglia and on the North Essex Farm Cluster team.  

Partner - Afallen LLP

Dr. David Clubb

David is a Chartered Physicist who has twenty years of professional experience in sectors including renewable energy, digital strategy, and in implementation of the Well-being of Future Generations Act. He sits on the Welsh Government’s Equality in STEM Board.

Founder and Director - Climate Insights

Dr. Karen Barrass

Karen has been working on climate issues for 20 years. Her extensive experience lies in research and advocacy - developing tools and leading campaigns to affect positive change. Until 2023, Karen led research and policy at UK100. Working across a raft of sectors that need decarbonising, she has pioneered the understanding of policy approaches that can deliver multiple co-benefits.  In 2023, she established Climate Insights - through which she offers bespoke research and policy analysis to organisations working to deliver transformational change.

Rural Surveyor - National Farmers Union

Alice Sharlot MRICS FAAV

As a Chartered Surveyor Alice represents the NFU on major infrastructure projects and compulsory purchase, particularly HS2 and NSIPS. She has represented NFU members affected by infrastructure schemes and Development Consent Orders across England.

Head of Public Policy, Risk and Environment  - 

The National Trust for Scotland

Diarmid Hearns

Diarmid is Head of Public Policy at the National Trust for Scotland, leading on engagement with government and with other non-governmental organisations. He has recently been working on the revision of Scotland’s planning policies, the management of the historic environment, and the public value of landscapes. He is currently developing the Trust’s approach to climate change adaptation and mitigation, including the potential use of renewables.   

Executive Adviser  - Energy Systems Catapult

Eric Brown 

Eric is Executive Adviser at Energy Systems Catapult and the former Chief Technology Officer, having been part of the team that established the organisation. He is also a Professor of Practice in Energy Systems at the University of Strathclyde. In addition, he is an independent consultant in energy systems, undertaking engagements, projects and initiatives that address the challenges and opportunities of energy system transformation in pursuit of Net Zero.

Planning, Advice & Engagement Manager  - 

the Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Alan Farquhar

Alan is the Planning, Advice & Engagement Manager with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. He is a Chartered Environmentalist with over 30 years of experience in environmental and waste management. He is a member of the Scottish Key Agencies planning group and for the past 13 years, he has managed SEPA’s national planning team, working collaboratively with planning authorities and developers and providing formal advice on issues such as flooding in relation to a range of development types as part of the formal planning process.