Events

To ensure our members have the best opportunity to network, develop their skills and access up to date information we have a number of events throughout the year.

These include our LGA Independent Group Annual Political conference in November, the LGA Annual Conference in July, workshops, and regional group meetings. The LGA also holds a great number of events and training for all members.

LGA Independent Group Annual Political Conference

The LGA Independent Group supports the annual political conferences of our members in parties. Please keep an eye out at these conferences for our sessions.

We know that our independent member councillors and those from local parties will not otherwise enjoy the networking and learning opportunities of an annual political party conference, so we host this. It is important to us that our Group is united, so all our members are welcome to attend and contribute to our Annual Political Group Conference.

LGA Independent Group Annual Political Conference 2026 presentations LGA Independent Group Annual Political Conference 2026 programme

Ref	Time	Session	Room
Saturday 31 January
ST1	12:00 – 1.00pm	Lunch and exhibition time All delegates can enjoy lunch and the exhibition area	Met 1
ST2	1.00pm – 1.55pm	Plenary Welcome speeches Why are we focusing on resilience? Cllr Hannah Dalton, Leader of the LGA Independent Group, Vice-Chair of the Local Government Association, Leader of Epsom and Ewell Council Cllr Andrew Cooper, Deputy-Leader of the LGA Independent Group, Deputy-Chair of the Local Government Association, Kirklees Council Eve Roodhouse, Director of Impact, Local Government Association Jo Wall, Senior Strategy Director, Local Partnerships	The Met Suite
ST3	2pm – 3.30pm	Workshop 1a Personal resilience as a councillor Matthew Masters, The Truth about Local Government Hosted by Cllr Johnny Denis, Treasurer and AGM Chair of the LGA Independent Group, Chair of the Association of Green Councillors, Lewes District Council	The Met Suite
ST4	2.00pm – 3.30pm	Workshop 1b Digital resilience Callin McLinden, Head of Research, Localis Dave Sifleet, Senior Technical Adviser, Local Government Association Hosted by Cllr Paul Keene, Member of the LGA Independent Group Executive, Lewes District Council	Met 2
	3.30pm - 4.00pm	Break and hotel check in
ST5	4pm – 5.00pm	Plenary Social cohesion and resilience Nadeem Siddique, Head of Service Community Relations and Cohesion, Leeds City Council, Associate of the Belong Network Hosted and chaired by Cllr Hannah Dalton, Leader of the LGA Independent Group	The Met Suite
ST6	5.05pm – 6.35pm	Workshop 2a Climate Resilience Jo Wall, Senior Strategy Director, Local Partnerships Dr Pedi Obani, Associate Professor of Law, University of Bradford, Future Leaders Fellow, Town Councillor Hosted by Cllr Emily O’Brien, Vice-Chair of the LGA Neighbourhoods Committee, Lewes District Council	The Met Suite
ST7	5.05pm – 6.35pm	Workshop 2b Community wellbeing and resilience Edward Davie, Better Mental Health Training, visiting lecturer to Kings College London, Public Health Manager, Tower Hamlets Hosted by Cllr Sue Baxter, Member of the LGA Independent Group Executive, Deputy Leader, Bromsgrove Council	Met 2
	6.35pm – 7.30pm	Break
ST8	7.30pm – 8pm	Awards ceremony and drinks reception Sponsored by Local Partnerships Clarence Barrett Award Presented by Jo Wall, Strategic Director, Local Partnerships Independent Group Award for Leadership Presented by Cllr Hannah Dalton, Leader of the LGA Independent Group	The Met Suite
ST9	8pm – 10.30pm	Gala Dinner Please refer to the seating plan and hosted tables	The Met Suite
ST10	10:30pm – 11:30pm	After-dinner social event Karaoke	The Met Suite
Sunday 1 February
SN1a	8.30am – 9.55am	Walking for health walk Abigail Gallop, Head of the Independent Group Please meet in reception and wear comfortable shoes	Meet in Reception
SN1b	9am – 10am	Meet the Leader Cllr Hannah Dalton, Leader of the LGA Independent Group Come and find out more about the Group’s priorities for the year and how you can get more involved in the Group and the LGA	The Met Suite
SN1c	9am – 10am	PechaKucha Cllr Andrew Cooper, Deputy Leader of the LGA Independent Group, Kirklees Council Series of short presentations from delegates to share good practice and ideas	Met 2
SN2	10am – 11.30am	Workshop 3a Financial resilience Pam Duke, Bannisdale Consultancy Ltd, LGA Finance Improvement and Sustainability Associate Paul Clarke, Principal Adviser for the South West and the LGA Independent Group, Local Government Association Hosted by Cllr Gillian Ford, Member of the Independent Group Executive, Deputy-Leader, London Borough of Havering	The Met Suite
SN3	10am – 11.30am	Workshop 3b Electoral and democratic resilience Cllr Dr Paul Harvey, Vice-Chair of the District Councils Network, member of the LGA Independent Group Executive, Associate Lecturer with the Open University, Leader, Basingstoke and Deane Council Justin Griggs, Head of Policy and Communications, National Association of Local Councils Hosted by Will Brooks, Principal Adviser for the South East, Local Government Association	Met 2
	11:30am – 11:45am	Break
SN4	11.45am – 12.45pm	Plenary The resilience of future generations Rob Hopkins, co-founder Transition Network, Author of ‘How to Fall in Love with the Future – A Time Travellers Guide to Changing the World’ Chaired by Cllr Andrew Cooper, Deputy Leader of the Independent Group, Kirklees Council	The Met Suite
SN5	12.45pm – 1.00pm	Plenary Thank you and close of conference Cllr Johnny Denis, Treasurer, LGA Independent Group Cllr Andrew Cooper, Deputy Leader, LGA Independent Group Cllr Hannah Dalton, Leader, LGA Independent Group	The Met Suite
SN6	1.00pm – 2pm	Lunch Working lunch in the Exhibition Area	Met 1

All sessions subject to last minute changes should speaker availability be affected due to unforeseen circumstances.

Download the LGA Annual Conference full programme

For presentations and information on past conferences, please visit our past conferences webpage.

Other events, regional events and workshops

Information on all our events, regional events and workshops are sent out in the weekly Group bulletin. Information on think tank workshops will be included on the think tank members’ website.