Meet the team

Sarah Pitt

Chair

Sarah brings a depth of experience to her role as Chair of CPRE Avon and Bristol.  She grew up in the Chew Valley and moved to Bristol where she worked as a Producer and creative team leader at the BBC, specializing in countryside and wildlife programmes. She has served as a Trustee for Avon Wildlife Trust, the Wildlife Gardening Forum and on the Board of The Community Farm in Chew Magna.

Sarah is committed to making CPRE Avon and Bristol, an inclusive and vibrant place to work and to taking action to build a sustainable, healthy countryside for people and wildlife.

“In the face of potentially rapid housing growth and other demands on our finite countryside, CPRE will work hard to communicate with local communities; councillors and MP’s to ensure housing need is met without despoiling the open green spaces local people value so much.  These vital assets are also needed for farming and food production; nature’s recovery; mitigation against climate change and our own mental health and wellbeing”.

If you care about these issues do join us! CPRE Avon and Bristol is recognised across the West of England as the only charitable organisation that stands up for the countryside across the whole range of issues affecting it. In doing so we can daw on CPRE’s national expertise and experience acquired over nearly a Century.

Sophie Spencer

Vice-Chair

Sophie has had a life long interest in countryside and rural issues. She was brought up on a small organic farm in rural mid-Wales with her environmentally minded family. She lives in Bristol with her husband, three children and dog, and maintains regular contact both with local countryside and her childhood landscapes of Wales.  In her spare time she regularly enjoys singing, swimming, reading and walking. She was Director of CPRE Avon and Bristol from 2014 to 2022.

After graduating from Swansea University, Sophie worked for a small environmental consultancy in Leicester, before traveling throughout India and Nepal. She joined CPRE’s Policy Team in central London in 1999, and quickly developed her knowledge and expertise in rural policy, particularly farming and local foods, trees and hedgerows, rural communities and services, planning and special landscapes.

After 6 years at the CPRE national office, Sophie moved to Bristol.  She took up the post of Director at CPRE Avon and Bristol from 2014 – 2022 and particularly enjoyed working with local volunteers and Trustees on projects, campaigns and policy issues.  Sophie then joined Natural England as a Senior Advisor, Strategic Plans for Places, in March 2022, including helping to implement new Environment Act legislation.  She now works for the West of England Combined Authority as a Senior Environment Manager, overseeing work on green infrastructure, climate resilience and nature and health for the region.

Kaley Hart

Honorary Treasurer

Kaley is the Honorary Treasurer for CPRE Avon and Bristol, and she also sits on the Policy and Campaigns Committee for CPRE Nationally.

She went to University in Bristol and has been involved with CPRE since 1998 when she was a Rural Policy Officer.

In her day job she is the Associate Research Director for an environmental thinktank – the Institute for European Environmental Policy – where she oversees their work relating to agriculture and land use, biodiversity and climate.

Kaley is also a Member of the College of Experts for England’s Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter.

Sam Martlew

Hedgerow Heroes Project Lead

You can get in touch with Sam via: Hedgerows@cpreavonandbristol.org.uk

Georgie Bigg

Trustee

Catherine Withers

Trustee

Adaire Osbaldeston

Charity Co-ordinator

Gemma Michael

Hedgerow Heroes Project Assistant