Reading: Planning consultancy boosts Thames Valley team

Planning consultancy Lichfields has added two new members of staff to its Thames Valley team. Senior planner Sarah Watts joins the Reading-based office from Lichfields’ London head office and planner Emily Rickard has joined from Persimmon Homes.

Lichfields senior director and Thames Valley office head Daniel Lampard has welcomed the two, saying: “The Thames Valley office continues to develop a strong pipeline of work and  an extensive portfolio of clients and we are delighted to welcome both Sarah and Emily to the growing team.”

Watts hails from Reading and completed an MSc in Development Planning at the town’s university before joining Lichfields in 2013.

Over the past six years she has assisted and led on the preparation and submission of applications and appeals on a wide-variety of projects, including a major, mixed-use development at Guildford Station on behalf of Solum (Guildford) LLP.

Rickard joins Lichfields from Persimmon Homes. She graduated from Oxford Brookes University, in June 2018, having completed an MPlan in City and Regional Planning.

Lichfields Thames Valley office opened in 2015 and has worked on major projects including the recent completion of an employment study for West Oxfordshire District Council on proposals for the new Cotswold Garden Village.