CIEH 15th Housing and Health Conference

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Al Mcclenahan, Local Authority Outreach and Training Lead at Justice For Tenants. Al has a wealth of experience representing local authorities and tenants in Tribunal hearings. As Local Authority Outreach and Training Lead, Al assists with smart working arrangements to support local authority Private Rented Sector (PRS) regulation in a limited resource environment. He oversees the delivery of the Financial Penalty Toolkit Service – a free service that includes direct tailored advice for officers carrying out proceedings, training, evidence submission and representation in the Tribunal. These services complement a peer-reviewed guide which draws on the practices of Local Authorities who have effective and resource-efficient enforcement processes, to enable all Local Authorities to implement financial penalties as part of their enforcement process.

Alison Thomas CEnvH MCIEH, Senior Housing Consultant at RHE Global. Ali began her career as an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) at Nottingham City Council, becoming Principal EHO in their safer housing team. Passionate about excess cold and energy efficiency, Ali co-authored the CIEH excess cold guidance. Since joining RHE Global, Ali was the project manager for the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) review. She is also responsible for a range of training and consulting roles within the housing sector, including assisting local authorities with the effective application and delivery of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) and other housing related funding streams. She also delivers HHSRS practitioner training.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive at the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA). The Association represents over 100,000 landlords across England and Wales. It was founded in 2020 to help landlords navigate the many challenges of the private rented sector, providing first-class support, advice, learning resources, research and campaigning. A landlord for 20 years, Ben has had a lengthy career in housing. He has held senior roles at Places for People and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) and is a familiar face in the sector and the media.

Brian McCrossan, Interim Housing Enforcement Manager at West Northamptonshire Council. Brian has worked in housing for over 15 years and has been specialising in Housing Enforcement for the last decade. He began his Housing Enforcement career at Luton Borough Council where he was instrumental in carrying out intelligence led enforcement as part of the ‘Rogue landlord project’. He led over 20 successful housing prosecutions and put together the first successful rent repayment order in the borough. Brian joined Northampton Council in 2019. He carried out warrants, along with a multi-agency team, to tackle unlicensed HMO properties in the town. As Housing Enforcement Manager, Brian empowers his team to use all the powers available to tackle landlords and property managers who are putting their tenants at risk by not complying with their legal obligations.

Cameron Neilson, Head of Advocacy at Justice For Tenants. Cameron spends most days arguing cases in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal using the new powers conferred by the Housing and Planning Act 2016 for breaches of the Housing Act 2004. He has set several important case precedents in his role as the head of the advocacy team at Justice For Tenants. His long-form housing law journal article, ‘Smoke and Mirrors in the PRS’, highlights the ways that legislative intent can be frustrated and subverted by rogue landlords and agents using hidden and layered structures to evade effective enforcement, successfully prefacing the escalation of Rakusen v Jepsen to UK Supreme Court in 2023.

Christian Weaver, Barrister at Garden Court North Chambers. Christian is a barrister at Garden Court North Chambers specialising in public inquiries, inquests and actions against the state. He is currently instructed on the Covid-19 inquiry, was previously instructed in the Manchester Arena inquiry, and has represented families in a number of high-profile inquests – including the family of Awaab Ishak, a 2-year-old boy who died due to prolonged exposure to mould in his home. Prior to becoming a barrister, Christian worked with the Council of Europe, INQUEST and Liberty. Christian is also the author of ‘The Law in 60 Seconds: A Pocket Guide to Your Rights’.

David Beach, Corporate Director of Regulatory & Contingency Planning Services at London Borough of Waltham Forest. David has been working at Waltham Forest since February 2015 and, in 2018, was appointed as Director of Regulatory Services. With over 30 years’ experience in the housing field, David has held several roles at inner London local authorities, managing teams of enforcement officers charged with tackling rogue landlords and poor housing conditions in the private rented sector. He has made significant contributions to housing enforcement policy and procedure, including LACORS HHSRS guidance and the BABIE scheme, the first Joint London Boroughs standards for homeless person’s accommodation.

David Smith, Solicitor at JMW Solicitors LLP. Specialising in residential property litigation and regulation, David has advised landlords and agents of all sizes as well as a number of local authorities and the Welsh Government. As former Policy Director for the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and the Legal Advisor for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), David has been closely involved in policy making for the residential property sector.

