In addition to our two directors Tony Ploszajski and Jim Lynch, PLC boasts a highly expert team each with a wealth of experience and expertise behind them.

Bernard Mella

Bernard was Director of Leisure and Cultural Services for Chelmsford City Council.  In that post, he grew the service to a position of one of the best in Britain overseeing the development of major facilities such as the Melbourne Park Athletics Centre and developing a high quality sports, arts and countryside development services.  His 2012 Olympic outreach programme into local schools was regarded as a national example of good practice.

Bernard brings to consultancy projects his substantial strategic and operational level experience of managing major sport & leisure facilities, health & fitness development, theatres, parks & open spaces, heritage and regional & inter/national scale cultural and outdoor events.   He is also highly experienced in developing partnerships between the public private & third sectors.

Bernard is a keen rugby coach at Hertford RFC.

Stuart Fitzgerald

Stuart is a valued member of PLC team who first worked with us in 2002 during our work with the Audit Commission.  He has sinced worked on a wide range of performance reviews, playing pitch strategies and strategic planning projects.   Jim and Stuart had a long standing working  relationship with LSSI as they worked to enter the UK library management industry. In particular, Stuart uses his background in sport as a valued assessor of facilities. Stuart brings to his consultancy assignments a wide range of skills and experience from a variety of employment and projects in the public and private sectors.

Stuart was a good amateur footballer and is a former chairman of Wavertree Cricket Club.  He shares Jim Lynch’s passion for Everton FC.

Sally-Anne Maidment

Sally-Anne is a former Director of Leisure for the London Borough of Waltham Forest and was a senior civil servant in the Department of National Heritage, the forerunner of DCMS.  She also worked for property specialists JLL and co-authored their publication on leisure shopping.

Sally-Anne has a wealth of experience in facility management, public-private partnerships and opening up educational facilities for community benefit.  She brings to he consultancy assignments a no-nonsense approach, looking always at the practicalities of improving service delivery.

Sally-Anne has a passion for developing women and girls involvement in all aspects of leisure as performers, coaches and administrators.

Jim Arnold

Jim has recently become part of the PLC team having been for 20 years Sports and Leisure Manager at Stafford Borough Council. Here he was responsible for developing a range of facilities including the Stafford Leisure Centre and Rowley Park Athletics Centre.  He was also responsible for a major improvement programme in Stafford’s parks including the award winning Victoria Park in Stafford town centre.

Jim has an unrivalled background in all sectors of sport and recreation. In addition to his work for Stafford BC he played professional football for Everton, Blackburn Rovers and Preston NE.  He is an active cricket umpire and has strong connections with the midlands sports network.

Irene Seijo

Irene is an experienced project manager and landscape consultant with 25 years of experience in regeneration, public realm, planning and development. She is also a trained horticulturalist & is familiar with design, maintenance & user issues  within parks and open spaces.  She has extensive experience in using GIS systems to plan and inform greenspace and sports strategies and plans.

In her leisure time Irene is a South East in Bloom judge & former Green Flag Judge & has recently been appointed as a Design Council Built Environment Expert (BEE).

Val Hyland

Val is a highly experienced consultant, project manager and landscape specialist, working in Green Infrastructure, regeneration and development. She has specialist knowledge of Green Infrastructure, environment-led regeneration and project delivery, and experience gained across a range of disciplines at both strategic and site specific scales.

Val has worked at a senior level in local government at district and county levels, leading a wide range of multi-disciplinary teams and functions. She has worked closely with external organisations including Government, agencies, NGOs and Developers.

Val is a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute.

Chris Law

Chris is an experienced planning assistant and GIS specialist in the public and private sectors.  Chris has worked on a variety of open space, playing pitches and sports facility assessments and strategies and is expert in relating provision to local circumstances such as travel times and local demographics.

Chris is a keen amateur sportsman with a love of swimming and cycling.