Meet the South Downs planner…Kevin Wright
December 15, 2022
Find out more about Kevin Wright, Planning Policy Officer for the National Park Authority.
Three words that sum up your job in planning?
Artisan, Figures, Perseverance
Okay, so what’s your role at the National Park?
Planning Policy officer – One of my main tasks during the year is producing the Authority Monitoring Report (AMR). This is a leviathan of a document with several heads. The AMR tells us how effective our plan is, and whether we’re meeting our vision and objective for the National Park. This is critical in ensuring our plan delivers the purposes and duty. There are a lot of numbers!
Apart from this, I support the evidence gathering for the team, including the work we’re currently doing on the Local Plan Review.
With help from my planning colleagues, I was also the author of the Parking Supplementary Planning Document.
What appealed to you about working in planning?
I did geography as a degree. Planning is arguably applied human geography. That was the connection and I liked the idea of making a difference in people’s lives through good planning.
Can you describe your typical day?
Recently it involved a lot of time looking at spreadsheets and doing calculations. Thankfully, this is only for an intense couple of months during the year. I get to go out on site for a lot of the evidence gathering. This is great and an opportunity to think about the possibilities of a site and the opportunity for good planning.
Best thing about working in planning for a National Park?
I love the connection to the landscape. I enjoy the people that work here and the feeling there is for the place.
What do you love about the South Downs National Park?
I grew up in the area and fairly close to the sea. When I have lived away, it was always the South Downs I missed more than the coast. Lots of memories from childhood of the Downs. It is a beautiful place.
Currently reading/watching?
The World Cup. I love sport. Now more watching than playing. I do love a bit of football. I have found I can watch the game at any level and get some enjoyment from it. Usually observing what people do and their decision making and thinking what would I have done in that situation. This works well when watching a game at the local park – less so at the World Cup! I can only do a tiny fraction of what the international players do. Who would have thought?!
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Beans on toast with cheese. I suspect it may be a short life.
Who inspires you?
People who suffer and come through adversity.
Describe your perfect day (when not working, of course!)
Meeting up with friends and family. Eating and drinking would definitely be involved. As it is the perfect day and therefore unlikely to happen, it would be watching England beat Brazil at lunchtime to win the World Cup. And in the evening Brighton winning the final home game of the season to become Premier League champions. Yes, I do believe in miracles.