Here you will find details of our committee.
Get in touch with the local committee e: northeastandcumbria@ciht.org.uk
Joanne is a Chartered Engineer and has worked in the Local Authority Transportation Sector for 25 years. Joanne graduated from the University of Teesside with a BEng (Hons) Degree in Civil Engineering and has worked in the traffic engineering, transport planning and highway development control areas.
Joanne leads a team of Professionals working to support the economic growth agenda, linking into strategic transport projects that are of regional importance.
Joanne has been located in the North East region her whole career and has worked from Technician level up to being a Service Manager, currently at Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. She has staffing responsibility along with budget management and project management duties in her current role.
Supporting the Local Plan, Joanne has worked as part of the team to identify necessary infrastructure throughout the Borough to mitigate the effects of development on the transport network. This includes working with developers and stakeholders and providing advice to Council Members of Planning Committee.
Joanne has been a Member of CIHT since 2003 and is an Associate Member of the Chartered Management Institute. Joanne has joined the CIHT North East region Committee in 2019 and is a STEM Ambassador promoting the Transportation career choice to young people.
Grace is an Associate Director at Wood, based in their Newcastle office. She is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 20 years’ experience specialising in transport planning and engineering projects for public and private sector clients in the UK and overseas. Her special interests are in future mobility, how transportation can help address climate change challenges, promote wellbeing and economic regeneration.
Grace graduated with a MSc in Transport Engineering and Operations from Newcastle University in 2000 after completing a BEng in Civil Engineering. She has worked on various highways, transport and regeneration projects including the infrastructure for the award winning Helix development (Science Central), Ashington North East Quarter and Leeds Public Transport Investment Programme. Prior to joining Wood, she worked for Mott MacDonald, Scott Wilson and JMP Consultants.
Stuart is an Operations and Safety Associate at WSP with over 35 years’ experience gained within the Private Sector, Local Authority and Contracting.
Stuart has extensive knowledge in highways and transportation related fields including highway maintenance, highway design, traffic engineering and traffic management, specialising in safe road design, road safety engineering and road safety audits for the last 20 years.
A Fellow of CIHT, Stuart joined CIHT in 2002 and has been actively involved in supporting the Committee since then.
Coming soon
Jack is a qualified Engineering Technician and Traffic Engineer seconded to Newcastle City Council by Waterman Aspen. As an emerging professional, Jack won CIHT Apprentice of the year 2022 in the North East & Cumbria region.
Peter is an Associate Director at WSP, based in the Newcastle office and is Place Lead for the North East Development Team. Peter is a Chartered Transport Planning Professional (CTPP), Fellow of Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation (FCIHT), and Member of Transport Planning Society (MTPS).
Peter is an experienced project manager responsible for project management, delivery, planning assessments as well as design and construction of development infrastructure schemes. Peter has gained a broad range of experience from working in both the private and public sectors throughout his career. He is experienced in leading multi – disciplinary and infrastructure teams on a wide range of town centre, brownfield regeneration sites, education and employment schemes and working closely with design teams and stakeholders to ensure the success of the project.
Peter is experienced in the planning, design, assessment, procurement, construction supervision and implementation strategies. Peter expanded his technical knowledge base into practical examples by specialising in development infrastructure planning and appraisal, with a particular interest in the use and promotion of more sustainable designs and modes of transport through delivery of home zones and multi-modal surfaces but also has become a specialist in the delivery of walking and cycling schemes.
Peter has held a number of other roles on the Committee including Events and Programme Co-ordinator, Junior Vice Chair and Vice Chair before coming Chair in 2021.
Nicola is a Senior Transport Planner at Arup, based in the Stockton on Tees office. She has 15 years' transport planning experience and specialises in data analysis and GIS. She became Vice Chair for CIHT North East & Cumbria in 2017 before serving as Chair until May 2021.
Graduating from the University of Leeds with a Masters in Geography in 2003, Nicola joined JMP Consultants in Newcastle as a Transport Planner where she specialised in accessibility analysis and GIS.
In 2007 Nicola joined Arup working in the Tees Valley primarily on development planning projects for both private and public sector clients. She gained the Transport Planning Professional (TPP) qualification in 2015. Nicola spent seven years on the Transport Planning Society Board, serving the last three years as Secretary, and joined the North East & Cumbria Committee in 2014, assisting with operations in the south of the region.
Rebecca began her career in transport consultancy in 2019 and joined CIHT as a Graduate Member soon after. She has since become a full Member and is working towards CTTP. She is a trustee of a running club who are the biggest inclusive running club in Newcastle, supporting LGBTQ+ runners and their allies to participate in sport.
Her committee role helps her actively increasing equality, diversity and inclusion in sport, and provides her with the opportunity for continued education through various online courses necessary for the role, listening to our members, and promoting participation regardless of an individual’s identity. Her previous experience working for Disability Services at Warwick University with and for disabled students, and with the Accessibility Officer to improve accessibility on campus, has further rounded my experience and knowledge of access needs and how to remove barriers for anyone who faces them.
