Localis Board Members

Lord Hanningfield

Lord Hanningfield has been an Essex County Councillor for over thirty years and has led the Council for most of the last ten. He was Chairman of the Council 1989-92. Education has featured strongly as an area of expertise during his career as has local government at the national level. He played a key role in establishing the Local Government Association, becoming Vice-Chairman on its inception. He has also held various senior posts on the EU Committee of the Regions during the last decade, being particularly involved in forging links between local government in the EU and the accession countries. He was ennobled in 1998 and in 2003 became an opposition whip in the House of Lords and Front Bench spokesperson on Local Government. He has also served as a Shadow Minister for Education. He is currently Shadow Minister for Transport in the House of Lords.

Merrick Cockell

Councillor Merrick Cockell is Chairman of London Councils, the voice of local government in the Capital. Elected in 2006, he has pledged to ﬁght for fairer funding for London and to defend the Boroughs’ traditional freedoms to make local decisions in the interests of their residents. He is also Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Royal Borough services are recognised as amongst the very best in the country. The Audit Commission has given the Council the highest possible score of four stars and a commentary of ‘improving strongly’ in its 2008 Comprehensive Performance Assessment.

Paul Bettison

A firm believer in self-help for local government, Paul spent 18 months as a peer mentor to the Leader of the Conservative Group of Hackney LBC, and performed the same task for the Leader of Walsall MBC for 5 years. Paul has worked with Swindon Borough Council, Kingston upon Hull Council, North East Lincs Council, Plymouth Borough Council, Trafford MBC, Northampton Borough Council, Milton Keynes Borough Council, Southampton City Council and the Isle of Wight Council. He is the National Lead Conservative Member Peer at the Improvement & Development Agency (IDeA).

Paul Carter

From his election to the County Council in 1997 until he assumed the leadership, Paul held responsibility for the Education portfolio at KCC, overseeing school effectiveness and a substantial capital budget. He was and remains especially committed to fostering closer links between education providers and employers and oversaw the introduction of 14-16 vocational education in Kent. He has also fought hard to retain special schools to ensure that children with Special Educational Needs are given the support and help they need to reach their full potential.

Anthony Browne

Anthony Browne is director of Policy Exchange. He was previously a national journalist for fifteen years, having been chief political correspondent and europe correspondent for the Times, Health Editor, Environment Editor and Deputy Business Editor of the Observer, and Economics Correspondent for BBC TV and radio. He has written policy reports on issues ranging from NHS reform to immigration for a range of think tanks including Adam Smith Institute, Social Market Foundation and Civitas.

Headlines

08 Jul 2008

Localis at LGA Conference

Merrick Cockell, Chairman of London Councils delivers speech on 'The spread of innovation between local authorities' at a Localis fringe reception at the LGA Conference 2008. To read the speech in full, click here

James Morris gives evidence at Local Government Select Committee

James Morris gives evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee on the 'Relationship between Central and Local Government'. See here to watch the meeting in full.

The Million Vote Mandate: The Challenges facing Boris Johnson

The new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was elected a month ago with the votes of over 1 million Londoners. This has given him a considerable popular mandate.

Now, a new report from leading think tanks Policy Exchange and Localis, the local government and localist think tank, looks at the big issues the new Mayor will face in his first term as set out by some of the foremost experts and commentators on London politics.

The opening chapter of the report, written by award winning Evening Standard journalist Andrew Gilligan, analyses the positives ...

Localis proposes a radical overhaul of the current system of regional governance

A new Localis Research Note entitled 'The Future of Regional Governance' suggests that the Government's case for Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) is based on little or no evidence, and that the current Sub-National Review (SNR) does not go far enough to devolve power to local authorities (LAs). The report proposes a dramatic overhaul of the current responsibilities of RDAs.

From rhetoric to reality

James Morris writes about the policy challenges ahead and the future work programme of Localis

Who is on the board of Localis?

James Morris is Chief Executive and the members of the board are Lord Hanningfield, Leader of Essex County Council; Paul Bettison, Leader of Bracknell Forest Borough Council; Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council ; Merrick Cockell, Leader of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; and, Anthony Browne, the Director of Policy Exchange.

See here for further details of the current members of the Localis board

Localis appoints a new Chief Executive

Localis, the leading independent think tank dedicated to the issues of localism and local government has appointed James Morris as its Chief Executive.

James Morris has a strong track record as a policy maker as the Director of the innovative campaign group Mind the Gap in 2003.James Morris said: ‘I am delighted to be joining Localis at such an exciting and crucial time for the debate around localism and the future of local government. Localis will continue to lead the debate by focusing on producing high quality research and policy ideas a...