Links with Cardiff University strengthened….

My links with Cardiff University date back to 1981 when I studied for a Masters in Town Planning at the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST), which merged with Cardiff University in 1988. I lectured Planning undergraduate students in 1982 whilst a Masters student and this ignited my passion for learning, education and academia, which continues to this day.

I had to wait another 29 years and until 2011 to be asked by the Course Leader, Dr Huw Thomas, to return to deliver an interactive Development Management Workshop for Planning Masters students at the School of Geography and Planning. It must have gone well as I have just completed the 10th anniversary of the Workshop, which has moved from a pig farm case study to a sequential test, retail example and now a complex policy conundrum involving a village residential development.

Over the last two years, I have also lectured students on the Planning & Real Estate module about the differences between public and private sector planning and the links with the University have been further strengthened with the agreement that Chadwick Town Planning Limited will sponsor the “LIve Project”, a substantial group exercise on the Planning Masters’ course. A prize is provided each year to the group that demonstrates excellence and professionalism in their research, report-writing, recommendations and presentation.

It is a real honour to be associated with such a great University and School, giving me the opportunity to put something back into education and pass on knowledge, learning and experience to students. Sitting in those lecture theatres all those years ago, I never thought for a second that I would be in such a privileged position.