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Keir Starmer has transformed the Labour Party and outlined a long-term vision for Britain with five key government missions: improving the economy, the NHS, education, crime prevention, and clean energy. His plan continues the goal of "levelling up" the country, with more power to devolved administrations. This includes accelerating housing development, aiming to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years, and enhancing public transport to boost mobility, economic growth, and environmental outcomes. A £4.8bn fund supports local authorities in improving healthcare, transport, and other services, enabling communities to work together to achieve regional progress.
Register to discover how, in 2025 and beyond, we will begin to Build Back Britain!
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WHO ATTENDS
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Keynote
Averil Lekau Deputy Leader, also Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport Royal Borough of GreenwichCouncillor Averil Lekau was elected to the Royal Borough of Greenwich in 2014. Councillor Lekau became Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport in 2022 and represents Thamesmead Moorings ward. Councillor Lekau is a former Cabinet Member for Health & Adult Social Care and Housing and Anti Poverty and is a former member of the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board, Housing and Anti-Poverty Scrutiny Panel, Healthier Communities and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel, Licensing Committee and Woolwich and Thamesmead Area Planning Committee. Councillor Lekau has also chaired the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel and has served as a member of the Council’s Planning Board, Community Safety and Environment Scrutiny Panel and Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel.
Councillor Lekau is currently a member of London Council’s Transport and Environment Committee and Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. Councillor Lekau represents the Royal Borough of Greenwich on the Port of London Authority’s Ports and Infrastructure Group and Environmental Protection UK.
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Transport and EV Infrastructure
The new government aims to expand transport networks, promote social mobility, and achieve greener transport solutions. To meet these goals and ensure decarbonisation, local governments, including Metro Mayors, will receive more authority over transport planning. This local control will better address community needs. For example, the introduction of a £4.7 billion Local Transport Fund will significantly increase investment in local transport in the North and Midlands, multiplying funding ninefold from 2025 to 2032. This fund will empower local leaders to improve roads, junctions, mass transit, lighting, and EV infrastructure.
Join this panel to understand the future projects taking place to improve the transport network and EV infrastructure across the UK.
Roubinah Essop-Burns EV Team Leader London CouncilsElectric Vehicle Infrastructure - Team Leader at London Councils
Daniel Gosbee Principal Project Officer Lincolnshire County Council
Shamala Evans-Gadgill EV Infrastructure Programme Manager Coventry City CouncilTransportation and Innovation: CVLR Programme Delivery Manager and EV Infrastructure Programme Manager/Senior Engineer –
Shamala is a 4th-year part-time PGR within the Research Institute for Clean Growth and Future Mobility at Coventry University and is also an experienced Senior Civil Engineer and Programme/Project Manager in designing and implementing challenging, complex and wide-ranging infrastructure projects. Her experience includes (1) Innovation projects within the decarbonising transport platform, renewables, battery storage and management; (2) Local Transport Plans, including Network Efficiency projects and Waste Management projects; (3) Traffic Management, including traffic-calming measures; (4) General roadworks, including road geometry; and (5) Regeneration, public realm, and urban environment projects.
Councillor Neil Clarke MBE Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment Nottinghamshire County CouncilExperienced Director and Local Government Councillor with a demonstrated history of working in the construction/development and local Government industries. Skilled in Community liaison, Negotiation, Mediation, Customer Service, Local Government. -
Available On Demand
Education and Skills
The previous government pledged to significantly increase the number of people completing high-quality skills training across the UK by 2030, with England seeing 200,000 more annual completions. A £3.8bn investment for 2024-25 was planned to provide free A Level-equivalent qualifications for 11 million adults in England. As we now have a new government, questions arise about what has been achieved and what their current ambitions are regarding skills development.
The Prime Minister and Education Secretary have introduced "Skills England" to address skills shortages, which doubled between 2017 and 2022, now making up 36% of job vacancies. This initiative aims to align post-16 training with the Industrial Strategy, particularly in construction and healthcare, and reduce reliance on overseas workers by working with the Migration Advisory Committee. It also offers businesses more flexibility in using levy funds for essential training. Local authorities are encouraged to be involved in the rollout of this program.
