Stuart Kemp – Principal Planning Officer

Stuart Kemp

I completed an undergraduate degree in Human Geography at Queen Mary University London in 2014 and went on to work in a sales role for a software company soon after completing my degree. I have always had an interest in planning and after 18 months of travelling up and down the country selling health and safety software, I saw an opportunity at Central Bedfordshire Council to get into planning.

I have been working for Central Bedfordshire Council for 7 years and had no experience in planning before joining the authority. I had completed an undergraduate degree in Human Geography before joining the authority and completed a masters degree in Town Planning which was funded and supported by Central Beds Council. I started as a Planning Officer and progress to a Senior Planning Officer on completion of my masters degree in October 2018 before progressing to my current role as a Principal Planning Officer in the Strategic Delivery Team in April 2021.

The support I have received from colleagues has been invaluable and has enabled me to progress my career at pace. I deal with strategic scale development and am currently the lead case officer for the strategic development sites at Wixams and Land North of Houghton Regis and, as someone who has lived within Central Bedfordshire for my entire life, really enjoy being able to make a positive difference to CBC.