I HAVE always loved buildings and knew I wanted to be a planning lawyer right from when I began studying law – people come to me with real passion about plans and I love that.

Their passion can either be for their own project – their grand design, for their business or their home – or because they feel very deeply that a plan someone else has will affect their area badly and they are determined to stop it doing that.

You can see from Cathedral Square what a difference a development can make – it has opened up new views of the cathedral, given everyone a public space to move around in and use, and given bars and restaurants new space to grow in the city. Of course some developments arouse a lot of opposition, and I often help people to deal with what they see as bad planning decisions, or situations where councils have not taken note of what local people have said.

One of the great advantages of what I do is the chance to work with a wide range of other people – from ecologists to historic buildings experts and they are also very passionate about what they do. A tree specialist will know absolutely everything about trees and will be very happy to talk about it; I really enjoy that.

Giving an old building a new purpose is one aspect of my work which really interests me – people often have amazing vision for a space and how it can be used differently.

I have restored or refurbished four houses myself and am now on my fifth, so to help other people with their plans is fascinating to me.