Past Conferences

LGA Independent Group Annual Conference - November 2018, London

LGA Annual Conference - July 2018, Birmingham

This year’s LGA Conference was the biggest yet. As always we held our AGM and very popular Group meetings on the Future of Farming, PR and Democracy and Lord Best spoke at our main plenary session on housing.

LGA Independent Group – Spring Conference 2018

The LGA Independent Group Spring Conference took place on Friday 16 March 2018
at the Lincoln Cathedral Centre, Minster Yard, Lincoln, LN2 1PX

Attendees heard from a wide variety of speakers on Homelessness, The Effect of Brexit on our Rural Economies, Centralisation of the NHS, A Woman in a Man’s World, The Voice of the Councillor and more. There waws free after-hours access to the From The Land - Henry Moore, Ewen Henderson & Other Artists exhibition at The Collection.

You can view the agenda

Independent Group at the LGA Annual Conference & Exhibition 2017
4-6 July, International Conference Centre, Birmingham

Attended every year by over 1,200 delegates, 130 speakers and 120 exhibitors, the LGA’s Annual Conference is the biggest event in the local government calendar.

Highlights of our Group political sessions and networking opportunities included:

• Political Plenary session with Leanne Wood AM, Leader of Plaid Cymru
• Annual Dinner with Martin Bell OBE as guest speaker
• Housing session discussing how to make best use of council land and assets, with Natalie Elphicke OBE, Chief Executive of the Housing and Finance Institute and Brian Reynolds, Director of One Public Estate as speakers and Lord Victor Adebowale CBE MA as Chair
• Two new motions passed by the group in regards to gender equality and the safety of our residents.
• Social Media Workshop on Twitter facilitated by the Leadership Consultant Seltzer Cole
• Session slides

Independent Group Annual Conference 2016
18 November, Layden House, London
Our annual conference is attended every year by over 100 delegates, between Councillors, Members of Parliament, Lords and Police and Crime Commissioners, from the different political affiliations in Group representation, including Independent, Residents Association, Green, UKIP and Plaid Cymru.

Independent Group at LGA Annual Conference 2016
The Local Government Association's annual conference is the biggest event in the local government calendar, annually attracting over 1,300 delegates.

The 2016 Conference was the first major local government event to take place after the UK's referendum on membership of the EU and came at a pivotal time for Local Government as we looked at the post Spending Review landscape and how the new devolution agenda is bedding in. 

As usual, the Independent Group also hosted a number of political sessions and networking opportunities for Group Members only. Presentations from the two main political sessions can be found below:

Political session 1: "The delivery of Affordable Housing: make it sustainable and socially innovative"

Political session looking at the role of design in enabling quality of life and social innovation and how this should be a key consideration for affordable housing and housing for more vulnerable people.

Chris Durkin, Head of Northampton Institute for Urban Affairs

Garry Hall, Director of Urban Forward ltd, Joint Chief Executive of TransForm Places and Training Programme Manager of OPUN Urban Design

Chair: Cllr Julian German, Deputy Chair of the LGA Environment, Economy, Housing and Transport Board

Political session 2: "The Future of Health Prevention"

Session looking at the future of Public Health, how it fairs as part of devolution deals and what lies ahead for mental health.

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of MIND

Su Turner, Director of Children and Young People at the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS)

Chair: Cllr Gillian Ford, Deputy Chair of the LGA Community Wellbeing Portfolio

Wales Independent Councillors Conference 2015
2 October, The Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod, Powys
The conference gave delegates the opportunity to hear from leading local government colleagues, discuss important current issues and share experiences through networking.

LGA Independent Group Conference 2015
16 November, Local Government House, London
Hot topics on the programme this year included the Spending Review and future funding, devolution and city deals, further reductions to authorities' public health grant, housing and planning, counter-extremism, and key addresses on the future of local government from LGA Chairman Lord Porter of Spalding, CBE and new LGA Chief Executive Mark Lloyd.

The highlight of the conference was a discussion session on devolution with Caroline Lucas MP, Douglas Carswell MP, Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl and Cllr Julian German, Cornwall Council Cabinet Member, chaired by Professor Colin Copus, De Montfort University.