Phil is Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, which is best known for its campaigns against litter, often with particular reference to fast food outlets, and for setting the standards for Blue Flag Beaches and Green Flag parks.  He is now regularly on television, often  locking horns with Bill Bryson.   

He was founder director of RENEW Northwest, which became Places Matter! the architecture and built environment centre for the North West.    From 1997-2002 Phil was director at Groundwork UK, initially as North West Regional Director and latterly as national Director of Corporate Strategy

Alyson has come to us through the Business in the Arts Board Bank. She is a Management and Education/Equality consultant and was formerly Head of Lifelong Learning at Manchester City Council.  Alyson also spent three and a half years working for NIACE as a development officer for Black and Minority Ethnic prisoners. She is a member of the Manchester Advisory Committee, involved in the selection and interviewing of potential magistrates. She is also a board member of Lancashire LSC.

Stephen Nicol is an expert in regeneration and local economic development. He has over 25 years professional experience in research and policy advice gained in the public and private sectors. He entered economic and regeneration consultancy after a career as a professional economist in HM Treasury and the Department of the Environment. He is the Managing Director of Regeneris Consulting a specialist consultancy based in Manchester and London. He has acted as a specialist advisor to local authorities, chambers of commerce and regional development agencies on regeneration and economic development matters in the North West and throughout the UK. He regularly acts as an expert witness at Public Inquires on economic impact, economic development and regeneration policies. He is married with three sons.

Razia has devoted much of her life to working in the voluntary sector and has served on numerous Boards. She is particularly associated with Age Concern, and continues to run lunch clubs and other activities for Asian elders. She was on the board of Ashiana Housing prior to its merger with Great Places. She served for many years as a non-executive director of Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Mike has over 20 years experience as a training and management consultant and  in the management of business-led projects.  He has worked for local authorities across the North West and for national organisations such as the Arts Council, Royal Mail and the Learning and Skills Council. He has previously been a board member of Manchester Literature Festival, supporting them to produce their strategic and operational plans. For seven years he was on the board of Action Transport theatre company, assisting with training and development, HR policies and organisational improvement.

Brian has extensive management and inspection skills developed in the public sector through work in senior posts for the Audit Commission, for whom he led Comprehensive Performance Assessment inspections of local authorities, authoring nine public inspection reports. He was Head of Local Government at Government Office North West for three years, and Head of Library and Information services at Stockport MBC for a decade.