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In person agenda
8:30 Registration, refreshments and networking in our Town Square
9:15 Welcome and opening keynote
Welcomes
Anna Randle, Chief Executive, New Local
Katie Kelly, Chair, New Local
Ian Thomas, CBE, Town Clerk and Chief Executive, City of London Corporation
Keynote: a place called us
Sir David Robinson, Community Worker and Co-Founder, The Relationships Trust
Lightning talk: TBC
10:15 Town Square open for refreshments, networking and stalls
10:45 Breakout sessions 1 (Choose from the options)
BIG IDEAS STAGE
Mission: Local Economy
This session will explore how the local governments of the future will use missions to galvanise partners to build local economies that both reflect the strengths of communities and support them to thrive. What becomes possible when partners work across boundaries and build the shared purpose and power needed to shape local economies to better serve their place?
Eve Holt, Head of Policy and Implementation, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Mathu Jeyaloganatha, Chief Investment Officer, London Borough of Camden
Liam Kelly, Chief Executive, Make CIC
Jennifer Van der Merwe, Senior Place Officer, Office for the Impact Economy
Chair: Grace Pollard, Head of Policy and Insights, New Local
NEW HORIZONS STAGE
Waves of change
Digital frontiers in resident-led policymaking
Drawing on learnings from the Waves tech-powered democracy pilots, this session will explore how councils are experimenting with new tech-powered democratic practices to enable mass participation and deep deliberation and build trust with residents.
Chair: Emma Southgate, Director of Practice and Programmes, New Local
STUDIO STAGE
Making Neighbourhood Health Neighbourhood-Led
In Barking & Dagenham, Care City and partners are developing a neighbourhood health model shaped by local people and everyday realities. We’ll share what’s working, what we’re learning and improving, and practical steps you can try straight away in your own community. Shared ambition is easy. Making it real is the hard part. Come and see if they can help.
Emily Brook, Director of Innovation, Care City
Michael Roberts, Research and Learning Lead, Care City
Anjali Moorthy, Service Design Lead, Care City
WORKSHOP
Learning to Move Together: Leadership Beyond Silos
This interactive session explores how partnerships can work more effectively across organisational boundaries when complex needs don’t fit within a single service. It focuses on the practical conditions that enable genuine collaboration, including trust, psychological safety, shared risk-taking, and the role of informal relationships. Through reflection, dialogue, and a live exercise, participants will examine how defining “the problem” shapes outcomes and how collaboration can better support people navigating multiple services.Intro paragraph
Carl Brown, Systems Practice Manager, MEAM
Lauren Wallace, Senior Partnerships Manager- Changing Futures, MEAM
Hosted by MEAM
EXPERIENCE ZONE
ABCD and Beyond: A Practical Guide for Local Government workshop #1
What happens when local government starts with what is strong, not what is wrong, and turns that into everyday practice?
In this practical and participatory workshop, Jeder Institute and Go Together will bring Jeder Institute’s book ABCD and Beyond: A Practical Guide for Local Government to life through hands-on tools, stories and processes that can be used straight away.
The session will support participants to explore how Asset-Based Community Development can be applied in real local government settings, from neighbourhood work and community partnerships to internal culture, commissioning, strategy and place-based action.
Participants will leave with practical approaches for uncovering gifts, connecting people around what they care about, strengthening local relationships, and creating the conditions for citizen-led action to grow.
This workshop is for people who want to move ABCD from idea to action, and build local government practice that is more relational, community-powered and grounded in the strengths of people and place.
Dee Brooks, Intermittent Nomad & Community Builder, Jeder Institute
Lee Griffiths, Community Builder, Facilitator and Consultant, Jeder Institute
Richard Holmes, FounderGo Together
Fiona Miller, Community development practitioner, Jeder Institute
11:40 Breakout sessions 2 (Choose from the options)
BIG IDEAS STAGE
Putting neighbours back into neighbourhoods
How do we strengthen community connection and collaboration in neighbourhoods?
Many people are talking about neighbourhoods as a vehicle for organising public services – but fewer are asking how we use this shift to strengthen relationships in and with communities.
This session will look at how we can ensure the conversation about neighbourhood working goes beyond service design and delivery. How do we ensure that hyper-local working supports the relationships that enable the housing, work, transport, civic spaces and local economies needed for communities to thrive?
Claire Burnham, Assistant Director of Neighbourhood Reform and Skills, Wigan Council Pauline Johnston, People and Place Activation Consultant, Civic and Social
Frances Jones, Head of Strategy and Operations, Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation
Liz Twigge, Director, HF Works CIC
Chair: Helen Power, Director of Partnerships and Engagement, New Local
NEW HORIZONS STAGE
Resilience in communities
Hosted by JRF
STUDIO STAGE
From structural change to system change
Innovation, partnership and outcomes in Local Government Reorganisation
Together we’ll explore the potential for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) beyond structures, and examine how councils, residents and partners can shape reorganisation as a catalyst for better outcomes and stronger collaboration across their place.
