Elena Chiujdea
Elena Chiujdea reports on local government decisions, planning and education for the Maidenhead Advertiser, with a focus on how council policies and developments affect schools and community facilities.
Council finances and local democracy
Her regular coverage of council tax and budget debates shows a strong focus on how financial decisions are made and contested at local level.
She has reported on petitions against council tax rises, detailing residents’ objections and the political pressure around proposed increases. She follows the technical side of council finance, explaining government moves to give authorities more “flexibility” on council tax and what that means for future budgets.
Her work tracks the passage of annual budgets, including pieces on a council approving plans with a significant tax rise and votes for and against medium-term financial strategies. Across these stories she reports meeting times, votes, and key quotes from cabinet members and finance leads, giving readers a clear record of how decisions were taken rather than just the headline outcome.
Planning and development decisions
Chiujdea’s reporting extends into planning, where she covers development proposals and their impact on existing communities and amenities.
She has written planning round-ups that bring together multiple applications in one piece, from the refurbishment of a popular pub brand to converting former pubs into homes. She follows individual applications such as plans for a café and shop at a hotel, a “modern” gym on an industrial estate, and the conversion of a former care home into flats and houses. Her coverage of a greenbelt self-build homes appeal being dismissed shows attention to policy tests and environmental considerations, not just the applicant’s case.
She also reports on larger leisure schemes, including redevelopment of a major theme park attraction, outlining what is proposed and what current facilities will be lost or changed. These pieces are detailed and procedural: she sets out what is being applied for, who objected or supported it, and how planning committees or inspectors reached their decisions.
Education and community facilities
Within this local democracy and planning brief, she repeatedly returns to education and community infrastructure. She has covered a council withdrawing from plans for a new special school, reporting on the reasons given and the disappointment expressed by the authority. In another line of coverage she explains how a neighbourhood plan will affect residents, including where people can vote and which community venues are used as polling stations. Her reporting on a school seeking permission for “essential” sports facilities improvements fits the same pattern: she treats education stories as questions of governance, land use and investment rather than only as classroom issues. Across these articles she links schools, children’s services and community spaces to the wider decisions on budgets and planning that enable or constrain them.
Explaining local processes to residents
A recurring feature of Chiujdea’s work is step-by-step explanation of how local processes work in practice.
In pieces on neighbourhood plan votes, she sets out voting methods, polling station locations and timings, turning a complex planning policy into a set of clear actions for residents. In council finance and budget coverage, she breaks down terms such as council tax flexibility, amended financial plans and medium-term strategies, and connects them directly to potential service changes.
Her planning reports similarly walk readers through objections, committee deliberations and appeal outcomes so that decisions on gyms, cafés, housing conversions and greenbelt land are understandable in everyday terms. The consistent thread is an emphasis on transparency: council chambers, budget papers and planning documents are translated into accessible summaries of who decided what, when, and with what consequences for local services and facilities.
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Ajit Niranjan
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Albert Tait
Albert Tait is Education Editor at The Telegraph, leading coverage of schools and universities as institutions whose decisions have direct consequences for staff and students. He focuses on how regulators, senior leaders and governing bodies respond when safety, standards or integrity are under scrutiny, and how those responses affect classrooms and lecture halls. His work links school inspections and teacher safety to regulatory frameworks and conditions on the ground, and he reports on incidents such as knife attacks and “Code Red” alerts with attention to immediate impact and emergency protocols. He produces multi-part investigations into university governance, including extensive reporting on Cambridge’s handling of Jason Arday’s appointment and resignation. He also covers curriculum debates such as changes in how scientists view evolution and inheritance. He began at The Telegraph as a news reporter and previously covered community news at a local paper.
Beth Kennedy
Beth Kennedy is editor at The PIE News and stands out for reporting on how UK policy, institutional strategy and new delivery models reshape international education. Her beat covers UK study visa rules, international student flows, Home Office and UCAS data, alternative study pathways, language schools, and mergers and acquisitions across the sector. She reports on the practical effects of visa changes, scholarship schemes, online and transnational education, school closures, job losses and sector consolidation. Her work is direct and data-led, with clear explanations of complex systems and a focus on what policy and market shifts mean for universities, language schools and private training organisations. She has over a decade in specialist media, including years reporting for primary healthcare professionals before joining The PIE in 2024.
Callum Clark
Callum Clark is a multimedia journalist at STV News who covers education through the lens of university finances, restructuring and their impact on students, staff and local services. He focuses on stories where cost‑saving plans, job losses and service closures reshape community life, such as Dundee University’s nursery and botanic garden closures, and sets those decisions within wider restructuring efforts. His reporting is direct and fact driven, built on official documents, statements and precise figures that show both the scale of savings targets and monthly losses, and the number of posts at risk. Clark’s background in local news and public service coverage, including mental health service reforms and redundancy schemes, shapes a methodical style that tracks formal processes while keeping the lived experience of workers, families and service users in view.