Leading Planning Director visits University to inspire students

Neil Rowley, a Director in the Planning team of Savills, visited the University last week to present to Environmental Science and Geography students.

The final year students, who are taking a module entitled Sustainable Development: Land Use and Policy, are currently working on an assignment related to the planning application for the University of Northampton’s new Waterside Campus, which will open in September 2018. Savills are the main consultants dealing with the planning application for the build, and Neil Rowley’s presentation was based around how the planning process operates and how stakeholders are consulted. Neil is a town planner with particular experience of consents relating to educational and institutional uses, and after the presentation the students took the opportunity to ask Neil lots of questions related to their assessment.

Dr Janet Jackson, Senior Lecturer at the University of Northampton, explained: “It is fantastic to get highly qualified and experienced professionals talking to the students. In the final year of their course, Environmental Science and Geography BSc students are starting to seriously think about their careers after graduation. Neil Rowley was inspirational as he showed how the skill sets the students have been accumulating over the last three years are highly relevant to the work place.  There are lots of job opportunities and careers related in development and planning. We have had recent graduates gone on to Postgraduate qualifications in planning related subjects, and many of our Alumni are working in professional organisations where they need to consider the complex issues that arise from land use change.”

Find more information on studying Environmental Science at the University of Northampton.