Cllr Emily O'Brien

Emily O’Brien is Cabinet Member for Climate, Nature & Food Systems at Lewes District Council where she has overseen an ambitious climate and nature strategy and action plan covering decarbonisation, river restoration, flood management, coastal erosion, biodiversity, and food & agriculture. She is also the strategic lead for open spaces & parks. 

She was previously a Cabinet Member for Planning, when she led on greening planning policy including innovative technical guidance on sustainability, on biodiversity net gain and on the circular economy. 

A trained facilitator with a community engagement background, she is also an expert on food systems and a campaigner on food poverty, water quality and climate change. She led award winning place-based approaches for Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, including the first gold Sustainable Food Place Award in the UK. She has also worked for national charity Food Matters as policy and partnerships lead including on the national Sustainable Food Places programme.