HBF appoints Sam Stafford as Planning Director

HBF has appointed Sam Stafford as Planning Director. He will take up his new role in early July..

Sam has been a Chartered Town Planner since 2002 and has accumulated skills and experiences from across the property sector during this time.

In the early stages of his career Sam worked for a housebuilder in South Yorkshire, a planning and landscape consultancy and, following a move to Ripponden, Calderdale Council's development control team. The majority of Sam's experience between 2006 and 2014 was in development management as a planning consultant in multi-disciplinary environments.

In 2014 Sam joined Barratt Development and his work as a Regional Strategic Land Director involved working with the Divisional Barratt and David Wilson businesses in the North West and the West Midlands on their strategic land portfolios, engaging in so doing with local plans and national planning policy.

Sam is replacing the previous Planning Director, Andrew Whitaker, who is retiring after 28 years at HBF, and he will join the wider management team to continue to deliver the best possible representation for HBFs membership. The appointment of Sam comes at a pivotal time for planning, with the Government still set on reforming the system over the coming months, albeit to a lesser extent than originally proposed.

Speaking today, HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley:

“We are delighted to announce that Sam will be joining HBF. He brings a huge wealth of experience and his appointment will further strengthen our team as we work closely with the government on the future reforms. The problems our members are facing with regards to planning are never ending, and it is paramount that we are best placed to help the industry continue to deliver the housing that the country needs."

Sam Stafford said:

'I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the HBF. There has arguably never been a more pressing need for a strong, confident planning system, but I am struggling to recall a time in my career when the system has conveyed the impression to the extent it is doing now as being the opposite of these things. I will relish representing the house building industry in discussions with partners about how we work towards getting more and better local plans adopted and more and better applications approved.'

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For media enquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact Steve Turner on 020 7960 1606 or 07919 307760. Steve.turner@hbf.co.uk

Notes to editors

1. The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the representative body of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s member firms account for some 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.uk