right place, right time

Episode 32 of 'right place, right time' Podcast is now live.... hear from Rachel Bayley, Burnley Place Brand Manager.It's not every day you meet a Place Brand Manager. So, catching up with Rachel is special in many ways, firstly Burnley have had a place-led, place brand approach way longer than most, nearly 20 years, secondly Burnley is bucking the trend in terms of investment, regeneration, profile, town centre and thirdly Rachel is everything you'd want a perfect place person to be; passionate, enthusiastic, dynamic, positive with Burnley in her DNA.

Dr Huw Bowen has been CEO of Chesterfield Council for 18 years and is stepping down from this role in May this year. Apart from driving a £2billion growth programme for the town he has always been a passionate advocate of a place led approach and was instrumental in Chesterfield developing a story, brand and Destination Chesterfield as the place marketing organisation. This approach was also successfully adopted for nearby Staveley. He has some powerful views on why you should be place led, the benefits it brings and what devolution and local government reorganisation might mean for places.

On February 15th 2026 thinkingplace turned 20 and in this podcast John Till CEO looks back on a personal and professional journey that has seen the team work with over 100 places the length and breadth of the UK. thinkingplace has created place stories, visual brands, leadership groups, ambassador programmes and a whole range of implementation for regions, cities, towns, economic geographies and new developments. We discover where John’s love affair with place came from, the important Hull influence on why thinkingplace came into being, what has been learnt over the 20 years, best practice thoughts and what the future might hold for place.

Champion of place joins thinkingplace … a New Year place message from Dr Martin Reeves, CEO of Oxfordshire County Council. As thinkingplace moves into its 20th year! we’re delighted to bring you an extended podcast with Dr Martin Reeves, CEO of Oxfordshire County Council and newly appointed Strategic Associate Director of thinkingplace. Martin is bringing his much vaunted place insight and experience to thinkingplace clients and in this podcast he considers how despite austerity place is absolutely critical for local authorities, the opportunities devolution and Local Government Reorganisation will bring and the role of place in its widest sense from infrastructure to New Towns. Always ahead of the game, provocative, informative and inspiring grab a brew and enjoy! ** PS If you’re inspired by what Martin has to say we’re giving the opportunity of a 15-minute place speed date with Martin for the first 5 places that ask to gain his insight to benefit you! Please email [email protected] to arrange. **

Empowering young people in their place: from tokenism to a shift in power through youth led social action … Saeed Atcha; MBE, DL, founder of Youth Leads addresses the important aspects of properly engaging young people in the future of their place; how and where to listen, engaging with purpose, hearing diverse views, examples of best practice and ensuring the thoughts and aspirations of young people turn into action and change. 

Hear how from Peter Anstiss, the CEO of Team Barrow, an innovative partnership between the UK Government, BAE Systems and Westmorland and Furness Council. This town is at the heart of keeping Britain safe as home of the nuclear submarine building industry and will need thousands more local and incomer skilled workers in the coming years with implications for housing, facilities and services. Learn about a huge and exciting place project and a real example of doing things differently! 

Hear from Chris Wade, Director, The People & Places Partnership who reflects on placemaking, policy, pride, place branding and people.Chris is the author of the Local Government Association’s Revitalising Town Centres Toolkit and a former Expert Adviser for the Government-backed, High Streets Task Force.  In this and all his work, Chris seeks to join-up the dots of town centre practice and policy by addressing the ‘what’ (look and feel) and ‘how’ (partnership development) of “getting more smiling faces on our streets”.  Chris is currently undertaking research into the role of place branding and identity as part of his third, place-related Masters. He is an avid watcher of Government policy and funding related to place.

Our founding Director John Till is delighted to be joined by Emma Drake, our new Associate Director for thinkingplace and founder and Director of Henbe Communications. Emma has over 30 years experience working with some of the most significant new communities in England. She is a strategic communicator, a specialist in stakeholder engagement and a great believer in creating social value as the heart of a place.

Hear how Matt Nicol, Chairman and his Place Board alongside Wychavon District Council are putting the spa rkle(!) back into Droitwich Spa. For anyone who doesn’t believe a coalition of the willing can make a difference in a place just sit back and be inspired by Matt, a place force of nature!

Our Founding Director John Till talks to Nigel Wilcock, Executive Director at Mickeldore who has been involved in economic development for over 30 years.Nigel talks passionately about his belief that the economy of the UK would be more successful if each of the regions were enabled to play a more equal role. This episode explores this and more in what is an extremely interesting and engaging listen.

Hear from Jane Hough, Deputy Director for Business Improvement Districts and Business Services for Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire & Merseyside.Jane is leading the way in creating better places by working closely with people and businesses within the community. She is passionate about improving individuals prospects via education, training and work opportunities along with creating and protecting the natural environment around them.Learn about the real social and economic value this work has brought into a number of BID areas and how Jane plans to continue her amazing work.

Hear from Therasa Garrod, Tourism and Place Manager, Dragonfly Development (wholly owned company of Bolsover Council) who is masterminding the amazing place led journey of town and area. Learn what has been achieved in such a short time with a new narrative, visual brand, Place Board and more, along with some exciting implementation plans for the future.

Our latest episode is with the amazing Mark Foster, Director of OPEN (part of SLR) who shares his view on what constitutes successful place making, authenticity of design and future trends for place development. 

Corinne Day, Newhaven Enterprise Zone's Programme Director, provides a fascinating insight into the place led journey of this South Coast port town, near Brighton, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, as it makes the most of its industry and beauty as it carves out a new creative and marine future driven by the dynamism of its community.

