Sir John Harman

Chairman of the Environment Agency

Sir John Harman is currently Chairman of the Environment Agency, which he has served, first as a Board member and then as Deputy Chairman since its inception in 1996.

Sir John Harman was educated at Manchester University and Huddersfield College of Education and was a teacher and lecturer until July 1997. Elected to the West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council in 1981, he served until 1986. He was elected to Kirklees Metropolitan Council in 1986 and led that Authority from 1986 to 1999. From July 1999 to June 2000 he was the first Leader of the Regional Assembly for Yorkshire and Humberside. He was Vice Chairman of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities from 1992 until the formation of the Local Government Association in 1997, when he became Deputy Leader of the Labour Group and Chair of the LGA Urban Commission, until taking up his present position in January 2000.

Sir John received a knighthood in June 1997 in recognition of his services to local government and the environment. He was one of the Local Government Advisors to the UK Delegation to the Earth Summit in 1992, following which he became the founder Chairman of the UK Local Agenda 21 Steering Group.

He is a member of the Mathematical Association and the Child Poverty Action Group; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, and the Society for the Environment; and an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law (Huddersfield University). He is Chairman of Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd, a Director of Energy Savings Trust, and member of the Board of Trustees for the National Coal Mining Museum. Most recently, Sir John was appointed a Trustee of Forum for the Future and to the Board of the National School of Government.