Raymond Smith has been an environmental historian for over thirty years. In that time his active historical interests have ranged over water supply, disposal and pollution, the historic built environment, landscape evolution and the planning system – where he has also written on current issues (especially contaminated land and brownfield policy). He has lectured to academic and wider audiences and jointly convened academic meetings. He was an associate lecturer at the University of Surrey in the 1990’s. He is a member of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.