Simon Fletcher, Chief Executive, Lichfield Council
Justin Galliford, Chief Executive, Norse Group
Caroline Green, Chief Executive, Oxford City Council
Chair: Laura Payne, Head of Network, New Local
WORKSHOP
CONDITIONS CLINIC
Building a new commissioning model that delivers better outcomes for everyone – from communities to commissioner
What would funding and commissioning look like if they truly enabled relational, flexible and learning-centred ways of working?
In this participatory workshop we’ll design an imaginary programme funding and commissioning process built around these principles. You’ll step into the different roles involved in the process, exploring the decisions, incentives and tensions they face and the key barriers to adopting different approaches. Together, we’ll develop a draft set of principles for funding and commissioning that genuinely supports and de-risks relational, iterative and learning-centred ways of working.
Facilitated by New Local in partnership with the Cabinet Office Test, Learn and Grow team
EXPERIENCE ZONE
ABCD and Beyond: A Practical Guide for Local Government workshop #2
What happens when local government starts with what is strong, not what is wrong, and turns that into everyday practice?
In this practical and participatory workshop, Jeder Institute and Go Together will bring Jeder Institute’s book ABCD and Beyond: A Practical Guide for Local Government to life through hands-on tools, stories and processes that can be used straight away.
The session will support participants to explore how Asset-Based Community Development can be applied in real local government settings, from neighbourhood work and community partnerships to internal culture, commissioning, strategy and place-based action.
Participants will leave with practical approaches for uncovering gifts, connecting people around what they care about, strengthening local relationships, and creating the conditions for citizen-led action to grow.
This workshop is for people who want to move ABCD from idea to action, and build local government practice that is more relational, community-powered and grounded in the strengths of people and place.
Dee Brooks, Intermittent Nomad & Community Builder, Jeder Institute
Lee Griffiths, Community Builder, Facilitator and Consultant, Jeder Institute
Richard Holmes, FounderGo Together
Fiona Miller, Community development practitioner, Jeder Institute
12:35 Keynote: Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP
Keynote address followed by Q&A with Anna Randle, Chief Executive, New Local
13:10 Town Square open for lunch, networking and stalls
14:20 Breakout sessions 3 (Choose from the options)
BIG IDEAS STAGE
Total place now: Collaboration, mutual accountability and shared returns
How can place-based budgeting help us build the public sector of the future?
Place-based budgeting is back on the agenda but greater financial flexibilities are part of the wider shifts required to build the public sector of the future: one that is more joined up and collaborative and can deliver better outcomes for communities.
This session will explore how place-based budgets can help galvanise wider public service reform in places and show us what is possible if partners work together, united by shared purpose and liberated by the possibilities of shared returns. How can local leaders and partners strengthen relationships and build trust? What do key actors in the system need from each other? What does it take to collaborate well? And how can place-based budgets help us build relational public services and community power?
Claire Dhami, Head of Systems Change and Inclusion, West Midlands Combined Authority
Nick Kimber, Director of Public Service Reform (Place, Design and Innovation), Cabinet Office
Chair: Anna Randle, Chief Executive, New Local
NEW HORIZONS STAGE
Missions and the PSR reform movement: catalyst or complication?
How do missions fit into and drive the wider PSR reform agenda? Missions are increasingly being adopted by councils and strategic authorities as a way of organising around big, complex challenges. But how does this work relate to the wider public service reform agenda, from neighbourhood working and place-based budgets to relational practice and community power? This session explores how missions are acting as connective tissue that can hold reforming practices together. It delves into practical insights from places of how to bring these practices together to increase impact.
Hosted by Inner Circle Consulting
STUDIO STAGE
People, place, care
Can social care commissioning centre outcomes and community wealth?
Can social care commissioning centre the outcomes that matter to people whilst also building community wealth?
We know that the care system is not working for our people or our places. Large extractive providers are costing us more, delivering less and often do not reflect the needs of our communities. This session will explore the potential ways that commissioning care can help us bring people closer to both shaping and owning the way that care is delivered.
Niccola Hutchinson-Pascal, Head of Co-Production and Public Engagement, Co-production Collective
James Arrowsmith, Head of Social Care, Browne Jacobson LLP
Sarah Evans, Associate Director (Regional Economies) (Wales Lead), CLES
Chair: Amy Hurst, Head of Practice, New Local
WORKSHOP
Tending the garden of place-based change
What does it take to sustain community-led initiative?
