He will be joined by another newly appointed committee member Alastair Fairley, it was announced today. Their first meeting will take place later this month.

The HLF Committee for the South East is made up of leading figures in the heritage sector across the region who are chosen for their wide range of experience and local knowledge. Responsible for making decisions on regional applications to the fund from £50,000 to £1million, the committee are supported by the regional HLF team for the South East, who operate from London based offices.

Paul, from Maidstone, together with new colleague Alastair Fairley, from Hastings, will join the existing five other members of the committee* made up of local people through open advertisement. Their expertise widely reflects and compliments the range of heritage applications that HLF receives.

Paul Hudson brings extensive experience to the HLF South East Committee in economic development, planning and infrastructure. He was appointed Commissioner to the newly formed national Infrastructure Planning Commission in October 2009. Other career highlights include being appointed  Chief Planner in 2006, being a Director of the Government’s Thames Gateway Executive, and Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure for the South East England Development Agency between 1999 – 2006.

Commenting on his appointment, Paul said: "Heritage means different things to different people, and we all have our favourite projects that HLF funding has supported over the past 15 years or so in the South East. What I find exciting is the sheer diversity and range of projects – 4/5ths are under £50,000 – and it’s not just the buildings, museums and galleries but the region’s stunning countryside and public parks which enrich all our lives. During my time as chairman I hope we can build upon the recognition that heritage has never been more important to the region’s economy, and continue to support huge range of inspiring projects."

Alastair meanwhile brings expertise to the table as a writer, journalist and arts entrepreneur with a lifelong passion for improving access to arts and built environments. With a career in journalism spanning thirty years, he also served as Co-Chair of the Hastings and St Leonards Strategic Partnership, and also with SEEDA establishing various initiatives promoting arts and heritage organisations as key drivers in the region’s regeneration. He commented: "It is an honour and a privilege to be asked to join the Heritage Lottery Fund's Regional Committee for the South East. As a volunteer for decades, I know only too well the difference that the tireless work of many thousands of dedicated people out there makes to our nation's heritage. I look forward to helping their – and our – cause to celebrate our past and bring it to life for future generations to enjoy."

Stuart McLeod, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the South East England region, said: “We are extremely pleased to be welcoming these two new members to the committee. They bring a wealth of experience to what is already a very strong team of decision makers. Their wide ranging expertise and strong regional awareness will be of great benefit to both HLF and the heritage of South East England.”

HLF funds an amazing array of projects that encompass all aspects of the UK’s rich and diverse heritage. The committee that Paul Hudson will chair covers a region that extends from Kent and Sussex, up to Oxford and Milton Keynes.

During the 15-plus years that the HLF has existed, the region has shared over £428million supporting more than 3,000 projects. These range from the restoration of historic buildings, improvements to museums and galleries, makeovers for town parks, purchasing works of art and treasured artefacts, helping to conserve the natural environment, and promoting community involvement in conserving local social histories. The projects are both large and small ranging from multi-million pound building refurbishments to local youngsters tracing the history of their local town and filming a DVD or producing a play.

Recent highlights from around the region awarded by the South East England Committee include the conservation of Ringwood Meeting House, a remarkably complete 18th-century nonconformist chapel used as a meeting place for nearly 300 years and soon to be brought alive as a history centre; a community archaeology project in Folkestone aiming to uncover an internationally important cliff-top Roman Villa in the face of almost certain erosion; and a local project in Brighton to engage the public in the history of one of the country’s oldest cinemas the Duke of York’s Picturehouse.

Biographies

Paul Hudson was appointed a Commissioner to the newly formed national Infrastructure Planning Commission in October 2009. The Commission’s responsibility is to determine applications for major infrastructure projects as defined in the 2008 Planning Act within the framework of ministerially approved National Policy Statements. He served as Thames Gateway Director in the Homes and Communities Agency on secondment from the Department for Communities and Local Government where he was  Director of Delivery in the Thames Gateway Executive, having been appointed the Chief Planner in 2006. He was Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure at the South East England Development Agency from 1999 to 2006. Prior to that was Chief Executive of Locate in Kent, City Technical Director of Rochester upon Medway City Council, Divisional Director at the Travers Morgan Consulting Group and for nearly 20 years held a variety of planning and economic development posts at Kent County Council.

Alastair Fairley is a writer, journalist and arts entrepreneur with a lifelong passion for improving access to our arts and built environments.

From 2004-2008 he served as Co-Chair of the Hastings & St. Leonards Strategic Partnership, serving also on the South East England Development Agency Area Investment Framework and SEEDA’s Regional Economic Strategy Implementation Group, establishing new initiatives to promote the arts and heritage industries as key drivers to the region’s regeneration.

With a career in journalism spanning thirty years he has worked for a broad range of national newspapers and magazines, including the Times, the Evening Standard, Daily Mail, the Independent and Independent on Sunday, while as a broadcaster he has appeared on an equally wide range, including BBC2’s flagship Newsnight, BBC World, BBC News24, Channel 4, Radio 4, Radio London, Radio Kent and Southern Counties Radio.

From 1993 to 2003 he served as a member of the De la Warr Pavilion Trust, campaigning and successfully raising funds for the restoration of the Grade 1-listed modernist building in Bexhill, subsequently writing the building’s monograph, published by Merrell in 2006, his seventh book to date.

In 2003 he established the Hastings Arts Forum, a community organisation to promote and develop Hastings as a major centre for the arts, building it into the south east’s largest subscription-based arts organisation and culminating in the attraction of the prestigious Jerwood Foundation to construct a new gallery to house its internationally important collection of contemporary art, due for completion in 2011.

In 2008 he established FASE, an international archive of space photography based on an extensive collection of original NASA artefacts and photography bequeathed to him by his father, the former Science Editor of ITN, providing research and photography resources to artists, musicians, film-makers and Science Centres throughout the UK and Europe.

Notes to editors

Using money raised through the National Lottery, since 1994 the Heritage Lottery Fund has not only revitalised hundreds of museums, parks, historic buildings, landscapes and wildlife sites, but has also given new meaning to heritage itself. People from every walk of life are now involved with the heritage that inspires them, making choices about what they want to keep and share from the past, for future generations. HLF has supported more than 33,900 projects, allocating over £4.4billion across the UK.

Paul Hudson and Alastair Fairley have their first Committee meeting on 22 June 2010. The other HLF Committee members are: Chris Corrigan, Hilary Lade, Jennie Fordham, Keith Halstead, and Marylin Scott.

Further information

Vicky Wilford HLF Press Office on 020 7591 6046 / 07968 129241 or vickyw@hlf.org.uk