President Sam Broughton’s UK and Europe local government meetings

In July, LGNZ President Sam Broughton travelled to the UK and Europe for a trip that combined LGNZ business and a personal holiday.

For LGNZ, he travelled to London, Belfast, Dublin, The Hague, and Cardiff, with meetings including:

London

• New Zealand Ambassador Phil Goff
• Camden Council Cllr Danny Beale
• Senior Vice-Chair of the Local Government Association Cllr Kevin Bentley
• New Local
• LGiU Chief Executive Dr Jonathan Carr-West
• Commonwealth Local Government Forum Secretary-General Lucy Slack and Head of Programmes Claire Frost
• LGiU summit on ‘saving local government finance’
• Greater London Authority – Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Richard Watts

Dublin

• New Zealand Ambassador to Ireland His Excellency Trevor Mallard
• Association of Irish Local Government Liam Kenny (Director AILG),
• Uisce Eireann (Irish Water) Director of Local Government Engagement John Dempsey
• Irish Local Govt Assn tour of the Irish Parliament
• Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission of Ireland and former Secretary General to the Irish president Art O’Leary

The Hague

• VNG (Dutch Local Gov Assn) Director of Policy Albert Vermuë
• Union of Water Boards (VNG) Piebe Hoeksma (Director, Dutch Water Authorities)
• City of The Hague officials
• Mayor of The Hague Jan van Zanen

Cardiff

• Meeting with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s Iain Vosper (strategy and regulatory director), Dominic Scott (tactical sewerage manager)
• Cardiff Capital Region (CCR), Cardiff Council, and the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) for a roundtable on local government (including city and regional deals, economic development, regional governance, structure of local government)
• Welsh Govt officials including Reg Kilpatrick, Director of Local Government within Welsh Government
• Cardiff Council CE Paul Orders

Manchester

• Mayor for Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham
• Transport for Greater Manchester officials

LGNZ paid for 50% of Sam’s economy fare to the UK. LGNZ also covered costs associated with the engagements listed above, including accommodation and travel between these cities.

The total cost to LGNZ was $8000.