Retirement village provider Audley Group has appointed Matthew Nicholson as its new planning director.
Nicholson, who has over 20 years of experience in planning and development, was previously planning head at Intu Shopping Centres and at J Sainsbury prior to that.
As planning director, Nicholson will support the development of Audley Group’s retirement villages across the UK.
“It’s a pivotal time for Matthew to be joining Audley Group, as we look forward to the opening of our first mid-market retirement village, Mayfield, in 2022, and as the value of integrated retirement communities is becoming more and more recognised,” said chief executive Nick Sanderson.
“Matthew has extensive experience, particularly in urban regeneration, which will be incredibly valuable for the planning teams. We’ll be welcoming Matthew ahead of an ambitious 2022 for planning and growth,” he added.
Nicholson (pictured) said: “Good planning is essential to create fantastic places to live, and improvements and reform to our planning system are required to ensure that new homes of all types can be delivered without delay.
“Integrated retirement communities have an important part to play in housing delivery and this should be considered by local authorities when planning for their future housing needs”.