When a place-based initiative is established and embedded, what are the conditions that help sustain and support ongoing success? This workshop – facilitated by the Peabody Community Foundation and Renaisi – will use the concept of tending to a garden to help participants explore how to maintain momentum and sustain place-based work.
During this workshop, participants will work together to explore answers to the following:
= Tending to the garden: what are the conditions that sustain place-based change? How might these be different for different kinds of place-based change?
= Weathering autumn and winter: once a place-based initiative is well established, what are the challenges to sustaining the work
Hosted by Peabody Community Foundation and Renaisi
EXPERIENCE ZONE
The Greater Manchester Participation Party
The first of two drop in sessions exploring the participation playbook and strategies you can take home and use right away.
Hosted by Greater Manchester Combined Authority
15:15 Breakout sessions 4 (Choose from the options)
BIG IDEAS STAGE
Building to learn
How do we create the conditions for rigorous and actionable learning in place-based working?
For local government, and the systems they sit within, learning is not a “nice to have” – it’s mission critical in how we address our biggest challenges while making the most of public resources. What do we need to do to design learning in to organisations and partnerships and – critically – how are voices of communities and citizens centred in that learning? In this session we explore the different ways learning can be located and embedded in an organisations design by looking at different approaches taken in the public sector and beyond (including Test, Learn and Grow).
Eddie Copeland, Director, London Office of Technology and Innovation
Andy Ferrier, Chief Executive, Test Valley Council
Toby Lowe, Professor of Public Management, Manchester Metropolitan University
Cate McLaurin, Senior Director, Public Digital
Chair: Emma Southgate, Director of Practice and Programmes
NEW HORIZONS STAGE
Shared roots, shared futures
Exploring personal stories to strengthen community bonds
In this interactive session, we will explore how heritage and personal stories can strengthen inter‑generational bonds and reveal shared priorities within a community, highlighting the London Borough of Havering’s Bonds Through History project, in collaboration with 3ni, Eastside Community Heritage, and Thames Freeport.
This will be of interest to attendees looking to explore innovative and effective ways to engage with residents at the hyper-local level, identifying neighbourhood strengths and priorities, and collaborating on new funding opportunities.
Jessica Finnin, Cohesive Communities Manager, London Borough of Havering
Judith Garfield, MBE, Executive Director, Eastside Community Heritage
Chair: Dan Crowe, Director, 3ni
Hosted by 3ni
STUDIO STAGE
The Local Government Podcast Live recording
Local elections 2026: What next for Public services?
Voters are going to the polls in more than 100 local authorities at a time when the political landscape in England seems more fractured than ever, and the results could bring a wider spectrum of politicians than ever into local power. As the dust settles on an unpredictable set of elections, join the Local Government Chronicle for a live podcast examining what the results mean for the future of public services.
John Denham , Director Centre for English Identity and Politics, Southampton University
Grace Pollard, Head of Policy and Insights, New Local
Cllr Doug Pullen, Leader, Lichfield Council
Wietse Van Ransbeeck, CEO and Co-Founder, Go Vocal
Martin George, Acting Editor, Local Government Chronicle (Chair)
Hosted by the Local Government Chronicle
WORKSHOP
From Sticking Plaster to Sustainable Solutions: grants, tools and programmes to achieve financial security.
For too long, the charitable and public sectors have relied on paternalistic models: demanding “proof of poverty” and offering temporary, transactional fixes. This session will take you on Turn2us’ journey of evolution: from our early days of restrictive grant-making to our current model of trust-based support, income maximisation, and place-based systemic change. We will show how our grant making, information tools and programmes have evolved to put trust and empowerment at the centre of our work and ensure people have the right support at the right time. Finally, we will explore the most critical lesson of all: that while tools and grants are essential, they are not enough on their own and how our place-based systems change work in partnership with community organisations and local authorities alike is working to break the systems that cause financial insecurity
EXPERIENCE ZONE
The Greater Manchester Participation Party
The second of two drop in sessions exploring the participation playbook and strategies you can take home and use right away.
Hosted by Greater Manchester Combined Authority
16:00 Town Square open for refreshments, networking and stalls
16:30 Closing session and keynote
Closing reflections
Anna Randle, Chief Executive, New Local
Katie Kelly, Chair, New Local
Lightning talk:
Sam Jury-Dada, Director, Inner Circle Consulting
The choir with no name
Live music and powerful stories of connection, confidence and community from Coventry’s lived experience choir.
