The British Holiday & Home Parks Association (BH&HPA) has appointed Debbie Walker as its new Director General. She will be assuming her role in November this year.

Debbie joins BH&HPA from the British Property Federation (BPF), the voice of the UK real estate industry. As its Director of Strategy and External Affairs, Debbie represented the interests of a wide range of property owners, developers, funders, agents and advisers to national and regional policy makers.

She will be based at the Gloucester central offices of BH&HPA which is the representative body of Britain’s holiday and residential parks industry with around 3,000 parks in membership.

A graduate of Cardiff University, Debbie began her career as a political journalist, and spent ten years based at Westminster working for The Guardian and the Glasgow-based Herald.

She afterwards moved to the Midlands to become Head of Communications for the University of Birmingham, and then spent five years as Head of Corporate Communications for HS2 Ltd.

National Chairman of BH&HPA, Thomas Marshall, said members were greatly looking forward to benefitting from the experience and expertise which Debbie is bringing to her role:

“As well as a strong track record in creating and leading high-performing teams across a wide range of disciplines, Debbie has a keen understanding of trade association dynamics.

“She is a communications professional who will play an important part in delivering our sector’s messages within Government and among this industry’s many stakeholders,” said Thomas.

Debbie said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining BH&HPA at this hugely important time for the holiday and home parks industry.

“With a general election less than 18 months away, I am very much looking forward to working with members and partners to drive forward BH&HPA’s agenda and to help shape the future of this important and fast-growing industry.”