Sue Clifford co-founded Common Ground

Common Ground (charity)

Common Ground is a United Kingdom charity and lobby group. Founded in 1982 by Susan Clifford and Angela King , Common Ground aims to promote "local distinctiveness" .-Organisation and structure:...

, an organisation which campaigns to link nature with culture and the positive investment people can make in their own localities, with Angela King in 1983.

She has worked as a planner

Planner

Planner may refer to:* A diary for planning* Planner programming language* Planner * Urban planner* Route planner* Meeting and convention planner* Planner , part of GNOME Office...

 and as a lecturer

Lecturer

Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...

 in environmental planning

Environmental planning

Environmental Planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out development with due consideration given to the natural environmental, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic frame work to achieve sustainable outcomes.-Elements of environmental...

, latterly at University College London

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

. With King, she has written and edited a variety of books to help people be more expressive about and be more active within their own locality. She is co-author of England in Particular (2006), ‘a celebration of the commonplace, the local, the vernacular and the distinctive’. Their latest, published in 2007, is The Apple Source Book.

Sue debated the future of the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 countryside with Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson

William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...

, Richard Mabey

Richard Mabey

Richard Mabey is a naturalist and author.He has been called by The Times 'Britain's greatest living nature writer'. Among his acclaimed publications are Food for Free, The Unofficial Countryside and The Common Ground, as well as his study of the nightingale, Whistling in the Dark...

, Richard Girling

Richard Girling

Richard Girling is a feature writer for The Sunday Times Magazine. Girling was named Specialist Writer of the Year at the 2002 UK Press Awards. He has been a consultant to the former Department of the Environment and Department for Culture Media and Sport...

 and Nicholas Crane

Nicholas Crane

Nicholas Crane is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. Since 2004, he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town....

 at CPRE's 2007 Volunteers' Conference.