Chairs biographies
Mary Taylor
Brecon Beacons
Mary Taylor is a retired Health Professional. She is married to a retired Teaching Hospital Consultant. Former positions have included County Councillor, former Governor of Crickhowell High School, former member of Community Health Council, and former member of Dial-a-Ride, Crickhowell. Mary is currently a Trustee of Crickhowell Volunteer Bureau, former Treasurer of Brecon and Radnor Conservatives, and has stood as candidate for the National Assembly in Caerphilly. She is also Chair of the Marie Curie Support Group. Register of interests: Joint owner of the property, The White House, Llangenny. She is an appointed Member to Blas Cymru Cyfnnedig (formerly Welsh Water). She is Vice-Chair of Council for National Parks with responsibility for Wales and is Chair of the CNP Welsh Advisory Committee.
Proff. Kerry Turner CBE
Broads Authority
Kerry Turner is Director of CSERGE (Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment), which is sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council and Director of the Zuckerman Institute for Connective Environmental Research (ZICER). Kerry chairs the Broads Authority and serves on the East of England Regional Assembly. He previously chaired the Broads Authority’s Environment Committee and the Standards Committee. He also serves on the East of England Sustainable Development Round Table, DEFRA’s Flood Defence and Coastal Protection R and D panel and it’s Estuaries Research Advisory Group.
Kerry previously served on the Board of the National Rivers Authority, and the UK Environment Agency's Anglian Region Environment Protection Advisory Committee and was a member of the UK Climate Change Impacts Review Group. From 1995-1999, Kerry was Chairman of the Office of Science and Technology’s Foresight Panel on Natural Resources and the Environment. In 1991, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 1996 an honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Water and Environmental Management. In early 2000 he was awarded a CBE for his services to sustainable development.
Kerry specialises in environmental and ecological economics and natural resource management issues, and has a particular interest in coastal zones and wetlands, conservation economics and waste management. Kerry has been an economic consultant and/or special advisor to a number of UK and overseas Government committees, departments, international and national agencies since the 1970’s.
He has published widely (over 200 publications) on environmental economics and management issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. He sits on the editorial boards of a number of academic journals and is Chief Editor of Environmental and Resource Economics, the official journal of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economics
Nigel Hoskin
Dartmoor
Nigel Hoskin was born in Torquay. He joined the Royal Navy in 1963, and served for 30 years before embarking on a second career in Local Government and Further Education in Devon, specialising in the democratic process and corporate governance. A keen walker on Dartmoor since childhood, in retirement he developed an interest in a variety of conservation projects on the moor including the building and repair of dry stone walls and Devon banks. Nigel Hoskin and his wife have lived in Dousland within the Park for 20 years and share a passion for Dartmoor and its communities. He joined the National Park Authority as a Secretary of State national appointee in 2003 and was elected Chairman in June 2005.
John Dyke
Exmoor
John Dyke, a farmers son, joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food following his education at Crewkerne Grammar School. After a few years working in Whitehall, he returned to his native Somerset where he married and brought up his 3 children. "I wanted them to grow up as 'country children' appreciative of rural values" said John. Over the years he climbed up the MAFF ladder. And, before he finished his career as Deputy Regional Director for the South West, he held senior positions in the MAFF offices of first Somerset and then Devon. John says he has always been concerned with the plight of small farmers - especially those struggling in difficult terrains like the hills.
Over the years, John also became concerned with environmental matters and was involved in drawing up and launching the ESA Scheme - including that still operating on Exmoor.
After retirement, John became a County Councillor for his home town of Crewkerne and shortly after was appointed by the Somerset County Council as one of its representatives on the Exmoor National Park Authority. Living in the same community as he was born, John has recently become something of a local historian. And has recently written a book about the Somerset village where his family, as well as being farmers, also ran the local pub. He is still very interested in rural affairs and counts gardening and travel as his main interests.
Bill Jefferson, OBE
Lake District
Born in Abbeytown, Cumbria, Bill was educated at Wigton Nelson Tomlinson Grammar School, Wadham College at Oxford University (M.A. 1966) and the Czech Scientific University.
He worked for the British Council and British Embassy from 1966 to 1998 working in Libya, Kuwait, Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Gatar, Czechoslovakia and Portugal. Principal appointments were as counsellor to the British Embassy in Prague and Lisbon and Director of the British Council in many countries. He was Director for Technical Cooperation and Training for Overseas Countries in London from 1979 to 1982, and was awarded an OBE in 1986.
