John Ash, a Technical Director at RPA, is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 30 years experience, encompassing design, operations and management, primarily in the field of flood and coastal defence, but also in the fields of environmental engineering and water pollution control. Since joining RPA, he has been involved in a range of policy and project level studies, spanning flood and coastal defence, water resource planning and conservation issues.

Mr Ash is currently providing advice to the Environment Agency on a number of coastal and river flood management strategies, especially in relation to the appraisal aspects, and is currently involved in the development of a decision support framework for Thames Estuary 2100 Strategy for managing flood risk over the next 100 years. He has recently been involved in a review of appraisal guidance for Defra to provide evidence for revising the guidance used in flood and coastal defence appraisals. He has provided training courses on economic and project appraisal to the Environment Agency, and English and Welsh Coastal groups, and brings an extensive knowledge of policy and decision making relating to rivers and the coast, and the surrounding environment. Prior to joining RPA, Mr Ash was MAFF’s Regional Engineer, based in Cambridge.