Meet our trustees

Professor Patricia Broadfoot, CBE FAcSS

Chair of the Board

Patricia has been Chair of CPRE Gloucestershire since 2017, a Trustee of national CPRE since 2017 and National Vice Chair since 2022. She is an educationist and has spent her career in academia. She is currently Professor Emerita at the University of Bristol, having previously held senior roles there, and was formerly Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire. She is currently a Lay Minister in the Church of England and a member of the Bishop’s Council in the Diocese of Gloucester. Recent board roles include being a Governor of the Royal Agricultural University and Vice-Chair of the Lloyds Bank Foundation. Patricia lives near Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire. She is a keen walker and gardener and is passionate about the Gloucestershire countryside.

Steve Smith

Vice Chair

Steve started his career in agricultural research after gaining a degree in Agricultural Botany from Reading University.  He then moved into the pharmaceutical industry and spent the rest of his career in drug development. Whilst living in Switzerland and working for Swiss pharmaceutical company, Sandoz (now Novartis), he completed an MBA.  Following his return to the UK in 1996 he set up and ran businesses supporting biotechnology and small pharmaceutical companies involved in developing new therapies.

Over the last 10 years Steve has been involved and is still involved in a number of charities as a Trustee including a charity he set-up with his late wife (Changing Futures) that supports educational projects in Swaziland.  Last year following retirement he moved to The Cotswolds from Goring-on-Thames.

Julian Oxley

Treasurer

Born in Gloucester, Julian was an organ scholar at Oxford, then trained as a chartered accountant. For many years Julian was Finance Director of a local public company, then Director-General of a major national disability charity. In partial retirement, he was non-executive Director of an NHS hospital trust, Chairman of an educational charity, and ran a small accountancy practice. Julian is now fully retired.

Colin Evers

By birth a Northerner, Colin has lived in the Forest of Dean. Now retired, he spent most of his professional life working in the nuclear divisions of the UK electricity generation industry, mainly specialising in environmental and safety technology.

His CPRE involvement commenced when it was suggested he became a member over 25 years ago. Since then, he has become increasingly involved as a volunteer, serving on committees of both CPRE Gloucestershire Branch and Forest of Dean District.

Concurrent with that, for many years, he was also a parish councillor serving a parish that was itself a CPRE member. He brings to CPRE a diverse spectrum of subject and topic interests that range from societal wellbeing and energy supply, to wildlife conservation and commonland law.

David Crofts

David Crofts is a recently retired chartered town planner who started his career in local government before moving to corporate consultancy in 1998. In 2012 he set up his own sole practice, Estcourt Planning. In that role he represented the Gloucestershire Branch at many planning inquiries and hearings, drafted objections to proposals the Branch considered particularly important (including a solar farm on the Awre peninsula, an anaerobic digestion plant at Fiddington and the relocation of Forest Green Rovers Football Club), and contributed to the Branch’s representations on the Joint Core Strategy.

David has lived in Gloucestershire since 1978 and as a regular walker is very familiar with its varied landscapes. He is an active member of the National Trust and has given much practical help to the maintenance and improvement of its rural estate across England and Wales. He has continued his membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute and is now keen to apply his skills and experience to the work of CPRE Gloucestershire in a new role as a Trustee.

Miranda Chalk

Miranda Chalk has over 35 years of management experience in the private, public and charity sectors, and in a variety of business development roles. ‘I began my career with 10 years at Marks and Spencer, first in store management and then moving to roles in marketing and business development. Since then, I have worked in a range of organisations, differing enormously in size and type.

I set up and led a Cabinet Office sponsored organisation to bring together senior people from business and the civil service; joined a small, national charity to help build its profile and income streams; and worked as a consultant alongside organisations large and small.

I now work at the University of Oxford; here I have a stewardship role for the most significant donors to the University who are spread worldwide and have interests from environment, to health, to AI. I have also been a trustee, for the Zurich Community Trust, part of the Zurich Group (2014-17); and I currently take an informal, but close interest in the domiciliary care business my husband runs in Gloucestershire, where we have lived for 26 years.

Throughout it all, I have found that there are similarities in the challenges for each organisation, whatever their size. And learned that working as part of a team to tackle those challenges is what I enjoy.

Bob Brown

In the early 1960s, Bob worked for an agricultural contractor on the Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire Fenland. He joined MAFF (now DEFRA) in 1965, initially advising on land drainage and water supply and later on farm buildings. Subsequently he was involved for c.15 years in implementation of MAFF’s role in land use planning in ‘Avon’ and later in the West Midlands and North West planning regions. Following another role change, Bob became responsible for implementing agri-environment schemes in ‘South Mercia’, including the Cotswolds Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) and Countryside Stewardship.

Since becoming actively involved in CPRE in 2004, Bob has undertaken various local, regional and national roles, including representing CPRE on the National Minerals Forum for 4 years, contributing to national CPRE policy on farming issues, especially agricultural land quality, and leading the CPRE South West Minerals Topic Group (a role no longer relevant after the scrapping of regional tiers of government).  Within CPRE Gloucestershire he is a member of the Policy Sub-committee and has a county wide advisory role on mineral planning. He is currently secretary of CPRE Forest of Dean District.

Heather Mackenzie

Richard Tyson

Richard is still trying to retire as a barrister. Professionally, he was Head of his barristers’ Chambers for some 10 years and also sat as a part time judge sitting in crime, civil and family courts.

With his wife, Richard owns some 200 acres of beech wood in Cranham. This is in an AONB, SAC and SSSI and it is managed on a conservation basis with the assistance of the higher tier Countryside Stewardship Grant. Most of the woods are on common land and walkers and horse riders are welcomed.

In his past village, Richard was Chair of the Friends of his local church and also, a parish councillor for many years. In his current village, he is secretary of the Cranham Common Trust. Most of the land is let to Natural England who manage and graze it. Initiatives on the common include adder telemetry, butterfly transepts, and regular work parties ‘scrub bashing’.

It is one of the first open commons in the country to use a ‘Nofence’ system where our cows are fitted with collars containing a GPS system where the cows learn where they can, and can’t, go and no fencing is required.

A keen fisherman, Richard is on the committee of an ancient fishing club that has access to some 26 miles of southern chalk streams.

Richard is very keen on a sustainable living countryside and in the past has initiated and progressed a low cost social village housing scheme of some 20 units.