Secondment Spotlight – Eva Neale

Meet Eva Neale, Chartered Town Planner and Associate Director at Waterman Aspen. Eva is part of the management team for our Town Planning service, supporting clients and helping ensure they have the expertise they need to meet changing demands.

When Stratford-on-Avon District Council needed additional support within its policy team, Eva stepped in to help manage planning consultation responses while keeping key planning work moving forward. Over a two-month secondment, she made an immediate impact, helping clear accumulated policy consultation work while also supporting the authority’s longer-term projects.

Eva was brought in primarily to support policy consultation responses linked to planning applications. These responses required detailed assessment against Local Plan policies to determine whether proposals aligned with the council’s planning framework. By the end of her secondment, this area of work had been brought fully up to date.

Alongside this, Eva also helped Stratford-on-Avon District Council progress two important strategic initiatives. The first was a programme of conservation area reviews to support the council’s emerging Local Plan. Eva helped scope the work, prepare briefs for external consultants, gather cost estimates and establish project timelines, laying the groundwork for the reviews to move forward.

She also supported early work on a public realm strategy for Stratford town centre. The aim was to create a more consistent design approach for future town centre development. Working with the council’s urban designer, Eva helped develop the early brief, gather consultant input and prepare material for presentation to elected members.

Eva’s experience is a strong example of how Waterman Aspen colleagues can step into local authority teams, add value quickly and help clients manage peaks in workload while advancing key projects.

Bringing in specialist resources at the right time can make all the difference. Whether it’s for a few weeks, months or even years, secondments embed specialist experts directly into your team.

See how our Town Planning team could support your projects.