Join this panel to discover how Skills England will be implemented and how local authorities can contribute to its success.
Penny Syddall Programme Manager - Skills and Adoption Dorset CouncilPenny has spent time as a writer and journalist, corporate communications professional, and university lecturer. She now leads the multi-award-winning digital skills and adoption team at Dorset Council, using networking and people-centred approach to build collaborations across the region. She started Dorset’s Digital Skills Partnership, works closely with health colleagues to build a digital inclusion approach for the Integrated Care Board and is investigating the role of culture in embedding a forward-thinking, digital mindset in business alongside Futuredotnow.
Jonathon Cuthberston Head of Skills & Employability Essex County CouncilI am a regeneration and housing professional, currently working as Head of Skills and Employability at Essex County Council.
Throughout my career in local government I have sought to create brilliant places that meet the whole-person needs of residents and communities, delivering regeneration programmes accross Essex using Government funding to address the challenges and harness the opportunities in our key towns.
To deliver my work I enjoy working as an individual or as part of a team and have developed extensive experience of partnership working with organisations across the public and private sector.
Dave Burn Director Frontline ConsultingDave has over 20 years’ experience as a senior local government officer with a strong understanding of the democratic, legislative and organisational needs and requirements of how local government organisations work and function. Dave has extensive experience of leading teams and working tactically to support council's to deliver their vision. He navigates well in the political environment, having worked effectively with senior members and officers to fulfil the council’s needs. As an external consultant, Dave has been supporting local authorities for the past 10 years in order to support improvement and to ensure effective internal challenge
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Regeneration of Communities and Towns
The UK Government's Pride in Place Mission, updated in January 2024, aims to strengthen local attachment, belonging, and satisfaction by enhancing pride in local areas. This initiative focuses on improving safety, fostering community connections, and increasing engagement with local culture and infrastructure. Regeneration plays a key role in this mission, with efforts to revitalize neglected areas, improve public spaces, and breathe new life into communities. Since 2019, £4.8 billion from the Levelling Up Fund has been dedicated to regenerating town centres and supporting community projects. Additionally, in March 2023, a £160 million Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan was launched to tackle anti-social behaviour, with a focus on safety, high streets, community involvement, and cultural enrichment.
As local leaders gain more power and responsibility, regenerating communities likely to remain a priority. Join this panel to learn about the regeneration efforts, funding, and initiatives being implemented in local communities to foster pride of place and strengthen the sense of community.
Cllr Lezley Marion Cameron Housing and Economy Lead City of Edinburgh CouncilLiberton Gilmerton Ward Councillor
Cllr Lezley Marion Cameron DL is the Labour and Cooperative Party Councillor for Liberton Gilmerton Ward and a former Edinburgh Economic Development Convener.
With a background in Human Resources, City Development and Strategic Policy, Cllr Cameron has worked in the private and public sectors and has twice run her own consultancy business. She has also worked in the supply chain and marketing divisions of a global logistics company in Sydney and in the British Consulate there.
Cllr Cameron chairs the EICC Board, the CEC Holdings Ltd Board and the Council’s Cross Party Equalities Group. She is also a Director of Edinburgh Leisure and sits on the Planning Committee; the Culture and Communities Committee; and the Edinburgh Licensing Board.
Cllr Cameron is a passionate advocate for small business; for arts, culture and sport; and for Edinburgh to become a fairer, more accessible and inclusive city for all.
In June 2022 Cllr Cameron was appointed Depute Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh.
More recently in December 2024, and in addition to continuing her civic role, she was appointed Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee.
Millie Mitchell Researcher Institute for GovernmentPolicy researcher at the Institute for Government, an independent think tank working to improve the effectiveness of UK government. I have a background in urban policy, having previously published reports on housing, transport and public realm in London. My current research explores devolution to the mayors of England's cities and regions, as well as devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Cllr Denise Jeffery Chair of the Place, Regeneration and Housing Committee West Yorkshire Combined AuthorityCllr Denise Jeffery became Leader of Wakefield Council in December 2019. Prior to this she had been Deputy Leader for the last 11 years.