Debi Waite, Head of High Risk Building Regulation at HSE Building Safety Programme. Debi is a registered Environmental Health Officer and spent 23 years working in local authorities. She managed a range of regulatory services: food, health and safety, housing, pollution, community safety, trading standards and building control. She is best known for her work in housing enforcement and for developing successful intelligence-led investigatory and enforcement services. In 2019, she was invited to join DLUHC’s Private Sector Housing and Leasehold division. As a senior policy lead at DLUHC, she brought her expertise in regulating the PRS and bridged the knowledge gap between real life and policy in housing enforcement legislation. Debi joined the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in January 2023 and currently leads operations for BSR Investigations.

Guy Horsington, Senior Civil Servant at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Over his career he has worked on developing policies from civil partnerships to consumer rights and supporting Ministers in Downing Street and the Cabinet Office. Most recently he led the passage of the Agriculture Act 2020 that replaces subsidies for farmers with payments for environmental goods. He now leads on the landmark reforms to abolish ‘no fault’ evictions through the Renters Reform Bill.

Dr Henry Dawson CEnvH MCIEH, Principal Lecturer and Programme Director for Environmental Health at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Henry’s research interests focus on regulatory interventions for housing and health. His recent work includes national analysis of property licensing schemes and authoring of the recent updates to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) Operating Guidance. Henry sits on the Wales Housing Expert Panel, the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence Academic Advisory Panel, and the Welsh Housing Survey Advisory Panel. He is a Chartered Member of CIEH and a member of the International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH).

Jill Stewart, Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of Greenwich. Jill spent a decade working in Housing in Local Government before taking her first academic post in 1999. Her research and teaching work largely focuses on Housing and Health, including the environmental health housing workforce, featuring across a range of publications, media and conferences. Jill is a Fellow of the CIEH and a Chartered EHP, a Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and an Associate of the Faculty of Public Health. She is co-chair of the London Public Health Housing Network and a member of the CIEH Housing Advisory Panel. She is a founding member of the Environmental Health Research Network.

John Bibby, Principal Housing Strategy, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). John has fifteen years’ experience working in local government and housing policy, now specialising in the private rented sector. He currently leads GMCA’s projects to improve private renting, including tackling the shortage of qualified enforcement officers, increasing the use of financial penalties and support for councils to consider discretionary licensing. Before joining the combined authority, John was a policy manager at Shelter, working to influence national policy on private and social rented housing. He started his career at Southwark Council, where he managed the leader’s office.

Nick Parkinson, Team Leader, Private Rented Sector Standards at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Nick is currently overseeing work to bring a decent homes standard into the PRS for the first time as part of upcoming legislation. He has worked on housing policy since the start of 2021 and carried out a range of policy and strategy roles in the UK civil service in the decade prior to this.

Peter Smith, Director of Policy and Advocacy at National Energy Action (NEA). Peter has been at NEA since July 2010 and was appointed a director in 2016. He is responsible for overseeing the charity’s policy and advocacy work and working with government, industry and other stakeholders to address the causes and impacts of fuel poverty. He has particular interest and expertise in the field of domestic energy efficiency and decentralised energy policy. He also provides the strategic direction for NEA’s Parliamentary engagement.

Shamol Ali MCIEH CIHCM, Housing Standards Team Manager at the London Borough of Redbridge. Shamol was instrumental in implementing Redbridge’s Additional HMO Licensing and Selective Licensing Schemes. She led the development and implementation of the Civil Penalty process which has resulted in numerous CPNs and successful tribunal cases. Shamol’s passion for housing began in 1992 while working in Social Housing and in 2009 she moved to Private Sector Housing.

Tony Jemmott MCIEH, Private Housing Services Manager at London Borough of Brent. Tony has over 30 years’ experience in local government as a registered EHO. Previously, he managed private sector housing in Haringey and Newham Councils, after a short consultancy period at London Borough of Waltham Forest. He has extensive knowledge of all areas of environmental health, specialising in PRS housing licensing and enforcement. He has led local authorities with the development, implementation and delivery of HMO and selective licensing schemes and enforcement.

Vicky Pearlman, Housing Policy Manager at the Greater London Authority (GLA). Vicky leads programmes to improve stability, standards and affordability in London’s private rented sector for the Mayor of London. Prior to joining the GLA, Vicky spent 20 years in the voluntary sector, leading projects at Shelter, Citizens Advice, Catch 22 and Carers UK, to develop policy across a wide range of areas and influence Government and other policy makers to make change happen. Vicky is also a governor at a local secondary school, leading on safeguarding.