Ashley Godfrey MBA, MRTPI, MILAM, MCIM

Ashley Godfrey has extensive experience in both planning and leisure management and has worked in both the private and public sectors.

His work with Cambridge City Council on parks and open spaces has been cited by CABE as a good practice example. He has worked with Sheffield University Management School providing management advice to leisure managers and operators. He was also a member of the team that produced Liverpool’s Cultural Strategy, part of the city’s Capital of Culture bid.

Whilst at Sport England he was responsible for establishing the National Benchmarking Service, providing management information for local authorities and leisure management operators. In addition, he was responsible for client managing the production of Sport England’s “Towards a Level Playing Field”, the revised playing pitch strategy including the Electronic Toolkit now used by local planning authorities throughout the country. He has also been responsible for the production of national facilities strategies for cycling and bowls and the Design Guide for cycling facilities. He is the editor of the second edition of ‘Measuring Sports Participation: Model Survey Packages’.

He has specialised in facilities planning projects for sport and leisure and has undertaken feasibility studies for private and public sector clients. Working in partnership with RBA Research he has undertaken open space studies for Thurrock Borough Council, Waveney District Council and Erewash Borough Council. His other work includes a review of future leisure development and assessment of proposed developer contributions for both South Oxfordshire District Council and Hart District Council and Playing pitch assessments for Plymouth City Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council.

He is currently advising the Children’s Play Council and the Department of Culture Media and Sport on the development of performance indicators for children’s play provision. These are being piloted with a view to their being included in the service assessment for the Culture Block within the Comprehensive Performance Assessment for 2008.

He is a member of the CABE Space panel of enablers..

Lynn Bennett

Lynn has background in research. She has undertaken a number of open space audits and recently completed an audit of play provision for the London Borough of Haringey Play Strategy.

She has completed a number of commissions for Sport England updating and verifying the database of sports hall and swimming pool provision for the Facilities Planning Model. She also undertook the research for the facilities strategy for National Governing Bodies for Bowls on behalf of the Leisure Industries Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University.

Lynn has also undertaken project appraisals for and has monitored Rural Development Agency Grants for the East Midlands Development Agency.

Whilst at the Social Science Research Unit she undertook qualitative research for the Kentish Town Health Centre Study. Other projects include the design of questionnaires and interviewing clients of Paddington Law Centre for the Department of Law, London School of Economics.