Three members of the Society, Keith Barber, Richard Cann and Paul Holloway, were awarded the TPP qualification following their Professional Review Interviews in May.

Keith Barber sees the TPP as

‘demonstrating that you have sufficient breadth and depth of technical and managerial competencies which, together with ongoing personal development and business awareness, helps clients to achieve successful outcomes’. Adding that ‘transport planning is an excellent combination of transport, planning, economics, environmental issues, politics and project management. ‘

Keith, who has been with Jacobs for nearly 10 years, is a TPS Professional Development Scheme mentor, and is responsible for training and developing the transport teams in Jacobs’ Leeds and Manchester offices, With 23 years’ experience in transport planning, he is an experienced project manager and independent verifier, specialising in multi-disciplinary scheme appraisal, economic analysis, traffic assessments, travel plans, traffic modelling, business case preparation, monitoring and evaluation, public consultations and public inquiries.

Richard Cann sees the TPP as

‘filling the key gap in accreditation that previously existed, giving the transport planning profession a qualification that truly recognises the breadth of skills and capabilities required.  I therefore worked through the process with the full support of my employers, who also recognise the importance of being able to offer accredited professionals to clients, particularly as some of our major clients now specifically ask for staff to be TPP qualified.  I’m extremely happy to call myself a Transport Planning Professional, and am now encouraging younger staff following the TPS Professional Development Scheme’, Given his experience in completing the Portfolio of Evidence and undergone a Professional Review Interview, Richard’s key tips are: ‘to read the guidance thoroughly, attend the regular TPS TPP and Professional Development Workshops, and, if possible, find an engaged mentor.  The process of developing the Portfolio of Evidence is fairly time consuming: those of us ‘retrofitting’ an application will find it more difficult than those more junior staff who have the structure of the TPS PDS to help them.  Regularly reviewing and updating your CV, keeping the Technical Skill Units in mind, will help the applicant immensely.

After gaining an undergraduate Economics degree, and then a Masters in Transportation Planning and Policy, both from Newcastle University, Richard joined MVA in 1996 before moving on to Faber Maunsell (now AECOM) in Edinburgh in 2004, working on the modelling and appraisal of a number of schemes, including the Forth Replacement Crossing and the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, as well as international toll and other airport rail link demand forecasting projects.   He is now an associate director with AECOM, heading their strategic modelling team in Scotland.

Like Richard, Paul Holloway considered that until the TPP was launched there was no single professional qualification that recognised the wide range of work that he contributes to, adding ‘the variety of project work I have been involved in over recent years helped me to develop the weaker technical skill areas. Thanks to this I am very pleased to have been awarded the TPP qualification. Holding the TPP will help ensure that I continue to understand the ‘wider picture’ and will strengthen my role in managing projects and supporting colleagues in developing their technical skills.”

Paul has nearly 20 years of experience in transport planning, gained through a range of local authority and consultancy roles and is now a Senior Transport Consultant with CH2M HILL, where he has led, or contributed to, a number of client projects in transport policy and strategy development, master-planning, and sustainable travel including travel demand management. He is particularly proud to have been a member of the London 2012 Travel Advice to Business consultant panel when he worked closely with a range of businesses across London to ensure that they were well prepared for the Games. For that last 18 months, he has been on secondment to Transport for London’s (TfL) Transport Planning and Projects team. Here he has contributed to high profile interchange improvement projects and is currently supporting the TfL project manager for Crossrail 2.