Road Expert Panel

Peter Baguley – formerly the Director of Planning and Sustainability, and interim Assistant Chief Executive, at Northampton Borough Council. He was responsible for planning and the Carbon Neutral Northampton 2030 Strategy, as well as lead officer for the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Arc and Midlands Engine. He has a Masters in Civic Design and is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. He has over 30 years' experience in local government, including working for a variety of authorities in Northampton, Nottinghamshire, Oxford, Stoke on Trent, Trafford Park and Suffolk, working closely with developers to promote large scale developments and regeneration projects. His interests include sustainable development and infrastructure, and promoting good quality design. Outside work, Peter is a keen musician and songwriter.

James Bailey – Assistant Director at Staffordshire County Council, where he leads one of the largest local highway authority services in England. He has over 30 years' experience in the UK highways and transport sector and is the current chairman of the UK Roads Board. James is recognised as a leading advocate of collaboration and innovation to help achieve better outcomes across the sector and holds further roles in this regard with the Association of Directors of Economy, Environment, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) and the Midlands Highways Alliance (MHA+). He has supported on a series of major roads sector change programmes, including the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme and development of the national Code of Practice – Well Managed Highway Infrastructure. James is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Fellow of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation.

Carolyn Dwyer – Strategic Director for Development, Growth and Regeneration at the London Borough of Sutton. Her role is to secure smart, connected, sustainable development and infrastructure to accommodate inclusive growth. She has over 30 years' experience working in the development sector, including the planning, financing, and delivery of major projects; place making through design of public realm and open spaces and development of cultural strategies and programmes. Carolyn is an experienced Non-Executive Director. She is currently on the Boards of Shoreham Port Authority and the Jersey Development Company and is a Commissioner with the National Preparedness Commission. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and an Honorary Fellow of The Institute of Couriers.

Mark Kemp – chartered engineer with over 35 years' experience in the highways and transportation field. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Highways and Transportation and a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Mark is Chair of the UK Network Management Board and a member of the UK Roads Liaison Group.  He is the Executive Director of Environment and Transport for Hertfordshire County Council and is a member of the Leadership Team of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT). Having started his career in consultancy and the civil service, Mark has over 25 years' experience in local government managing highways services at a senior level in Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Richard Morgan – chartered civil engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers with over 34 years' experience in the operation, maintenance and improvement of motorway and trunk roads. Having started his career in local government, he joined the Welsh Office in 1997, as its bridge engineer for South Wales. In 2006 he was appointed area manager responsible for trunk roads in North and Mid Wales. For 10 years he was the Welsh Government’s Head of Planning, Asset Management and Standards for the £17bn Strategic Road Network (SRN) in Wales, responsible for forward programmes of work; asset management; standards and environmental governance.

He is currently working for Transport for Wales on the integration of the SRN with other transport modes. Richard is also on the Planning Inspectorate’s list of appointable persons for the examination of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, sits as an independent member on Newport City Council’s Standards Committee and is a magistrate in adult criminal court. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering, a Masters in Business Administration, and in 2013 was awarded a doctorate for research into the most effective form of leadership in cross sector partnerships.

Sue Sharland – Non-Executive Director (NED) for a number of private, public and not for profit organisations in the transport and energy sectors. She is an experienced leader of expert technical businesses. From 2001 to 2013, she was Chief Executive of TRL Limited and its parent Transport Research Foundation, organisations providing independent world-class research, consultancy, testing and software in transport. 

Sue was a NED at the Connected Places Catapult until 2020 – CPC focuses on growing businesses with innovations in mobility services and the built environment. She was recently NED Chair of LUC Ltd, a specialist environmental and planning consultancy, and is  was a Trustee and past President of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation. 

She is also an NED of Gemserv Ltd., which provides professional services in data and digital technology, largely in the energy sector. She is also a Trustee of the Road Safety Foundation and iRAP (UK and international charities advocating road casualty reduction).

Phillip Wheat – Professor of Transport Econometrics, University of Leeds. He is an expert in cost analysis and performance benchmarking and his work is at the interface between academia and industry. He is co-founder of the CQC Efficiency Network, which provides efficiency benchmarking analysis to over 90 local highway authorities in Britain on an annual basis. The network brings together measures of cost, quality and public satisfaction in highways to help authorities improve performance.

More generally, in addition to his contributions to the methodological literature on performance benchmarking, Phill is an active applied economist. Over the last three years he has undertaken research for and provided expert advice to the Department for Transport, the Government Office for Science, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Competition and Markets Authority and the Office for Rail and Road. Phill also has extensive education and training experience, both leading the student and professional education portfolio at the Institute for Transport Studies as well as delivering training specifically to the sector on cost analysis and performance benchmarking.

Tom Wilson – Chartered town planner and transport professional with government and consultancy experience of complex growth and transport programmes. Tom is currently Lead Transport Planner at High Speed Two Limited. Prior to this, Tom was the Planning and Infrastructure Lead at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and Sponsor for strategic road projects at the Department for Transport. Before the civil service, Tom worked for consultancy firm Arup and Transport for London. Tom supports greater diversity in the transport sector to ensure better outcomes for people and communities. Tom likes to walk and cycle around London and plans to cycle from London to Paris in 2022.