Whilst Deputy Leader Cllr Jeffery also held the Cabinet Portfolio for Regeneration and Economic Growth and despite the economic downturn she was instrumental in bringing inward investment to the District.
Having a family history in mining, Cllr Jeffery has been Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for the National Coal Mining Museum for England. She is also Chair of the West Yorkshire Place, Regeneration and Housing Committee. Cllr Jeffery set up Wakefield Councils Recovery Board in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic which provided support o both residents and local business’s.
Cllr Jeffery is a keen rugby fan and enjoys reading and relaxing with holidays on the Yorkshire coast.
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Planning and Building Homes
As the new government took office, plans were announced to build 1.5 million homes by the end of its term. Within 30 days, these targets were by 50%, introducing new planning frameworks. These changes will raise mandatory housebuilding targets for councils by approximately 100,000 homes annually. To assist councils, a £180 million fund from the BLRF2 will be available over three years.
The UK has long faced housing shortages, with plans often delayed by red tape. The new frameworks aim to streamline the process by reclassifying low-quality Green Belt land as Grey Belt, allowing quicker development.
Additionally, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund will help retrofit or insulate 140,000 social homes, and the Green Heat Network Fund will provide low-carbon heating. But will this be enough to increase housing availability? Join our panel as we explore the complexities of planning and construction, and ask: how can we build 1.5 million homes in five years?
Andrew van Doorn OBE Chief Executive HACTAndrew is the Chief Executive of HACT. HACT partners with organisations across the housing sector to drive value for residents and communities through insight-led products and services which encourage innovation and foster collaboration. HACT helps them measure their social value, better understand the communities they serve, broker collaborations with the NHS, and connect with like-minded organisations.
Andrew has worked for HACT for 21 years and in housing, homelessness, supported housing, community development and wider social policy and practice for over 30 years. He is a Non-Executive Director at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. Andrew was awarded an OBE in the King’s New Year Honours List 2023 for services to housing.
@AndrewvanDoorn
@HACThousing
Adam Hug Housing Spokesperson Local Government AssociationCurrently the Leader of Westminster City Council, the local authority covering the commercial and cultural centre of London and home to 250,000 or so residents, heading the first Labour administration in its history.
Alongside my role at Westminster I serve on the Executive Advisory Board of the Local Government Association (the body representing local councils in England and Wales), where I chair their Local Infrastructure and Net Zero Board. This means I act as the political policy and media lead for local government on housing, planning, local growth, transport, waste, environment and climate. I am also a Trustee of the Royal Parks- responsible for some of London’s most iconic green spaces.
Before being elected as Council Leader I was an experienced foreign policy and human rights researcher (specialising in UK foreign policy and human rights in the post-Soviet space) who had been the Executive Director of the Foreign Policy Centre (a non-partisan international affairs think tank with a focus on human rights, democracy and good governance) from 2017-2022, where I remain on the Board of Trustees.
Cllr Darren Sanders Cabinet Member for Housing and Preventing Homelessness Portsmouth City CouncilCabinet Member for Housing and Preventing Homelessness
Cllr David Beavan Cabinet Member for Housing East Suffolk Council
Councillor Tom Renhard Cabinet Member for Housing Delivery & Homelessness Bristol City CouncilTom Renhard is a Labour and Co-operative councillor and the cabinet member with responsibility for housing delivery and homes in Bristol City Council. Tom is also the Leader of Bristol Labour Group of Councillors on Bristol City Council. Tom’s background is as a housing campaigner and has been a member of ACORN since 2014, campaigning for better housing conditions for tenants. This has included being involved in high profile campaigns to bring in the eviction ban at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside an award-winning campaign that as part of the End Unfair Evictions Coalition secured a government commitment to bring an end to s21 no-fault evictions in the private rented sector. Tom is also a mental health campaigner, having setup the charity Independent Mental Health Network, which empowers people with lived experience of mental health problems to influence mental health support across the Bristol and Greater Manchester areas.