JOHN Williamson has joined the team at Cambridgeshire Horizons as director of development and deputy chief executive. Mr Williamson replaces John Onslow, who has been seconded to Cambridgeshire County Council as acting executive director for environment s

JOHN Williamson has joined the team at Cambridgeshire Horizons as director of development and deputy chief executive.

Mr Williamson replaces John Onslow, who has been seconded to Cambridgeshire County Council as acting executive director for environment services.

Mr Williamson has joined the team on secondment for a year from the Government Office for the East of England (GO-East), bringing with him over 20 years of planning and development experience.

He has led teams handling the regional spatial strategy, local development frameworks and a range of planning, housing and transport issues across Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Norfolk and Suffolk.

A member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, Mr Williamson has also previously worked for what is now the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG), dealing with national policy on affordable housing, economic development, planning obligations and retail development.

He said: "I am pleased to have joined the team at Horizons and look forward to getting some hands-on experience of the delivery of the policies and strategies I have been working on in the past years at GO-East and CLG.

"It's a very exciting time for the delivery of sustainable new communities across the county, with many major new developments going through the planning process and some due to start work within the next twelve months."

Alex Plant, chief executive of Cambridgeshire Horizons, said: "We are delighted to welcome John to the Horizons team and look forward to working with him over the coming year. John knows our organisation very well, having previously been a member of the Horizons Board, so has been able to hit the ground running at this busy time.