He has had lifelong interests in overseas countries, languages and Cumbria. Bill has been President of the Cumbria County Bowling Association since 2005 and Chairman of Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty since 2002.
Clive Chatters
New Forest
Clive is the chairman of the Authority. He was born in Essex in 1961, raised in Suffolk and educated at Wye College (University of London). He has lived in the New Forest since 1985, first working for the Nature Conservancy Council and then for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Naturalists’ Trust, now the Wildlife Trust. Clive is interested in the nature and landscapes of extensive grazing economies together with the communities they support. He writes on nature conservation issues and conservation land management. He enjoys joining others in discovering wildness in nature. Outside work, Clive grows vegetables, studies natural history, and makes and listens to music.
John Riddle
Northumbeland
John Riddle is a Northumberland County Council representative and is also Chairman of the UK ANPA, (elected at their Annual Meeting on 12th July 2007). John represents the National Park Authority on the following bodies, the English National Park Authorities Association - English Chairs' Group, LGA Rural Commission and the Northumberland Strategic Partnership.
John Fletcher
North York Moors
John Fletcher is a member of North Yorkshire County Council, Hambleton District Council as well as a Parish Councillor representing the Great Ayton Ward. Mr Fletcher is the Chairman of the National Park Authority. John has spent a lifetime in Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer. With many interests John has always been involved in rural affairs and is a Council member of Stokesley Agricultural Society.
Narendra Bajaria
Peak District
Chair of the Authority, Member of the English Heritage Urban Panel, CABE Regional Representative for Yorkshire and Humber, Renaissance Advocate for Yorkshire Forward RDA, Deputy Chair of the South Yorkshire Housing Association, Director of Yorkshire Culture, Chair of the Yorkshire Arts Space Ltd., and Director of Key Fund (South Yorkshire).
Councillor Simon Hancock
Pembrokeshire Coast
Councillor Hancock is a native of the area. He is a Justice of the Peace, a Town Councillor since 1987 and has been Mayor of Neyland five times; he was elected to Pembrokeshire County Council in 1995 for the shadow year. He has been a Member of the Park Authority since 1999 and is currently in his second year as Chairman. He is the fourth Member to hold this post since the National Park Authority’s creation in 1996.
In his capacity as Chairman he represents the Authority on UK Association of National Park Authorities, Welsh Association of National Park Authorities, Cardigan Bay Advisory Group, Community Planning and Leadership Partnership, Pembrokeshire (Global) Environment Working Party, Spatial Planning Network, Welsh Local Government Association Council, and WLGA Environment Agency National Forum.
Simon Hancock is employed as Manager of the Haverfordwest Town Museum, and previously worked at Carew Castle for many years. He holds a first-class honours degree in History and is currently studying for an MA. He is particularly interested in the heritage and culture of Pembrokeshire, being the author of five books on local history, and is actively involved with many historical/cultural and educational organisations.
Caerwyn Roberts
Snowdonia
Cllr E. Caerwyn Roberts, a farmer from Harlech, has been a Member of the Snowdonia National Park Authority since 1987 and Chairman since 1999. In 2001, he was appointed Chairman of ANPA and since 2004 he has held the Vice Chair of ANPA. In 1988, Cllr Roberts was appointed a magistrate. Since 1999 he has been a Gwynedd County Councillor representing his hometown of Harlech and Talsarnau. He currently farms 400 acres of land in partnership with his wife Bet and son Bryn. In 1979, he was one of the first farmers to diversify into farm tourism when he opened the farm for school and educational visits.
Subsequently, Merthyr Farm has been featured on television and radio programmes, national newspapers and magazines on numerous occasions. In 1997 he received the MBE in recognition of his services to Welsh agriculture.
Carl Lis
Yorkshire Dales
Born in Penrith, Cumbria, Carl Lis has lived in Ingleton since 1982. He is deeply involved in the local community and has been chairman of Ingleton Parish Council on which he has served for over fifteen years. Since 1991 he has been the elected Craven District Councillor for the Ingleborough Ward, and is currently the Leader of Craven District Council.
He is Chairman of Ingleborough Community Centre Management Committee, Ingleton Rural Community Association and Ingleton Football Club, and serves on the Ingleton Primary School Board of Governors. Carl has worked in the quarrying industry since 1966 and was manager of Ingleton Quarry for Hanson Aggregates for over 20 years. He was appointed to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority in 1996 and has been Chairman since 2004.