Fresh from the tremendous success of We Are Staffordshire, which he initiated, Cristian Marcucci has recently taken up the role of Managing Director of Marketing Cheshire and he certainly has a wonderful set of assets and opportunities to work with! Hear about why We Are Staffordshire is such a success and his excitement about coming home to help put Cheshire on the map. 

Hear from our BAFTA award winning Creative Director, Peter Anderson as he explores the art of bringing your place story to life via photography, place making, use of colour and his pioneering visual language! 

Councillor Richard Morris outlines how Wychavon District Council have developed a place led approach for Droitwich Spa, Evesham and Pershore involving a stakeholder inspired narrative, the development of a Place Board and the production of an Investment Prospectus for each. This has brought distinctiveness to the fore as a way of attracting investment and creating local pride.

Hear from local entrepreneur Anne Wright, owner of Young Ideas and Henmores, luxury fashion shopping destinations in the town and Chair of Ashbourne Town Team. Anne epitomises a ‘get on and do it’ approach and with colleagues was successful in gaining over £13m of Levelling Up Funding for Ashbourne; listen and be inspired!

Muse is a nationwide placemaker with almost 40 years of experience creating mixed-use communities across the UK. Hear from their Managing Director Phil Mayall on what drives them and the values at the heart of their business that emphasise sustainability, community and quality. And if you didn’t know, find out why they’re called Muse!

From being the first Destination Development Partnership in England to Newcastle being in the Champions League it’s a busy and successful time, as the place passionate chief executive of NewcastleGateshead Initiative, Sarah Green tells us in this fascinating discussion. 

 Enjoy listening to Jim Parker, Chair of the Torbay Place Leadership Board and a highly respected journalist in the area for over 40 years. You’ll hear about the wonders of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham that make up Torbay and how creating the Torbay Story with a place led approach has galvanised stakeholders and got the message out. Not just about the stunning natural environment but also the hi tech businesses and investment opportunities using everything from fish 'n' chips to football shirts! 

Hear Chief Executive, Trevor Beattie, talk about the wonder that is the newest National Park. From cliffs to communities, partnerships to planning, heathland to health and well-being, from brand to biodiversity, from growth to great places to live and so much more. This is a large and diverse entity with unique challenges and opportunities.

Hear from Diana Taylor, the Managing Director of Future Humber, as she outlines the incredible assets the Humber estuary has and how a repositioned and rebranded Future Humber is leading the way in marketing and developing the place. Listen also to the importance of the Future Humber Bondholders who as businesses and other organisations are playing their part by telling and selling the Humber story.

Places are there to be shaped and that involves more than just housing. Homes England launched its new strategic plan recently and it involves working in a much more ‘place based’ way. Whilst housing remains a significant aspect of the work, there will be more focus on the places those homes sit within. Hear what the implications of this approach will be from Homes England's Executive Director, Mike Palin. 

When it comes to place, distinctiveness and character culture is the buzz activity these days. But what is it, why is it so vogue, can you create it, who is doing it well and can be learnt from and will it provide your place with a measurable point of difference? Paul Williams gets to the heart of culture in this podcast with valuable insights that can help all places.

Hear how Scotland is leading the way in creating a successful, responsible tourism offer, what key trends the industry is responding to, why collaboration is everything, the implications for the visitor experience and what the future holds for tourism.

Tom Stannard, the CEO of Salford City Council and Chair of the Institute of Economic Development reflects on the amazing regeneration journey Salford continues to be on, driven by great leadership, vision, patience and partnership. In his new role leading the IED he also has insight on the criticality of taking the community and anchor institutions with you to ensure not only the delivery of assets but also communities and places.

In this podcast we hear from Dr Angela Brockbank, Head of New Business and Growth at Thirteen Housing Group and Chair of the Redcar and Cleveland Place Board who oversee the place brand, ambassadors programme and are spokespeople for the area.  Angela is passionate about the place and brings her considerable private and public sector experience to leading the Board and shouting about the area. Home to Teesworks; the UK’s largest Freeport at 4500 acres and an agile and innovative industrial zone, there’s certainly plenty to shout about!

Iain Jenkinson, CBRE’s Co-Lead for Planning in the UK, gives a private sector perspective on place development. CBRE are the global leader in Real Estate and Iain provides some thought provoking views on what matters when thinking about developing your place; have you got project ready schemes, have you got the capacity to deliver and are you clear on your vision and distinctiveness?

Listen to our founding Director John Till in conversation with the Leader of Staffordshire County Council, Councillor Alan White. The County Council took the brave decision to invest in a story and brand for Staffordshire to put it on the map and get it thought about by those that matter. Alan highlights some of the early successes; being recognised by central Government, bringing the exciting ingredients and opportunities to the fore, working in a more unified way with the other councils and partners and being purposeful in what they do, especially outside their boundaries.

In this podcast thinkingplace is delighted to catch up with Clare Dewhirst, the founder and director of City Nation Place, the global forum for place branding and place marketing.  City Nation Place creates connections and shares best practice between country brands, regional brands, and city brands around the world and Clare has a really insightful and up to date view of what’s working well and which places are worth a look at.  www.citynationplace.com

The first episode of our place podcasts is with leading place thinker and provocateur Professor Martin Reeves, CEO of Coventry City Council. Coventry has undergone a massive transformation programme, including winning UK City of Culture 2021, and for the last 13 years Martin has been at the helm. When it comes to ‘place’ his views are sought after and respected, and he provides his perspective of ‘place-led’ best practice and what to do differently speaking at events and in places across the UK.In this podcast we consider everything from culture to climate change, and Chatham to Coventry! 

Founding Director of thinkingplace, John Till, introduces this new series of podcasts