Mark Southgate has been appointed as the new Director of Casework at the Planning Inspectorate. He will have responsibility for casework management using his expertise in planning and land use to support the Planning Inspectorate’s mission to help shape well-planned environments and deliver sustainable development.

As Director of Casework Mark will be responsible for the integrated management of all casework in England, apart from Development Plans. He will also contribute to the strategic evolution of the Planning Inspectorate and its ongoing programme of corporate restructuring and culture change.

The Director of casework is responsible for the appeal and associated casework of around 390 Planning Inspectors. Planning appeals under Section 78 of the Planning Act form the major part of the casework volume, however casework also includes a variety of other types including Enforcement Appeals, Advertisement Appeals and planning applications called in by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, as well as casework generated by the work of other Government Departments such as environmental appeals and Rights of Way work from DEFRA, road and other types of transport orders from the Dept of Transport and Listed Building Consent Appeals from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport . In 2007/08 The Planning Inspectorate’s received an intake of 30,212 across all case types (excluding Development Plans).

Mark is currently Head of Planning and Environmental Assessment at the Environment Agency. He will take up the new post in the autumn.

Upon accepting the position Mark said:

"I am delighted to be joining the Planning Inspectorate at such an important time for planning. The government has placed planning at the centre of its place shaping agenda and the Inspectorate has a vital role to play in ensuring that Local Planning Authorities produce sound spatial plans and in regulating the system through the appeals process. I am committed to further promote the Inspectorate’s well deserved reputation for excellence and quality decisions, as well as ensuring that appeal cases are dealt with as effectively and efficiently as possible. It is a privilege to become part of such an important organisation, one that is held in the highest regard by planners and the public alike".

About Mark Southgate

Mark Southgate is a chartered town planner who read Geography and a post-graduate planning degree in Town Planning at Southbank Polytechnic, London. In 1997 he obtained a Certificate in Ecology and Landscape from Cambridge University.

Mark worked in local government planning enforcement and development control in Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council before moving on in 1991 to The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds where he held various senior positions before becoming Head of Planning and Regional Policy.

Mark has held the post of Head of Planning and Environmental Assessment with the Environment Agency since January 2004. His responsibilities in this position have included developing and promoting the Environment Agency’s planning and environmental assessment (EA) policy and directing the Agency’s ‘process’ involvement in planning and EA casework.

Mark is currently chair of the National Planning Forum and is a member of the Department for Communities and Local Government Sounding Board, e-planning Programme Board and Executive. He has previously been a member of the Advisory Group to Kate Barker on her independent review of land use planning in 2006.

Mark has written and co-authored many articles for planning and conservation journals. He is co-author of Living Spaces: a vision for the future of planning (2002).