17:15 Stronger Things 2026 ends
Online agenda
8:30 Join the online event
9:15 Welcome and opening keynote
Welcomes
Anna Randle, Chief Executive, New Local
Katie Kelly, Chair, New Local
Ian Thomas, CBE, Town Clerk and Chief Executive, City of London Corporation
Keynote: a place called us
Sir David Robinson, Community Worker and Co-Founder, The Relationships Trust
Lightning talk: TBC
10:15 Behind the scenes interviews
Exclusive coverage from the back of the Great Hall
10:30 Screen Break
10:45 Breakout sessions 1 (Choose from the options)
BIG IDEAS STAGE
Mission: Local Economy
This session will explore how the local governments of the future will use missions to galvanise partners to build local economies that both reflect the strengths of communities and support them to thrive. What becomes possible when partners work across boundaries and build the shared purpose and power needed to shape local economies to better serve their place?
Eve Holt, Head of Policy and Implementation, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Mathu Jeyaloganatha, Chief Investment Officer, London Borough of Camden
Liam Kelly, Chief Executive, Make CIC
Jennifer Van der Merwe, Senior Place Officer, Office for the Impact Economy
Chair: Grace Pollard, Head of Policy and Insights, New Local
The data behind double disadvantage: Understanding deprivation and community need
How do deprivation and community need shape the differing social and economic conditions of places across England?
This interactive session will explore the relationship between deprivation and community need. Participants will be introduced to the two core datasets used for Pride in Place funding and will have the opportunity to explore and interpret the data for the areas they care about in small breakout groups.
Together, we’ll reflect on how data can help us better understand the challenges and strengths of places, support more informed decision-making and shape approaches that respond to local context and community priorities. tbc
11:40 Breakout sessions 2 (Choose from the options)
BIG IDEAS STAGE
Putting neighbours back into neighbourhoods
How do we strengthen community connection and collaboration in neighbourhoods?
Many people are talking about neighbourhoods as a vehicle for organising public services – but fewer are asking how we use this shift to strengthen relationships in and with communities.
This session will look at how we can ensure the conversation about neighbourhood working goes beyond service design and delivery. How do we ensure that hyper-local working supports the relationships that enable the housing, work, transport, civic spaces and local economies needed for communities to thrive?
Claire Burnham, Assistant Director of Neighbourhood Reform and Skills, Wigan Council Pauline Johnston, People and Place Activation Consultant, Civic and Social
Frances Jones, Head of Strategy and Operations, Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation
Liz Twigge, Director, HF Works CIC
Chair: Helen Power, Director of Partnerships and Engagement, New Local
WORKSHOP
tbc
12:35 Keynote: Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP
Keynote address followed by Q&A with Anna Randle, Chief Executive, New Local
13:10 Screen break and opportunities for networking
14:20 Breakout sessions 3 (Choose from the options)
BIG IDEAS STAGE
Total place now: Collaboration, mutual accountability and shared returns
How can place-based budgeting help us build the public sector of the future?
Place-based budgeting is back on the agenda but greater financial flexibilities are part of the wider shifts required to build the public sector of the future: one that is more joined up and collaborative and can deliver better outcomes for communities.
This session will explore how place-based budgets can help galvanise wider public service reform in places and show us what is possible if partners work together, united by shared purpose and liberated by the possibilities of shared returns. How can local leaders and partners strengthen relationships and build trust? What do key actors in the system need from each other? What does it take to collaborate well? And how can place-based budgets help us build relational public services and community power?
Claire Dhami, Head of Systems Change and Inclusion, West Midlands Combined Authority
Nick Kimber, Director of Public Service Reform (Place, Design and Innovation), Cabinet Office
Chair: Anna Randle, Chief Executive, New Local
Tbc
15:15 Breakout sessions 4 (Choose from the options)
BIG IDEAS STAGE
Building to learn
How do we create the conditions for rigorous and actionable learning in place-based working?
For local government, and the systems they sit within, learning is not a “nice to have” – it’s mission critical in how we address our biggest challenges while making the most of public resources. What do we need to do to design learning in to organisations and partnerships and – critically – how are voices of communities and citizens centred in that learning? In this session we explore the different ways learning can be located and embedded in an organisations design by looking at different approaches taken in the public sector and beyond (including Test, Learn and Grow).
Eddie Copeland, Director, London Office of Transport and Innovation
Andy Ferrier, Chief Executive, Test Valley Council
Toby Lowe, Professor of Public Management, Manchester Metropolitan University
Cate McLaurin, Senior Director, Public Digital
Chair: Emma Southgate, Director of Practice and Programmes
tbc
16:10 Behind the scenes interviews
Exclusive coverage from the back of the Great Hall
16:25 Screen break
16:30 Closing session (Livestream)
Closing reflections
Anna Randle, Chief Executive, New Local
Katie Kelly, Chair, New Local
Lightning talk:
Sam Jury-Dada, Director, Inner Circle Consulting
The choir with no name
Live music and powerful stories of connection, confidence and community from Coventry’s lived experience choir.
17:00 Close of Stronger Things 2026