East takes new role at Newham

Planner John East has been appointed to the role of director for place commissioning (housing and community infrastructure) at the London Borough of Newham.

East joined the council as director of planning and development services in 2010 before being appointed as director of community infrastructure.

His new role reflects the council’s move to become a predominantly commissioning council which looks to appoint external bodies and companies to deliver services on its behalf.

East told Planning: “The services which I will be commissioning won’t necessarily be in house, although I will be managing those too.

“I will be doing options appraisals on all relevant services.”

Prior to joining Newham, East was director and head of the central London planning team at consultancy Savills.

Before that, he served for spells as head of planning and transport at London Borough of Southwark, head of environment, planning and review at London Borough of Richmond-Upon-Thames and director of planning at the London Borough of Brent.

East qualified with a  bachelors in town and country planning as well as a masters in urban design from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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