Just Awarded – Three New TPPs

Three TPS members, Nicola Kane, Andi Redhead and Emma Dalton were among those awarded the TPP qualification following professional review interviews in November.  All three see award of the TPP as helping to demonstrate to others their high level of professional competence in transport planning.  They also found the process of submitting for award demanding but highly rewarding.  The next round of Professional Review Interviews will be in May, for which applications must be submitted by 5 April.

Nicola Kane TPP

A Senior Associate with Peter Brett Associates’ and head of their Manchester transport planning team, Nicola Kane is already a chartered town planner (MRTPI) but thought the development of the TPP ideal for someone like her, who had come to specialise in transport planning.  However, with a busy job and two small children, it took her a while to find the time to complete her Portfolio of Evidence. But Nicola was determined to make the time available, not least because knowing that award of the TPP would demonstrate that her professional competence had been independently assessed, giving her greater credibility when advising clients and representing PBA.  Having the TPP would also strengthen her ability to mentor colleagues through the TPS PDS to the TPP.  Nicola found “completing my portfolio of evidence also provided me with an extremely comprehensive record of my career to-date”.

A former TPS Executive Committee member, Nicola was also driven by a belief that “I should lead by example as the manager of a PBA transport planning team and in my corporate role as a member of the company’s Transport Innovation Group which has been tasked with promoting best practice, high professional standards and knowledge sharing across the company's 90-strong transport team”.  .

Nicola thought the “TPP review process was very rigorous and demanding but also a very satisfying and constructive process”, helping her identify gaps in her knowledge and experience, and giving her greater focus for her future professional development. “I would highly recommend anyone working in transport planning to pursue the TPP qualification. I believe it is crucial in helping to raise the profile and professionalism of transport planners.”

Andi Redhead TPP

A Senior Engineer with consultants Bryan G Hall in their recently established London Office. Andi has10 years experience in strategic and development planning in both the public and private sectors. That experience includes major scheme business case development, strategic scheme assessment, development planning, junction improvement schemes, transport assessments, travel plans, access appraisals and parking studies,  His current role is focused on providing transport planning advice to a range of private clients to help support their development aspirations through the planning process; “there is a real sense of achievement when gaining planning consent for a client and seeing their developments constructed and occupied.”

Andi decided that he wanted to work towards gaining the TPP qualification just after it was launched. “It is important to me to be able to demonstrate to clients and stakeholders that I am a dedicated and experienced professional. committed to the transport planning profession. Gaining the TPP qualification endorses the core range of transport planning skills I have developed over the past 10 years as well as demonstrating my commitment to continued professional development. I am very proud to have been awarded the TPP qualification.”

“Working towards the TPP, with the support of my previous and current employers has helped me develop a wide range of transport planning skills including technical assessment techniques, communication, negotiation and project management competencies that give me the depth of knowledge needed to provide well informed and expert transport consultancy advice to my clients.”

Emma Dalton TPP

Emma began her career as a Graduate Transport Planner with Jacobs in 2005, and “I was fortunate to obtain a wide range of experience, including transport assessments, travel plans, feasibility studies, data collection and monitoring and the development of policies and strategies early in my career”.  She also completed a part time transport Masters at Southampton, broadening her knowledge.

Since 2010, Emma has been a Senior Transport Planner in Jacobs Exeter office, leading the Traffic and Transport team. Through this, she is involved in a wide variety of projects, predominately for Devon County, ranging from small scale surveys to major infrastructure projects as well as Road Safety Audits and accident prevention studies, but her key role at the moment is managing a Devon County Council Local Sustainable Transport Fund programme.  On top of that “as a PRINCE2 Practitioner, a portion of my time is dedicated to project management”.

Emma was keen to pursue the TPP qualification “to demonstrate the broad skills that I have obtained so far in my career and to achieve professional recognition. I think it’s a great way to consolidate my experience and to be able to display this to others in the industry. I would recommend others to go for the qualification - it’s great for professional development and provides a real sense of achievement.”