Audrey M. Lees

Audrey Mary Lees OBE (1927-2012), was an English architect and town planner. She was the city of Liverpool's chief planner. Lees worked in Coventry's Architecture and Town Planning unit from 1957 to 1959, where she was part of a team that included many people who went on to have successful careers in other cities around the UK.

In 1987 she was working as a Planning and Environmental Consultant and was visiting professor in Environmental Studies at Wye College. She also served as Chair of the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council.

She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours, "For services to Inland Waterways and to Planning".

North Cornwall inquiry

In 1992, Lees was appointed by the government to lead an inquiry into planning decisions in North Cornwall.

Journalists challenged a series of decisions taken by the planning committee at North Cornwall District Council in the late 1980s and early 1990s, resulting in a television documentary, Cream Teas and Concrete (part of Channel 4's Cutting Edge series), aired in 1991. It was said that a large number of planning permits were given to councillors on the planning committee (including their immediate relatives), and that illegal construction was permitted in either the open countryside or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, all of which were against officers' advice to withhold consent. The Springburn Study (Book Review), Town Planning Review, 1968. "London: The Unique City" (Book Review) was published in Town Planning Review in 1984.