Environmental Impact Champion Award
Matthew Bradbury
Matthew joined Nene Park Trust in 2015 and has overseen the significant growth of the organisation, both in ambition and charitable impact. He is passionate about the environment and culture, and the benefits they bring to everyone.
Matthew comes from a farming background and is a Fellow of the Landscape Institute. He holds Non-Executive Director roles with the University College of Peterborough, Peterborough Cultural Alliance and is also a Trustee of the Cathedral Preservation Trust and the National Literacy Trust.
Stuart Dawks
Stuart is the CEO of PECT, an independent environmental charity that has been creating healthier, more sustainable communities for over 30 years. Stuart leads PECT’s strategic direction, overseeing programmes that tackle climate change, connect people with nature, improve health and wellbeing, support businesses to reduce their environmental impact, and help households through energy advice and fuel poverty initiatives.
Before joining PECT, Stuart spent 18 years as a consultant in the water industry, specialising in innovation, data visualisation and project management. He is passionate about bringing people and organisations together to turn ambitious ideas into practical action, creating lasting environmental, social and economic benefits for Peterborough and beyond.
Born and raised in Peterborough, Stuart attended The King’s School and has a deep connection to the city. He is passionate about helping Peterborough become one of the UK’s leading environmental cities, ensuring it is a place where people and nature can thrive together.
Stuart Foster
Stuart and his team have worked with corporate, trade body, national and local government partners for almost 30 years, specialising in the circular economy, carbon, recycling and sustainability. As owner and director of the Peterborough based companies PPS Sustainability and Oakdene Hollins, he actively champions local initiatives, promoting Peterborough and Cambridgeshire’s environmental ambitions and credentials at every opportunity. From litter reduction, recycling, re-use, microplastics and citizen engagement programmes to carbon accounting, sustainability strategies and hosting national events in the city, he has helped drive positive environmental awareness and change, and played his part in putting Peterborough on the map when it comes to environment and sustainability expertise. He also holds several key roles including longstanding CEO of the UK’s plastics circularity charity RECOUP, Chair of the UK Waste Compliance and Crime Taskforce, and Chair of the Chartered Institution of Waste Management for the East Anglian region. He served on the Chamber’s Peterborough Committee from 2021–2024 and also supports Helping Whittlesey, an environmental and community charity.
Trevor Gibson
Trevor began his career in 1984 as an Environmental Health Officer in the West Midlands, joining Peterborough City Council in 1998. By 2002, he had advanced to Director of Environmental and Community Services, overseeing waste management, planning, transport, and environmental and consumer regulation. Leaving local government in 2009, he became the Smart City and Sustainability Advisor for Opportunity Peterborough until 2021 when he joined PECT as Fundraising and Business Development Manager. Trevor has been involved with PECT in various capacities since the 1990s. Throughout his career, he has remained deeply passionate about environmental protection, pioneering city-scale sustainability strategies and championing the circular economy. His global expertise and experience include international waste management transformation projects and recently chairing both the BSI’s Smart and Sustainable Cities Committee and the EU’s Small and Medium Sized Cities Focus Group. A keen birdwatcher, Trevor also looks after his own garden-scale rewilding project at home.
Kez Hayes-Palmer
Kez Hayes Palmer is the Co Founder of Up The Garden Bath CIC and UNITY, an award winning community enterprise that is transforming lives through sustainability, education and community collaboration. Passionate about creating opportunities for others, Kez has helped build an organisation that has generated more than £1 million in sales for small independent businesses while providing free educational and creative activities for over 35,000 families. From promoting environmental sustainability through innovative upcycling projects to leading initiatives such as Goal2Grow, Kez is committed to making a lasting difference. Her dedication to bringing people together and creating inclusive opportunities continues to inspire positive change across Peterborough and beyond.
Pia Larson
My personal passion for wildlife and green spaces began in early childhood on my grandparents’ farm in Sweden where each grandchild had a fruit and vegetable-growing piece of the land, and where I helped to fill up the many birdfeeders whilst being taught the names and habits of visiting wildlife.
I am proud and excited to take care of and run programmes at Nene Park Trust’s beautiful and accessible Community Plant Nursery – Nene Nursery.
I relish in sharing easy-to-learn, and to implement, biodiversity-enhancing practices with our visitors; organic growing methods, adding wildlife water stations, planning for pollen all year round, creating nesting spaces for birds, allowing for leaf and log piles for insects, to name but a few.
All of these initiatives have the added benefit of enhancing our visitors’ experiences and to support the building of meaningful purpose in our lives whilst helping to counteract climate change.
Phillip McNaughton
Phil McNaughton is a degree-qualified Chemical Engineer and Chartered Member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers with over 28 years of experience at British Sugar. Throughout his career, he has held a range of engineering, operational, project and strategic leadership roles across the UK and overseas. He has served as Head of Capital Projects, leading the company’s capital investment programme and co-product strategy, and now serves as Head of Decarbonisation and Environment.
Phil leads British Sugar’s sustainability and decarbonisation agenda, as well as the company’s environmental performance and strategy. He supports lobbying activity and legislation guidance and led the implementation of the FDM BREF programme. He also drives initiatives to reduce energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, water use and plastic waste, while developing long-term strategies to ensure regulatory compliance and support sustainable manufacturing.
Chris Park
Chris has worked with Nene Park Trust since 1990, bringing a lifelong passion for wildlife, birds and practical conservation to his roles. His environmental interests began at school on the Suffolk coast and later as a volunteer during the construction of Rutland Water nature reserve, where he later became Assistant Warden, working alongside and learning from leading figures in wildlife conservation.
At Nene Park, Chris has helped deliver biodiversity improvements including Sand Martin nest boxes, tern rafts and the restoration of floodplain meadow, supporting richer habitats for birds and wildlife. Now working within the Park management team with an environmental focus, he continues to contribute to projects that make Nene Park a better place for both people and nature.
Outside work, Chris enjoys birding, wildlife travel, reading, sketching and painting.
Francois Pierrel
Dr François Pierrel is Managing Director of EnerTherm Engineering and an experienced engineer specialising in thermal design, heat transfer, industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation.
With more than 25 years of engineering and R&D experience, François has developed and commercialised several innovative technologies. He developed a spray-applied thermal insulation coating, with the intellectual property subsequently acquired by global coatings manufacturer Hempel.
He also designed a highly efficient heater-incinerator system for the crisp-frying industry, improving energy efficiency while providing effective pollution abatement. The technology has since been supplied internationally to major food manufacturers, including Walkers.
François holds a PhD in Heat Transfer from Cranfield University and combines engineering, CFD, digital technologies and artificial intelligence to develop practical solutions that reduce energy consumption, emissions and operating costs across industry.
Prof Ross Renton
Professor Renton is Principal and Chief Executive of ARU Peterborough, a multi-award-winning new university established to transform opportunities in Peterborough and the wider region. He was previously Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Worcester, where he was responsible for several key aspects of the student experience strategy, as well as the international strategy, widening participation, employability, and a range of partnerships and resources. With a track record of senior leadership across the UK higher education sector, he plays a prominent national role.
He is President of the Forum for Access and Continuing Education, a Board Member of GuildHE, and has served as a Visiting Professor at the Open University and as a widening participation expert and Board Member for the Office for Students’ Subject-level Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). He is widely recognised for his work on widening access, policy, regional impact and place-based higher education, and is a frequent contributor to national policy and sector debate.
Mike Richardson