Alison Barnes biography

Alison is Chief Executive at New Forest National Park Authority and has worked in the field of landscape management for 30 years.

She is the founder of the Green Halo Partnership and an elected Fellow of both the Landscape Institute and RSA.

Previously, she was a founding Director at Natural England, leading NE’s work in London and holding national portfolios for Landscape and Green Infrastructure, including advising on greening the London Olympics and chairing the Thames Gateway Partnership.

Earlier in her career, Alison worked in Scottish local government and with RSPB on opencast mine restoration projects. She later led on local biodiversity policy within Defra and was Head of Advocacy for English Nature, developing policy across Parliament, Whitehall and Europe and supporting the passage of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act, 2006.

Alison has served on the Mayor of London’s Sustainability Commission, and Forestry England’s Regional Advisory Committees and is currently on the Board of Directors for Business South, is a co-founder of the National Park City movement and a Leadership Fellow of St George’s House, Windsor Castle.

She is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas, and has advised and presented internationally on urban protected areas and reconciling development and conservation since 2014.

Alison was inspired to follow her career path by her childhood in Dorset exploring the heathlands and coasts of the area and the nearby New Forest. She graduated from Oxford University with a Masters in Biological Sciences and achieved an MSc in Conservation at University College London.

In her spare time she enjoys walking, swimming and music. She plays the flute and sings with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s BSO Voices Community Choir.