Building Sustainable Towns and Cities 2019

Andy Ruck is a Senior Policy Advisor in Defra’s Land Use division. He leads on market delivery of biodiversity net gain and the role of government supporting that market. He developed policy proposals, which informed government’s decision to mandate biodiversity net gain, leading on the interface with existing regulation and practice in the planning system. He has worked across government on the evidence base for transformational growth in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc and on MHCLG Planning Practice Guidance.

Before joining Defra, Andy worked on development planning and urban design as a local government town planner in London and the Midlands. This work included master-planning for greenfield urban extensions and brownfield regeneration areas of up to 20,000 homes alongside strategic infrastructure and employment space. He built expertise in green infrastructure and planning for biodiversity as part of wider infrastructure and housing policy briefs.  He has a research background in the public health impacts of the built environment and geospatial analysis.