Who we are

David was born in Seascale in Cumbria and raised his family there.  His grandchildren are now the 6th generation to be raised in the village. He has worked in the family business all his life and served as a Parish Councillor and a Copeland Borough Councillor representing Seascale for over 36 years.

David was a Retained Fire Fighter with Seascale Fire Station for 42 years, retiring in 2013 to allow more time to devote to community/council work.  During the last five years he has served on the Directly Elected Mayor’s Executive with responsibility for Nuclear and Corporate Services.  He has been Deputy Mayor of Copeland for the last three years and is also the Council’s representative on Nuleaf where he is Chair.

In his role as a Parish Councillor he was elected in 2005 as Chairman of the West Cumbria Site Stakeholder Group and enjoys working with the nuclear industry to ensure that community views are represented.

Cllr Caswell is a local lad who has lived and worked in the Bridgwater area all his life.

He moved to a village called Stockland-Bristol in the 1990’s about a mile and a half from Hinkley Point as the ‘crow flies’.  He  became very interested in the power station and attended his first Local Community Liaison Committee (LCLC) meeting at the behest of the Parish Chairman.  With others they formed the reform group that changed the LCLC into the Site Stakeholder Groups (SSG’s).  Mike was first voted in as Vice Chair of the SSG, and then six yeas later he became the Chair.

Elected as a District Councillor in 2011, with the building of Hinkley C high on the agenda, Cllr Caswell was appointed Chair of the SSG Chairs forum, a position he held for three years.  Sedgemoor District Council appointed him to NuLeAF and clearly the value of this organisation was soon apparent.  The SSG do look out for their local communities, but Nuleaf has the far bigger picture and he feels privileged to be a member

David Blackburn has lived in West Leeds all his life.  An electrical engineer by trade, he is a former athlete and Rugby player.  He is married to Ann, who herself was a Councillor until recently, and has a grown-up son and daughter.

In 1998 he was elected as Leeds City Council’s first ever Green Councillor for what was then Wortley Ward.  Later, after boundary changes, that became Farnley & Wortley Ward which he has continued to represent until the present.  He is Leader of the Council’s Green Group, a position he has held for most of that group’s existence.  In the mid-2000’s he served in a joint 3-Party Council Administration, where he Chaired Cabinet and had a portfolio that covered Climate Change, Affordable Warmth, Customer Services and Narrowing the Gap.

He has been Chair of Leeds City Council Peacelink for many years and the Council’s representative to Nuclear Free Local Authorities for over a decade.  He has been Chair of the NFLA’s UK and All Ireland Steering Group since 2019 and is also one of its representatives on Nuleaf.

Phil Matthews joined Nuleaf in 2012 and was appointed Executive Director in 2014.  He previously served as the Sustainable Development Commission’s (SDC) Senior Policy Advisor and Acting Director in Scotland, auditing the Scottish Government’s performance and reporting to the First Minister. He also worked for nine years as a Partner/Director of CAG Consultants, delivering a range of strategic work on climate change and energy for clients including the UK and Scottish Government.

In addition to his work with Nuleaf, Phil is a Board Member of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and a Vice-President of GMF Europe. He has previously held a number of other non-executive roles including Chair of Transform Scotland and Non-Executive Director of Zero Waste Scotland.

Originally from Aberdeen, Phil now lives in Edinburgh. He holds an Honours Degree in Geography from Edinburgh University and a Masters (with Distinction) in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford University.