Investment Plans – North West Local Authorities 2014

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Come and listen to Manchester’s FIVE Local Authorities discussing their investment plans.

Event Sponsor                      Programme Sponsor

Event Format

• 1400 – 1500; Sponsors Lunch (Invite ONLY)
• 1530 – 1600; Registration
• 1600 – 1645; Networking with Wine, Beer and Soft Drinks
• 1645 – 1815; Speaker Presentations
• 1815 – 1900; Networking with Hot Food, Wine, Beer and Soft Drinks
• 1900 – Late; After Event Drinks

Speakers

Nicola Turner; Head of Economic Development & Regeneration, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Nicola is Head of Economic Development & Regeneration at Stockport Council, with responsibility for Regeneration & Development, Economic & Employment Development, Town Centre Management, Funding & Programmes, Planning & Transport Policy, GIS and Sustainability.

Nicola joined Stockport MBC in October 2007 as Project Director for the £1 billion regeneration programme for Stockport Town Centre and M60 Gateway.

The regeneration of the town centre continues to be a major priority for Stockport and the Council has taken an increasingly interventionist role, driving forward the delivery of the office development of Stockport Exchange with Muse, the leisure development at Bridgefield and the regeneration of the historic Market Place and Underbanks area.  In addition, the Council is leading on the delivery of the major transport infrastructure for the borough including the SEMMMS/Relief Road and facilitating private sector housing development across the borough.

Nicola is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute with over 20 years’ experience of regeneration and development, planning, town centre management, promotion, funding and strategy.  Her previous roles include leading the private/public sector regeneration partnership Preston Vision, Head of Economic Development and Tourism for Chorley Borough Council, Town Centre Manager of North Shields and posts at Sunderland MBC and North Tyneside MBC.

Karen Hirst; Development Director, Salford City Council

Karen is a Chartered Surveyor with 23 years property and regeneration experience in both the public and private sector.

At Salford City Council Karen leads the Regeneration, Strategic Housing, Planning, Transport, Property and Business and Funding Teams.  The Team is delivering a number of major mixed use physical development projects working in partnership with both the public and private sector.  Karen is also on the Greater Manchester Investment Group as part of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, and now the new Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership.  This work is with the private sector and local authorities across Greater Manchester to deliver a pipeline of projects and utilise new funding opportunities such as the Regional Growth Fund, Growing Places Fund, North West Evergreen Fund and European Funding as part of a Greater Manchester Investment Strategy.

Previous roles include:

• Development Director at Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company, prior to the transfer to Salford City Council;
• The Head of Infrastructure in North Wales at the Welsh Assembly Government (formerly Welsh Development Agency) where she undertook regeneration projects in Wrexham, Bangor and Caernarfon;
• A Director of the Easter Group where Karen managed and developed a multi-million pound property portfolio in North Wales and North West England.

Keith Davies; Director of Development & Regeneration, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Keith is Director of Development and Regeneration with Bolton Council and has responsibility for the preparation and delivery of the major development and investment programme for the borough. This has included major schemes such as the Bolton Innovation Zone which has seen the development of new Colleges and the expansion of the University of Bolton and the location of Bolton One as a state of the art leisure, health and research centre. With other initiatives such as a major new Transport Interchange underway this programme has seen over £250m of investment in Bolton town centre. He is also leading on other transformational projects such as Logistics North and Rivington Chase which are projected to create thousands of new jobs and houses in Bolton. His other responsibilities include, housing services, planning services, economic development, Business Bolton services, tourism and leisure.

He led the development of the highly successful brand strategy for Bolton and has been at the heart of positioning Bolton and the Greater Manchester region on a national and international stage at investment events and overseas business missions. He is also a lead Director involved in the work at Greater Manchester level to develop economic development, planning, housing, inward investment and visitor economy activity.

Before joining Bolton in May 2002, he was an Assistant Director in Liverpool and, amongst other things, was a lead member of the team which established the Liverpool Culture Company and which successfully bid for Liverpool to be European Capital of Culture 2008. Previously his working life has been centred around cultural and leisure development in the public sector in the Northwest of England including roles as an Assistant Director with Cheshire County Council and Deputy Chief Executive of North West Tourist Board.

He has served on the boards of a number of regional and national agencies including the Arts Council, North West Film Commission and Visit Manchester.

Eddie Smith; Director of Strategic Development; Manchester City Council

Eddie Smith is the Strategic Director for Strategic Development at Manchester City Council. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of New East Manchester (NEM) Urban Regeneration Company, a role which he has fulfilled between 2007 and 2012. NEM was established in 1999 and was responsible for leading the regeneration of East Manchester, an area of nearly 2,000 hectares with a population of around 60,000 extending from the fringe of the city centre to the administrative boundary of the city. Historically, the area was a base for traditional manufacturing industries which collapsed as a result of the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s. NEM was formed to provide the leadership required to drive forward the restructuring of the economic base and the transformation of the area’s housing market.

In his current role Eddie is responsible for the City Council’s Strategic Development function overseeing major initiatives across the City including ambitious plans to deliver significant residential growth, Airport City, the Etihad Campus in East Manchester and the expansion of the Sharp Project. He also manages the Council’s Corporate Property, Strategic Housing and Capital Programmes functions.

Prior to this he worked as Head of Regeneration at Manchester City Council, with responsibility for leading regeneration initiatives, across north and south Manchester.