Johanna is a dual-qualified English barrister and Scottish solicitor (now non-practising). She practised as a barrister at a leading set of chambers in London for 10 years, specialising in planning, administrative and public law, and local government law, and ranked as a leading planning junior in the Legal 500.

On returning to Scotland, Johanna was the first woman to lead Stirling Council and the youngest council leader in Scotland at that time. As council leader, she secured a historic £214m City Region Deal for Stirling and Clackmannanshire, closed the gender pay gap for council employees, amongst other achievements.

Following her decision to move on from politics, Johanna worked with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on a programme of work to ensure that equalities best practices is embedded into City Region and Growth Deals.

Johanna joined Planning Aid Scotland from the Government, Regulation and Competition team at Brodies LLP, where she regularly advised across public, private and third sectors on all aspects of planning, administrative, public, local government and regulatory law.

Dr John Boyle leads the Rettie & Co Research Team, providing a cutting-edge research and consultancy function. His work informs clients on sales, lettings, investment and development opportunities. He also analyses the current status of property markets and assesses how they are likely to change. Over the last 17 years, he has worked for all of the major house builders in Scotland, the Scottish Government, many local authorities and investors. He led the Scottish Government’s study into the 5-year Review of the Home Report. He sits on Homes for Scotland’s Policy Advisory Group and is a member of the Society of Property Researchers and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Kirsty Macari is Co-Head of Undergraduate Programmes in DJCAD at the University of Dundee with a remit across Architecture and Urban Planning along with Contemporary Art Practice. Kirsty studied Town and Regional Planning and Urban Design combined with significant public service practice across Planning and Economic Development before joining the University of Dundee.

Board Member of Architecture & Design Scotland, Depute Chair of the Planning Schools Forum and is involved in the RTPI's Education and Lifelong Learning Committee and General Assembly. She is currently Immediate Past Convenor of RTPI Scotland having spent 2023 as Convenor focussed on planning education and digital planning futures.

Craig McLaren is Scotland's first National Planning Improvement Champion, a role that was established in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 to monitor the performance of planning authorities and support them to identify and tackle areas of improvement. Craig is based in the Improvement Service and took up post in September 2023.

Prior to that he was Director of Scotland, Ireland and English Regions in the Royal Town Planning Institute and previously was Director of the Scottish Centre for Regeneration in Communities Scotland/ Scottish Government; Chief Executive of SURF (Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum); Scottish Policy Officer at RTPI; and a planner in the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Craig is a Fellow of both the RTPI and the RSA. He has also sat on the Boards of Scotland's Towns Partnership, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Greenspace Scotland, Resilient Scotland and the Jim Boyack Memorial Trust.

I became Head of Planning in the biggest Council in Scotland 2 years ago when Planning had just become part of a larger department - Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability- with Planning, Building Standards, Housing, Transport, Sustainability and others as well as operational teams. This year the new Scottish National Planning Framework emerged at the same time as we started preparing our new City Development Plan. One of the challenges facing the city just now is the need for different forms of residential development such as student accommodation which has generated a huge amount of development interest. I am the vice chair of the Heads of Planning Scotland Performance and Practice subgroup.

Born in Glasgow, went to school and University in Dublin , where I did a law degree at Trinity College before returning to Glasgow to do a Masters in Planning at Strathclyde University. After a brief but enjoyable period in the Lake District (South Lakeland District Council) where I was involved with historic building grants, and renewable energy, I started at Glasgow District Council in policy planning. In 1996 I moved to development management (planning applications) and have been a case officer dealing with major applications, a manager, the business manager for Planning and Building Standards, and now Head of Planning.

Stefano is a commercial and pragmatic development planner with a strong customer focus. Stefano has nearly 30 years of UK professional experience of managing multi-disciplinary teams within a planning, environmental, design and engineering consultancy.

He has extensive experience in providing development planning and project management services in the environment, infrastructure, energy, commercial, industrial, housing and mixed-use sectors. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute (FRTPI) with experience in statutory planning (including approvals & consents and expert witness), sustainability, regeneration, master planning & urban design, consultation & engagement strategies and tools & development economics. He is a seasoned practitioner in stakeholder engagement and the development of communication strategies, as well as the use of appraisal and assessment tools.

Stefano has successfully advised, negotiated, and delivered complex land development and infrastructure projects of ranging sizes. He has worked in both the private and public sectors, particularly pertaining to the principles and practice of the economics of urban regeneration, land development, sustainability, urban design, complex environmental assessment, and project management.

Extensive UK-wide experience of town planning and development. Experience in the private sector, local government and central government, having solved a wide range of interesting infrastructure challenges including S36 energy consents. Skilled in securing planning permission for renewable energy, housing, commercial and leisure developments. Highly experienced in influencing policy development and managing Government relations. Experienced Chair of a land investment committee which assessed new development proposals and provided advice to regional businesses to drive success and meet targets. Focused commercial perspective and ability to lead complex projects, whilst also having a keen eye on the human side of business, leading a large team, coaching and mentoring colleagues and working with regional businesses across the UK. Draws on a broad background, having worked as a management consultant at PWC focused on change projects within the property sector, as a Chief Officer in local government, as a senior Scottish Government official and as a planning and development leader within the ports, renewable energy and housebuilding industries. Past Chair of the Scottish Property Federation and a member of the Board at BE-ST.