Senior Management Team
The Authority is led day-to-day by a Senior Management Team comprising of:
- Trevor Beattie – Chief Executive
Contact: trevor.beattie@southdowns.gov.ukTrevor Beattie is Chief Executive for the South Downs National Park Authority, a role he took up in January 2012.
He grew up in rural West Sussex and has lived close to the South Downs for most of his life. Following his early career in the Department of Environment where he was Private Secretary to four successive Ministers of Local Government and Planning, Trevor joined English Partnerships where he became Corporate Strategy Director.
In 2008 he led the team that established the Homes and Communities Agency, a new public body with a budget of £5 billion that combined the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and the Academy for Sustainable Communities. He stayed on as Director of Strategy and was also Chairman of the Land and Society Commission of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Trevor is a Governor of the University of Brighton and a member of the Greater Brighton Economic Board.
Trevor is responsible for the day to day leadership and management of the Authority, for ensuring the accountability and value for money of its programmes, for advising the Members on its policies and future direction and for implementing their strategic plans.
- Tim Slaney – Director of Planning
Contact: tim.slaney@southdowns.gov.ukTim Slaney is the Director of Planning for the South Downs National Park. He started work with the South Downs National Park Authority in November 2011. Prior to that, he worked at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead as Head of Planning and Regeneration. Tim has worked in a number of urban and rural District and Unitary authorities in the south west and south east National Park Planning Service in technical and leadership roles. This has included managing Planning, Building Control, Conservation, Transport and Highways, and Regeneration functions. He has led on a number of joint partnership working arrangements and projects across Authorities and service providers.
Tim leads and oversees the provision of the National Park Planning Service including Development Management service, Plan Policy making and Sustainable Futures. In the Development Management arena Tim is responsible for the “hosted” arrangement, including contractual and performance matters, whereby 84% of the 5,000+ planning applications are dealt with by some District Councils. He is also responsible for the first single Local Plan across the whole of the National Park, which adopts a landscape led approach. The Authority also provides support and leadership as appropriate to over 50 Neighbourhood combined and Community Plans both within and beyond the National Park. Tim also has a key corporate role representing the Authority on many matters including rural economic growth, tourism and affordable housing provision.
- Andrew Lee – Director of Countryside Policy & Management
Contact: andrew.lee@southdowns.gov.ukAndrew Lee is the Director of Countryside Policy and Management at the South Downs National Park Authority. After graduating from the University College of Wales Aberystwyth, Andrew obtained a 2:1 BSc Joint Honours in an Environmental Biology. The first ten years of Andrew’s career were spent at the Sussex Wildlife Trust, the last five as its Chief Executive. He then joined the World Wildlife Fund where for 10 years he undertook a number of Senior Management roles related to its UK Policy & Campaigning work and its Devolved operations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2005 he became the Chief Executive of the Government watchdog and policy advisor for the Sustainable Development Commission, a role which he held until it was wound up by Ministers in 2010/11.
On the 1st April 2011 Andrew took up the post of Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the South Downs National Park Authority, and is now Director of Countryside Policy & Management following a restructure in 2016. Andrew is particularly interested in restoration of biodiversity at a landscape scale and all aspects of sustainable development. He was a Trustee of charity Global Action Plan (GAP) which works with business and communities to reduce carbon emissions and encourage more sustainable behaviour, and is now a Trustee of the Hampshire and IOW Wildlife Trust.