Event Information

Peter Peacock acts as Policy Director for Community Land Scotland. He has a background in community development, is a former Council Leader, MSP and Scottish Government Minister, has served on a number of public bodies and worked in local government, the Third Sector, and has run his own consultancy business in public policy matters. In his work for Community Land Scotland he has been active in helping secure legislative change to empower communities through new rights in relation to land and public assets.

Andrew Bibby is a business writer and journalist, specialising in the co-operative and not-for-profit sectors. In a voluntary capacity he is Secretary of the Calder Valley Community Land Trust, which is undertaking developments of affordable housing to rent in the Todmorden and Hebden Bridge areas of Calderdale. He previously was active in the successful transfer of Hebden Bridge Town Hall into community ownership.

Rob grew up on the limestones of Rutland before immersing himself deep in the geological record at Liverpool University. Gradually, Rob crawled up the geological column through to the recent past by studying the record of climate change contained with the changing pattern of waterlogged plants within Britain’s peatlands. At the surface and back in the present, Rob explored a highly damaged landscape through drainage, peat cutting, afforestation and land ‘reclamation’ for agriculture; a future in nature conservation beckoned. This started with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, conserving lowland peat bogs, and continued through the Sheffield, Hampshire and now Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts as their respective Chief Executives, working on, amongst other things, lowland heaths, marine wildlife, urban nature conservation, river restoration, high nature farming and, of course, continuing work on peatland conservation. Rob is now the long standing Chief Executive of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, responsible for 120 staff, 600 volunteers and 50 apprenticeships.

Cate Chapman works as co-director of the Ecological Land Co-operative, a social enterprise working to create affordable access to land for small-scale ecological farming in England through the creation of low-impact residential smallholdings. Cate also runs a small copy-editing business, Skylark Editing, taking on both book editing and academic work. She occasionally writes, and is part of the editorial team for the Dark Mountain Project, where she has also contributed work.

Emma joined Community Energy England as its Chief Executive in January 2015. Prior to joining CEE, Emma was the General Manager of Sheffield Renewables, a community renewable energy group that installs solar PV on community buildings. In parallel to this she worked on two EU projects looking at renewable energy and green urban systems. She has also worked for both local and regional government on sustainable development policy. 

Anne Chapman is a director of MORE Renewables, the community renewable energy organisation for the Morecambe Bay area.  She previously worked as an environmental consultant and has a PhD in environmental philosophy.  She was a City Councillor in Lancaster for eight years, and has been involved in a number of community organisations in Lancaster.  On the national stage she has been a director of Friends of the Earth and is currently a director of Green House Think Tank.

Mark established Shared Assets in 2012.  He has over 20 years experience of working with communities on environmental issues and contributes his expertise across the full range of Shared Assets work, including our policy, research, advocacy, and advice and support services. He has acted as an advisor to Defra, DCLG, and the Canal and River Trust, on issues such as working with civil society, asset transfer, and community engagement. Mark has a BSc in Biological Sciences from Birmingham University, a Diploma in Public Administration from Warwick Business School and is a 2012 Clore Social Fellow. He lives on a narrowboat and is currently travelling the U.K.’s waterways.