Nicholas James
BA MPhil MRTPI

Nick James is a Principal of LUC and an experienced environmental planner. Nick has a wide range of strategic planning and research experience, including playing a key role as project manager in the review of National Planning Policy Guidelines for the Scottish Office during the run up to the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, and principal in charge of reviews of NPPG4 (Land for Mineral Working) and NPPG15 (Rural Development). He led a series of studies informing preparation of a Regional Spatial Strategy for Yorkshire and Humber .

Nick led a sustainability appraisal of the existing policy framework within the proposed Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park on behalf of SNH and the Interim Committee. Subsequent projects for the National Park Authority have included preparation of a Local Woodland and Forestry Framework, assisting in the definition of the Park’s Special Qualities, to inform the National Park Plan, and a series of strategic framework studies for communities within or bordering the National Park. He has also analysed the effects of designation on development patterns within and around the two National Parks.

Nick has led a series of policy appraisals, including the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Scottish Forestry Strategy, an Appropriate Assessment of the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy for Yorkshire and Humber , and the Verification of the Sustainability Appraisal of the Partial Review of RPG13 for the North West .

Over the past six years, Nick has led LUC’s work in relation to the new access and greenspace agendas, with a particular emphasis on their role in promoting environmental justice, social inclusion, health and well-being. Projects have included the preparation of more than a dozen outdoor access strategies and at least 20 community access projects. Greenspace work has included national level research and a series of open space audits and strategies, including a Green Network Strategy for Clyde Waterfront, Scotland ’s largest regeneration initiative. Nick is leading our work monitoring and evaluating Home Zones in Scotland , for the Scottish Executive.

He has undertaken a large number of landscape assessments including regional scale studies of Tayside, Ayrshire and Glasgow and the Clyde Valley . He has recently led a series of studies exploring the capacity of the landscape to accommodate developments ranging from windfarms to new settlements, and has acted as an expert witness at a number of public inquiries. Nick has been involved in LUC’s pioneering work integrating historic landscape assessment with more traditional form of landscape assessment. He worked with English Heritage developing landscape planning and management strategies for Hadrian.s Wall and Stonehenge World Heritage Sites, and with Historic Scotland in relation to the proposed Antonine Wall World Heritage Site.