The director of the Harlow & Gilston Garden Town development has been named one of The Planner’s Women of Influence 2023.
Naisha Polaine, who attended Hockerill Anglo-European College and Felsted School, was nominated by readers of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s official magazine.
The judges felt her commitment to supporting colleagues, communities and the wider aims of planning deserved recognition with the citation referencing her “passion, clarity and professionalism, lifting others around her to approach planning, regeneration and delivery projects in the same way”.
Polaine said: “I am so thrilled that the work across the Harlow & Gilston Garden Town has been recognised in this way.
“Large-scale growth is challenging to deliver and I am privileged to work with some great people across our five-council partnership in Essex and Hertfordshire.”
The news comes after East Herts Council’s development management committee last month approved developer Taylor Wimpey’s planning application for 1,500 homes, a primary school, village centre, leisure and sports facilities – including a football hub – and the restoration of grade II listed Brickhouse Farm Barn.
The decision means all seven Gilston villages planned for the garden town have been given the go-ahead after councillors had agreed to fellow developer Places for People’s application for 8,500 homes across six new villages.
