Podcast episode 148: Hitting the High Notes

Podcast episode 148: Hitting the High Notes - Alice Lester

Podcast episode 148 is available now via this link or from iTunes and Spotify.

This is the fourteenth episode in my Hitting the High Notes series.

If you have not listened to one of these before the basic proposition is that I chat to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career I also ask my guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Think of it as town planning’s equivalent (rip off...) of Desert Island Discs.

Unlike Desert Island Discs though you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land me in hot water, so, when you have finished listening, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find in the episode description.

My guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is Alice Lester, who this month stepped down from her role as Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods & Regeneration at Brent Council.

In a conversation recorded at Soho Radio Studios at the end of July, Alice takes me through her career to date. She talks about her early days in development control, rising through the ranks in Westminster and Camden; her decade or so at the Planning Advisory Service; her involvement with Wembley Park and encounters with Tony Pidgley; and her drive to make it easier for the people of Brent to build kitchen extensions...

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