Tony Gates

Tony Gates is the Chief Executive of Northumberland National Park Authority; a post he has held since November 2005. 

Prior to joining the Authority, Tony was the first Chief Executive of the Mourne Heritage Trust, a non-governmental organisation responsible for the management of the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Northern Ireland (1997-2005). Before this he worked on the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (NI).  In both these positions Tony worked with the tourism sector to develop Northern Ireland natural resources as a key sustainable tourism resource.

A native of Northern Ireland, Tony graduated in Town and Country Planning from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1989 and worked as a Town Planner with Cardiff City Council between 1992 - 1997, where he worked on the regeneration of Cardiff Bay. Tony worked as a Regional Planner for the EU Development Programme in The Gambia, West Africa  and for Chester City Council as Regeneration Manager. 

Tony is married with four children and lives in Hexham.