Michael started his career as a Transport Planning Technician Apprentice at Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) in 2020, and moved into a Transport Delivery Officer role in 2022. Michael is a qualified Engineering Technician and Associate Member of CIHT, aswell as an Emerging Professional Member of the CIHT Council.
In his role at TVCA, Michael works on a range of sustainable transport projects as part of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) programme, including cycling and walking schemes, bus improvements and rail station enhancements.
Paul is a Fellow of the CIHT and Chartered Director of Transport Network Connect Ltd based in Newcastle. He has over 18 years experience working in both the private and public sector. In addition to Project Managing various schemes ranging from Public Realm, Active Travel and Highway design, Paul is an experienced Road Safety Auditor.
Graduating from Newcastle University in 2004, he then continued his studies in Civil Engineering at Teesside University before returning to Newcastle in 2015 to complete his Masters Degree in Transport Planning and Business Management.
Tim has over 45 years’ experience and currently works in the field of pre-planning highways and transportation for developments. He was previously involved in the design and project management of Trunk Road and local highway schemes.
Since graduating in Civil Engineering at Loughborough University in 1977, Tim has worked for Tyne & Wear County Council, Gateshead Council, W A Fairhurst & Partners and WSP, the latter two as a Technical Director. In 2010 he set up his own successful business.
Tim has been active within the CIHT since 1997 when he joined the North Eastern Branch Committee, where he was Recruitment Officer 1998-2002, Branch Chairman 2003-2004 and a Member of that Branch Committee and latterly of the North East & Cumbria Region Committee since 1997. He has been a Member of Council 2001-2007, 2008-2014 and 2016-2019 and 2020-2022, and between 1998 and 2022 has served at some time on each of the Membership Board, the Member Services Board, the Appian Trading Board, the Audit Committee, the Membership Applications Panel and the Self-Assessment Panel. He was Chair of the Membership Board and a Member of the Board of Trustees 2005-2007.
Ben is a Graduate Transport Planner at Milestone Transport Planning, based in Gateshead. He obtained an MSc in Transport Planning and Intelligent Transport Systems at Newcastle University in 2018.
His main area of work includes the preparation of Transport Assessments and Travel Plans to support planning applications, supported by other tasks including micro-simulation modelling and AutoCAD work.
Darran is an Associate Director at Milestone Transport Planning, based in Gateshead. Darren is a Fellow of CIHT and Chair of the Learned Society and Technical Stategy Board and is a member of the CIHT Council. He was also the Chair of the CIHT North East & Cumbria Committee from 2017 to 2019.
As part of his role, Darran offers transportation, highways and planning advice to both public and private sector clients, from project inception, through masterplanning and design, planning permission (and as an Expert Witness, if required), to completion of the scheme on site.
Graduating with a BEng (hons) in Civil & Environmental Engineering in 2001 from Leeds University, his experience includes six years as a Highway Engineer for Halcrow (now Jacobs) on the trunk road and motorway network, before moving to consultancy with Wardell Armstrong, Jacobs and latterly Fairhurst, before opening the Milestone office in 2015. Spending time seconded to York, Sunderland and Northumberland Councils, as well as his experience working in the private sector, Darran has experienced all aspects of the Highways & Transportation sector.
Phil is an Associate Director at WSP, based in the Newcastle office. He was elected as a Fellow of the CIHT in 2021 and was the inaugural Chairperson of the North East and Cumbria Region in 2015/16.
Phil heads WSP’s Active Travel and Sustainable Transport team across the Midlands, North and Scotland, leading a team of multi-disciplinary experts in planning, design, economics and appraisal.
He has been a CIHT committee member since 2009, holding a number of roles including Membership Officer, Chair of the Young Professionals committee and currently sites on CIHT’s Regions Panel.
Phil graduated from Newcastle University with an MSc in Transport Planning and Policy in 2006.
Neil is a Senior Associate Director with Jacobs and currently heads the Transport Planning team in their Newcastle office. Before joining the private sector in 2022, Neil was a Senior Lecturer in Transport Studies and Head of the Future Mobility Group at Newcastle University with research interests primarily in road safety and travel behaviour.
He is a Chartered Engineer, now with over 30 years’ professional experience in academia and the private sector, a CIHT branch committee member since 1992 and a former Chairperson of the (then) North Eastern branch (2014/15) and oversaw the merger with our colleagues in Cumbria.
At Jacobs, Neil is involved in a range of projects both in the UK and overseas covering road safety, zero emission vehicles and future mobility. Neil holds a BSc in Urban and Regional Planning and an MSc in Transport from the University of Wales, and a PhD in Civil Engineering (Transport) from Newcastle University.
Dr Faheem Ahmed Malik is a Lecturer in Future Transportation Mobility and is presently the Interim Head/Lead for Civil Engineering and Future Mobility Research Group at Northumbria University.
He holds a PhD in AI-based Hybrid Modelling for Future Transportation Network; his expertise lies in modelling Green and Sustainable Mobility and is a strong advocate for Road Safety and uptake of sustainable mobility. He has a range of experience of working on Transportation in United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Ireland, India, Mauritius, and France.
