A Bristol lawyer and a doctoral student from the University of the West of England have been featured among a select group of women who have made an impact, influenced national planning policy and inspired those who work with them.
Vicki Redman, a partner in the Bristol office of transatlantic law firm Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD), and Jenna Dutton from UWE Bristol are included in The Planner’s Women of Influence 2023 list. 
Out of more than 160 nominations, 44 women are included in this year’s list across academia, law, media and the private, public and third sectors.
Vicki, pictured, who has worked for WBD (previously Bond Pearce and Bond Dickinson) for 18 years, specialises in all aspects of planning advice, with a major focus on infrastructure in the energy sector.
She is is one of four women to be featured in the law section, in recognition of her work in pushing forward net zero ambitions through the consenting of renewable energy projects.
She led on the Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas offshore windfarm projects for longstanding client Vattenfall, which enabled around 4GW of offshore wind power to be built, securing supply for more than 4m homes and saving 6m-plus tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The projects have also helped unblock some of the most difficult challenges facing the offshore wind industry to date. 
She has also supported smaller projects including in Bristol, where advised a Lawrence Weston community group on a pro-bono basis obtain planning permission for a 4.2MW onshore wind turbine.
It is one of very few permissions to be granted in England since changes to planning for onshore wind were introduced and, at 150m, is believed to be the tallest onshore turbine consented in England.
The project will bring direct benefits to the local community and is seen as a flagship initiative to empower other local communities to realise their own renewable energy ambitions.
Vicki is on the Council for the National Infrastructure Planning Association and a member of Renewable UK’s Offshore Consents and Licensing Group.
One client described her as “a clear and calm thinker, who instils great confidence in clients and teams, and she has a great ability to identify issues of strategic importance whilst managing the detailed preparation of highly complex evidence”. Another noted her “excellent working knowledge of current issues across the DCO [development consent order] sectors”.
Jenna Dutton is a senior urban planner and community development leader specialising in equity and gender inclusion.
Her Planner’s Women of Influence citation says that while Jenna worked in practice as a senior planner for the city of Victoria in Canada, she worked hard to mainstream equality, diversity and inclusion into public policy areas, including climate change, affordable housing and homelessness.
“She set up and led the Climate and Equity Community of Practice. Jenna has been awarded a PhD bursary from University of West of England to undertake research into gender inclusive planning in the UK,” it adds.
Jenna is the co-chair of the Commonwealth Planning Association Women in Planning Network. Her work includes working with international organisations such as the Cities Alliance, World Bank and UN Women, where she is working to ensure that gender mainstreaming issues are considered in relation to planning.
