Virginia Ponton:
The Local Government Challenge is an annual competition and leadership development programme, that’s been creating the future of local government leaders for over ten years. All whilst providing valuable consultancy and fresh ideas to local councils. We created a cohort of ten officers and travelled across the country, to five different councils, who each hosted a challenge on a real-life subject.
Helen Potter:
Challenge One was Buckinghamshire, where we were asked to come up with ideas as to how they could use the regeneration of their town centre to help retain and attract talent.
Harriet Vitty:
It really encapsulated the spirit of the Local Government Challenge. I'm very grateful to all of the officers at Buckinghamshire Council for really kicking off these five challenges in a excellent fashion.
Mike Campbell:
Challenge two was at Nottinghamshire County Council and they wanted us to focus on a public health approach to employment.
Jess Finnin:
So one of the great things about this challenge was that we got to go on some site visits and to see the excellent work in action. It really helped hammer home how impactful that kind of work can be.
Rebecca Dentith:
The third challenge was at Stroud District Council. We were looking at how they could better embed their community engagement principles. As a council they'd already done a lot of the groundwork already.
Angelo DaCosta:
Council staff were extremely knowledgeable, especially around the historic lessons that were given to us.
Amy Lipley:
For challenge four we visited Harlow Council and our task was to look at procurement and how they can undertake some of their ambitions, with the new Procurement Act 2023. I gained so much knowledge about the basis of new towns and their aspirations.
Aoife O’Gorman:
I think what struck me most about Harlow Council was how dynamic and forward looking they are. They want to make changes and they're willing to be innovative to do that.
Harriet Vitty:
Challenge five in Knowsley Council was particularly interesting. The question itself really piqued my interest, particularly around the employment side, and how local authorities can engage with its young people.
Michael Barrett:
We started in January with ten contestants, we’re now down to four finalists, who are here at conference competing for the scholarship, by presenting their ideas to conference delegates and the judging panel.
Jess Finnin:
Havering Bonds Through History, is a local heritage project, that seeks to take people’s personal and collective stories, linking them to their place where they live. Havering’s going through a period of significant change, and making sure that there are voices from the past, as well as from the future, is going to be really important.
Adeel Hussain:
Jess is a absolutely wonderful person to work with. She brings with her this fundamental and inspirational element of being able to turn her hand to any situation. Jess has a deep knowledge of communities and how to engage with those communities regardless of which area of the country we have been in.
Harriet Vitty:
The Real Voice Framework is a project designed to amplify the voices of children, young people, and parents with the introduction of AI in the SEN process. It’s propped up by three pillars of Learn, Listen and Deliver.
Rebecca Dentith:
I think something that's really great about Harriet is she builds really genuine connections with people. With all the challenges she’s been able to understand the actual perspective of citizens and communities. She's so friendly and supportive and bubbly that it builds such a strong atmosphere for the teams.
Mike Campbell:
My proposal is named Ripple. It’s about powering prevention and intention to implementation. Public services across the country are tighter than ever, and we know prevention is one of the key ways we can achieve financial sustainability. My programme aims to take a pragmatic approach about how we could do that.
Angelo DaCosta:
I’ve really enjoyed working with Mike, because he is very smart and always on his toes. He’s got different ideas, an amazing way of articulating his ideas as well, which I think is really key in this context, a lot of jargon, a lot of heavy words, but Mike seems to have an excellent grasp on that.
Rebecca Dentith:
Everybody’s Cup of Tea is a about providing transformation, efficiencies and analysis, to council services using Lean Six Sigma methodologies, and then expanding this wider to provide consultancy support, to local authorities and other local businesses across North Yorkshire.
Shohum Dave:
Rebecca is a wonderful friend and it's amazing that after five months of being together to call her a friend it’s amazing in itself. She's so good at throwing out that good idea that meshes it all together.
Michael Barrett:
A huge congratulations to our cohort for completing the programme, and a massive thank you to everyone who organised the challenges in 2025, and making the programme such a great success.
