Siobhan takes up Banks community role

Thursday 26 June 2008

A former planning and development officer with Friends Of The Earth Scotland has taken up a new community-focused role with Scottish property developer Banks Developments.

Siobhan Samson has joined the Hamilton-based firm as its community engagement coordinator, working right across Scotland on a range of Banks’ property and energy-related schemes.

Her work involves liaising with individuals and groups in communities in and around areas where Banks projects are either operational or proposed, to ensure information about the detail of the scheme is communicated accurately and to provide opportunities for local people to pass comments and queries directly back to the company.

Siobhan spent eight years with Friends Of The Earth Scotland, working on a range of high-profile planning and development projects, and she has also previously worked as an election coordinator with the Scottish Green Party

Siobhan says: “Individuals and community groups these days quite rightly demand more information about any operations that are taking place in their area, and want to have the opportunity to make their opinions about them heard.

“My role is to ensure this opportunity is easily available to them, to highlight the rationale behind the scheme that Banks has put forward in their area and to ensure that local opinions form part of our project planning and execution process.

“Banks’ commitment to the principles of sustainable development and its ‘Development With Care’ ethos make it stand out from its industry peers, and I hope to be able to use my skills to enhance the work it undertakes in communities across Scotland.”

Banks Developments is the company behind proposals for Scotland’s first ‘eco-town,’ which would be built at Cardenden in Fife, and has a range of other large-scale regeneration and property development projects in progress across the country.

Colin Anderson, managing director of Banks Property Development Ltd, says: “We have long been committed to working closely with the communities surrounding all our operations, and Siobhan’s expertise will enable to do this even more effectively.”

Last updated: Thursday 03 July 2008, 16:58 PM