Our people

I joined the Board at the AGM in 2015.

I retired in 2014 from the post of Head of Legal Services with Stoke-on-Trent City Council.  Having been a local government lawyer throughout my career (specialising in town and country planning and related areas), I am well-versed in public law matters, such as highways and footpaths, common land and bye-laws, as well as the wider organisational challenges of using constantly decreasing resources to meet ever increasing demands. 

I am a hands-on conservationist.  Co-founding Staffordshire and Cheshire Barn Owl Conservation Project in the 1980s, I ran a Barn Owl breeding and release project for many years, predominantly in Staffordshire, in collaboration with Chester Zoo and Keele University.  The project also relied heavily on voluntary support from a wide range of individuals and organisations.  Although the last of several hundred releases of captive-bred birds took place in 2000, I have continued to monitor nest sites in Staffordshire and am currently an active member of the Barn Owl Action Group, which is affiliated to Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.

I am a published author, having written a number of magazine articles about wildlife and conservation over the years.  Most recently, my book telling the story of the Barn Owl project (“Growing Barn Owls in my Garden”) was published by Whittles Publishing (2011).

I have recently extended my skills by completing a two-year part-time course in Biological Recording and Species Identification.

Most importantly, I have had a passionate interest in wildlife and conservation since my childhood growing up in the Lake District, an area which exemplifies the difficulties of promoting an enjoyment of, and involvement in, the natural world for all, whilst protecting and enhancing wild places and the wildlife found in them.   I seek to use my skills and energies to help Staffordshire Wildlife Trust meet these, and other, challenges in the county I have called home for the last 30 years.

I joined the Board of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust in 2015.

I worked for Stoke on Trent City Council, retiring in 2009 having worked for the City Council for almost 40 years.

I am an accountant by profession, I qualified as a CIPFA accountant in 1983. My final professional post was Executive Support Manager within the Chief Executives Department, reporting directly to the Chief Executive. However, most of my career was in the Finance Directorate, the majority of that time as an Internal Auditor for the organisation. I spent my whole professional career working for Stoke on Trent City Council.

Wildlife has always been an interest, from my youth I have always been a keen walker, combining walking with my wildlife interest. I would say bird-watching is my most enjoyable pastime, but wildlife generally is always close to my heart. I am married to Sue and we have three grown up children, holidays in this country and abroad have always contained a wildlife perspective. I count myself most blessed in holidaying in Kenya a few years ago, the wildlife was truly stunning.

My interests include gardening and I enjoy the odd game of badminton in an attempt to maintain a degree of fitness, not sure it’s working!

I was co-opted to the Board in February, 2018. 

My working life was in the automotive industry, firstly in an engineering consultancy and then in a global chemical company where I was responsible for facilities in the UK, USA, China and Japan. 

I have been a member of my local Wildlife Trust – firstly Sussex, then Derbyshire, now Staffordshire as well as Derbyshire – for more than 30 years.  I completed a maximum 9-year term as a trustee for DWT in 2017.

Notable recent wildlife successes (e.g. buzzards and red kites) fail to mask the true state of Britain’s wildlife as detailed in the State of Nature report which reported that of 8,000 species in the UK some 56% had declined since 1970; in the past 40 years we have lost 44 million breeding birds; at the start of the last century the UK had 4 million acres of flower-rich meadows only 1% of which remains.

It is for reasons such as these that I am committed to the Wildlife Trusts.  In recent years, I’ve been delighted to see the WTs adopt “Landscape-Scale” thinking, and leading campaigns such as those against Hen Harrier persecution and badger culling.  Whilst we have some beautiful landscape in England, we have very little that is truly wild – so I am also passionate about the opportunities for wildlife offered through rewilding – from leaving grass verges uncut to encourage wild flowers through to landscape-level rewilding schemes. 

Brought up in Warwickshire, I have worked in the nature conservation sector for over 20 years, the last 12 years being in Staffordshire as Principal Ecologist for the County Council. This post meant that I got to know and love Staffordshire and it’s special and varied habitats as well as meeting many of the dedicated and knowledgeable people who work so hard to protect and enhance Staffordshire’s wildlife. My work included involvement in land use planning, minerals and waste developments and transport infrastructure. I found that collaborative working means that it can be possible (though sadly it often is not achieved) to build effective wildlife protection and enhancement into new development.  

A key to success is building and maintaining partnerships across sectors. I retired in April 2018 and felt that I wanted to use some of my spare time to continue to contribute and I was delighted to be asked to become a Trustee as Staffordshire Wildlife Trust has such a fundamental role in the County through not only the reserves and education work but, crucially, strategic and partnership projects and working with the development sector. I am a keen birdwatcher and get huge pleasure from the natural environment with a particular love of grassland habitats and their diverse flora.  

I graduated from Sheffield University in 1974 and then trained as a Landscape Architect; and throughout my career I was fortunate enough to work in the fields of landscape and nature conservation. I worked for several local authorities including Walsall MBC, where I was head of the Landscape and Conservation Group within the Planning Department. I then spent eleven years working for the Countryside Agency and its successor Natural England, where I led the organisation’s work on regional planning, and landscape, in the West Midlands region.

I retired from Natural England in 2011; and have been a Trust member since 2006, and a Trustee since 2013. I am involved in Project Boards set up to oversee the re-development of the Wolseley Centre and grounds, and to take forward the Trust’s work on carbon reduction and sustainability.  I have a particular interest in Planning and in landscape scale conservation, including projects such as Transforming the Trent Valley Washlands. I am also a member of the RSPB, and submit records for the BTO.

I live in Barton under Needwood, and also enjoy hill walking, gardening, and an allotment; and musical activities - playing the ukulele and as a member of a community choir. 

SWT Trustee since 2012 

Recently set up as a consultant (nationalgardensspecialist.co.uk) providing historic estates in the UK with a bespoke service to support their management and with their recruitment.

Between 2004 and 2019 supporting property development specialists St.Modwen as Head of the Trentham Estate and Garden overseeing the wider business operation and improvement of the garden and estate. The garden was elected BBC Country file Garden of the Year in 2015, and European winner of the EGHN Award in 2010.

Prior to this I was responsible for the gardens at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire for Lord Jacob Rothschild. Career to date includes working in many great gardens and estates in private ownership or those belonging to the National Trust such as Harewood House, Powis Castle, Mount Stewart, Castle Drogo and Beningbrough Hall. I have been involved in the management agreement between SWT and St. Modwen to create new woodland and wildlife areas at Branston and between St Modwen and SWT.

I have recently presented a paper at the international Sibbaldia Conference discussing Diversity and Inclusion, the Environment and Climate Change, and how our values and principals help guide our future understanding of best practice.

Elliott is a recent First-Class (Hons) graduate in Accounting and Finance from Keele University. He has worked closely with many local authorities to improve multiple levels of waste management services and further develop information on fly-tipping; where he has recently won the highly coveted Winner Green Gown Award (Enterprise), as well as receiving a ‘Highly Commended’ from Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce.

He has always been passionate about wildlife and the environment and is very excited to have taken up the role as Trustee. He is the former Education Officer and Trustee of Keele University Student’s Union, where he is still actively involved in gathering student feedback.

Email: j.woolford@staffs-wildlife.org.uk

Phone: 01889 880102