The new Coventry Society Chair for 2026-2028 is Tim Brown
Tim has lived in Coventry for nearly 50 years and has had a varied career starting off as a planning policy officer for the City Council for six years. He then became a lecturer at Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) specialising initially in planning and development before becoming the Director of the Centre for Comparative Housing Research in the Department of Politics. He retired from university life in 2014 and became a part-time associate of the Housing Quality Network (HQN) focussing on consultancy projects covering strategic housing, social housing allocations, and the private-rented sector.
Research activity highlights at De Montfort University included projects for the government on policy transfer of social allocations systems from the Netherlands to the UK, comparing the private rented sector in 12 countries, and investigating the opportunities of institutional investment in the rented sector. The latter resulted in Tim being appointed to the Montague Review in 2012 on the embryonic build-to-rent sector.
Tim has also been a non-executive director of three housing associations. At the East Midland Housing Group (EMHG) between 2016-2024, he was at various times Chair of the Care & Support Boad, the Audit Committee and the Homes Board.
He has been a member of Coventry Society since 2022. As well as his passion for tackling the housing challenges facing the city, he is keen to ensure that there is a stronger focus on our conservation areas and listed buildings. These, especially the Spon Street Conservation Area, ought to be a ‘jewel in our crown’. But, in reality, there are a neglected asset that are under-threat because of neglect and the impact of new developments.
Tim is also a keen fan supporting Lincoln City and Hull Kingston Rovers as well as Coventry City.