Cllr Darren Rodwell

Leader
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

Darren has been Leader of Barking and Dagenham since 2014. He has served as Deputy Chair of London Councils, having been Executive Member for City Development and now as the Executive Member for Housing and Planning. In his current role he has promoted inward investment in the capital via Opportunity London and prioritised the delivery of affordable housing, addressing fire safety, tackling homelessness and reducing the use of temporary accommodation. 

Darren is also a member of the Homes for Londoners Board, Arts Council England, the Arts Council for London and the Create London Board and, since May 2023 Chair of the LGA Local Infrastructure and Net Zero Board. He was awarded LGIU Leader of the Year Award in 2019. In 2021, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education by Coventry University in recognition of his efforts to expand educational opportunities in Barking and Dagenham.

Kelly Beaver MBE

Chief Executive, UK and Ireland
Ipsos UK

Kelly Beaver MBE is Chief Executive of Ipsos in the UK and Ireland. She has been with Ipsos for over a decade and was previously Managing Director of Ipsos’s UK Public Affairs division which supports government clients to monitor and understand public opinion, behaviours and societal trends, design public services and policies, and to determine what works in achieving social and economic policy objectives.

Kelly has led a wide range of notable research programmes including the REACT study tracking COVID-19 prevalence across England, public attitudes work ranging from the use of evidence, Brexit and vaccines, through to a key piece of work with the Royal Foundation on the importance of the Early Years. Prior to joining Ipsos, Kelly held roles across various consultancies including PwC and KPMG and specialised in public policy evaluation.

Kelly holds several honorary positions external to Ipsos in academia and charities. She is passionate about the use of evidence in decision-making and her roles outside of Ipsos enable her to make a wider contribution to the social sciences discipline in promoting its use. She is a Fellow of the UK Academy for Social Sciences, a Board member for the Campaign for Social Science, a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London and a Trustee for the Government What Works Centre for Early Intervention. She currently sits on the Advisory Panel for the Resolution Foundation’s ‘Economy 2030 Inquiry’.

Kelly is a regular commentator in the national press and broadcast media. She is experienced at presenting to senior audiences on public and business leader opinion and societal and consumer trends across a range of topics including trust, gender equality, employee engagement, leadership, and many others.

Kelly was awarded an MBE in June 2022 as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to academia, research and the COVID-19 response.

Catherine Raynsford

Director of Stakeholder and Investment Management
Hyde Group

Catherine Raynsford is Director of Stakeholder and Investment Management.

Catherine has worked in real estate for over 15 years specialising in public private partnerships, working with public sector landowners to bring forward major developments and regeneration projects.

Catherine works closely with our public sector partners and grow our initiatives with local government, this is a new role for Hyde and will focus on our strategy to engage with private capital.

Catherine leads a team to identify, develop and enhance long-term partnerships with a broad mix of private sector partners including housebuilders, developers, and institutional investors.

Ben Denton

Chief Executive
L&G Affordable Homes

Ben is Chief Executive of Legal & General Affordable Homes and joined at the inception of the business in August 2018.

Ben has over 30 years of experience across housing design and development, regeneration and real estate. Ben joined Legal & General Affordable Homes from Sovereign Housing Association, the 6th largest housing association in the UK where he was Executive Director of Property and Development, responsible for sales and a development programme of 1,300 homes a year. Previous positions include Group Director of Strategy and Business Development at house builder Keepmoat, Executive Director of Growth, Planning and Housing at Westminster City Council, Director of Investment at First Base and was a Director and Executive Consultant for ABROS financial advisory and KPMG.

Additionally, Ben was previously Chair at Westminster Community Homes and held various Board and Committee positions at Thames Valley Housing Association.

Jules Pipe CBE

Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills
Greater London Authority

Jules Pipe is working on key priorities for the Mayor, including: implementation of the London Plan, major and community-led regeneration projects across the capital, building a skills system that properly addresses the needs of Londoners and the economy, and ensuring London’s infrastructure supports good growth, meets the needs of London’s communities and makes London a cleaner, greener and smarter City. Jules has unrivalled knowledge of London government, becoming the first directly elected mayor of Hackney in 2002 and serving as Chair of London Councils from 2010 until he joined the Mayor’s team in 2016.

Steve Hatton

Planning & Design Director
Weston Homes plc

Steve Hatton is the Planning & Design Director at Weston Homes and has worked in the property development industry for 20 years. Steve specialises in residential led brownfield mixed-use regeneration schemes across the southeast of England. These projects range in scale from 50 to over 1,000 homes and include other uses such as schools, retail and community facilities. Steve leads the planning and engagement process from inception to start on site, working collaboratively with landowners, the public sector and local communities to create places with a shared vision.

Nicholle Kingsley

Head of London Planning Team
Pinsent Masons LLP

Nicholle is head of the London planning team at Pinsent Masons. Nicholle has extensive experience advising on all aspects of planning and environmental legal issues on a wide range of UK and international development and regeneration projects.

Jamie Lockerbie

Partner
Pinsent Masons LLP

Jamie is a partner in the London planning team at Pinsent Masons. Jamie is a planning law specialist and advises clients in both the public and private sectors on the full remit of planning and highways matters.