Broads enthusiast is appointed to Authority
A leading figure in the private and public sector with a great love of the Broads has been appointed as a member of the Broads Authority.
Sir Peter Dixon, who has a home overlooking Hickling Broad and is a keen sailor, canoeist and birdwatcher, has been appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment for a period of four years. He takes up his appointment on April 1st.
Sir Peter has been chairman of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for nine years and is also chairman of Colchester Hospital. He was a trustee and council member of the NHS Confederation as well as chairing the Audit Committee. He is also a lay member of the Information Tribunal.
Sir Peter visited the Broads with family friends in 1957 and fell in love with the area, persuading his own family to holiday here. He has had a home in Norfolk since 1973 and now splits his life between Hickling and London.
He sails the Broads cruiser Cirrus, designed by Andrew Wolstenholme, which is based at Norfolk Broads Yacht Club, and keeps a 1920s Ernest Woods motor launch, a canoe and the sailing dinghy in which he learnt to sail at 16 on Hickling Broad. He is a life member of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the Broads Society and North Norfolk Railway, and enjoys bird watching and walking.
“I hope I can play a part in bringing together all the different Broads interests and help people to work constructively towards a better future for the Broads,” he said. “There are so many external threats – climate change, rising sea levels, and pollution - with less money available and I think all of us who have an interest in the Broads need to find ways of working together rather than at times shouting at each other. The Broads is a fantastic area and we need to conserve and preserve it for the future.”
Sir Peter was knighted 'for services to the housing sector' in the 2009 New Year Honours List.
He was Chairman of the Housing Corporation, the government's affordable housing agency, for five years until December 2008. Prior to that he had been a voluntary board member of Housing Associations since 1974, including Anglia Housing Group.
In February 2007 Sir Peter was appointed Chairman of the Office of Public Management (OPM), an independent public interest company dedicated to helping improve social results. In January this year he was appointed a non-executive director of Quintain Estates & Development Plc, a regeneration and development company. His business career includes running a variety of industrial companies as well as extensive experience in banking and corporate finance.
1. These appointments are made following the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if any declared) to be made public
2. Members of the Broads Authority are unpaid, although they can claim an optional annual basic allowance of £1,167. They are also eligible for travel and other expenses incurred in the course of their appointments. The travel allowance is 40 pence per mile. The subsistence allowance is: breakfast £6.18; lunch £8.49; tea £3.36 and evening meal £10.51. Claiming of all allowances is optional.
3. As a lay member of the Information Tribunal, another Ministerial appointment, Sir Peter receives a daily allowance of £265.
17/03/10
