The Devolution White Paper is set to kick off significant changes in the planning landscape, and the fabric of how decisions are made regarding key investments and developments. Restructuring Local Government will see whole planning departments dissolved or rearranged, with new spatial and strategic planning powers set to bring a new set of regional stakeholders to the table.
Cavendish has convened an expert panel to explore the impact of these plans, how it will affect things on the ground, and what happens next.
Join our LinkedIn Live event on Thursday December 12th and hear from our panel of sector experts:
Claire Ward, the Labour Mayor of the East Midlands Professor Will Rossiter, Economics Professor at NTU and head of the Nottingham Business School Keane Duncan, former Council Leader and now Transport Cabinet Member at the North Yorkshire Council
Speaker Bio’s
Claire Ward is Mayor of the East Midlands, representing 2.2 million people across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Mayor Claire has responsibility for transport, skills and adult education, housing and land, net-zero and economic development. Before being elected Mayor in May 2024, Claire Ward was the Chair of Sherwood Forest Hospitals in North Nottinghamshire, as well as other roles at the Pharmacists' Defence Association and the Institute of Collaborative Working. From 1997 to 2010, Mayor Claire was MP for Watford and served as a Justice Minister under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. You can follow Mayor Claire on social media @MayorEastMids
Will Rossiter is Professor of Regional Policy and Development at NTU. Will's academic research interests relate to local and regional economic development, economic geography, industrial policy and devolution. As both an economic development practitioner and academic Will has been researching the economies of the Midlands and contributing to the development of economic strategies at multiple spatial scales for over 25 years. Will has been involved in evaluating a wide range of economic development initiatives. Current research explores the implications of polycentricity in the Midlands and community led approaches to inclusive growth. Will works extensively with a wide range of external organisations on economic development issues.
Ben has a decade of experience across both local and national Government, having spent seven years in Parliament as the Member for Mansfield, working in BEIS and MHCLG. He most recently served as Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, and on the Board of the East Midlands Combined Authority. Ben has also been a District Councillor, and was Conservative Group Leader at Ashfield DC from 2015-17.
Ben helped to develop the legislation that enabled recent devolution deals to take shape, as well as working to negotiate and implement the new East Midlands Combined Authority. Prior to politics, Ben worked for the Open University, and as a Recruitment Consultant. He currently heads up our work on devolution at Cavendish.
Keane is an experienced former-Council Leader and currently serves as the Cabinet member for Highways and Transport at the new North Yorkshire Unitary Council. Previously he was the Conservative candidate in the election for the first regional Mayor of North Yorkshire, in May 2024. Prior to his involvement in politics, Keane was a successful journalist, working in Editor-level positions at major regional and national news titles with the UK’s largest commercial news publisher.
Keane is an Associate Director at Cavendish, working across the Yorkshire region.
