Jan Bessell FRTPI

President, Royal Town Planning Institute

Jan is a Strategic Planning Adviser at Pinsent Masons law firm and has significant experience of examining (former Examining Inspector at the Planning Inspectorate) and advising on a wide range of nationally significant infrastructure and major development projects across the full range of sectors including new settlements and urban extensions, energy, water and waste water, transport, business and commercial, ports and airports dealing with a wide range of issues from development consent orders, strategic plans, EIA, biodiversity, design, Water Framework Regulations, Habitats Regulations Assessment, community engagement and compulsory purchase. Jan has been recognised as one of ‘the most influential women in UK planning’. She is immediate past Board Chair of the National Infrastructure Planning Association and is a member of the Building with Nature Standards Board. Jan is RTPI President, a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute (FRTPI) and currently sits as Vice Chair of the RTPI English Policy Committee, Vice Chair of the Nations and Regions Panel and is North East Regional Representative on General Assembly. She also continues to be engaged with Planning Aid