People's Awards Judging Panel 2019

Tricia Hayes is Director General for Roads, Places and Environment in the Department for Transport. Tricia first joined DfT in 1987. Her civil service career has focused largely on transport policy, with roles covering almost all modes of transport; including rail, road, aviation and sustainable travel issues.

From 2013 to 2016 Tricia was the UK’s Director of Aviation, responsible for all aspects of domestic and international aviation policy, including aviation security.

Tricia’s earlier roles included a 3 year loan to the FCO to run the transport desk at the British Embassy in Washington DC. She has also held posts in ministerial private offices, and spent 2 years at Defra working with Jonathon Porritt setting up the multi-sectoral Sustainable Development Commission.

Tricia is the Head of the Policy Profession within the Department for Transport, chairs the DfT Board sub-committee on Strategy, and is the Board level Champion for Race and Faith.

Tricia is originally from Northern Ireland, and is married with 3 children. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation.

Stephen Joseph is a transport policy consultant and visiting professor at the University of Hertfordshire. He chairs the editorial board of Bauer media's Smart Transport programme and is a trustee of the Foundation for Integrated Transport. He stepped down last year as Chief Executive of Campaign for Better Transport, having been in that role since 1988. 

Stephen was a member of the Commission for Integrated Transport from 1999-2005, having been one of the panel of external advisers on the Transport White Paper 1997-8, and was a member of the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (SACTRA) during its inquiry on transport and the economy. He was also on the steering group for the Government’s road user charging feasibility study 2003-4, and was a member of challenge panels or advisory groups for Government plans on high-speed rail, eco-towns, transport appraisal and the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.

He was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1996 for services to transport and the environment, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire in November 2010. 

Mary has over 25 years’ experience in the development, construction and regeneration industry, working across the private, registered provider and consultancy sectors. She has been involved in some of the largest housing-led regeneration programmes in the UK and is responsible for Places for People Group’s large-scale new places. Her current programme has a GDV of over £5.5bn and includes a 10,000 home new development at Gilston to the north of Harlow and 6,500 new homes delivered through joint ventures. Previously, she worked in the private sector on large-scale, mixed-tenure developments in the consultancy sector, specialising in public/private sector partnerships and housing market renewal.

Mary is Trustee and Chair of the Town & Country Planning Association, a Trustee of MOBIE, an educational charity encouraging innovation in housing design and delivery, and a Director Allia, a Social Impact company. She joined Places for People in 2004, becoming a Main Board Director in 2010.

Steve began his career as a trainee planner at Epping Forest having studied geography at Durham. He took a post graduate qualification and became a Royal Town Planning Institute  (RTPI) member in 1982. following a period at Dartford, Steve moved to Yorkshire to be Head of Development Control and then in 1988, he was made Head of Planning.

In 1996, Steve was appointed as a Director of Planning and Environmental services which included all front-line services except for housing benefits.

During 2004/05, Steve was president of the Planning Officers Society.  Steve took up his present role as Chief Planner at the Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government in 2008. In this role, he has advised on a series of planning reforms, most recently the first revision of the NPPF. He is the head of Profession and done significant work to promote and champion the role of planning in the civil service. A current objective is to raise the profile of the benefits of good design across Whitehall and beyond.