Cllr Robert Davis MBE DL

Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for the Built Environment
Westminster City Council

Cllr Robert Davis has served as a Councillor on Westminster City Council since 1982 and is currently the longest serving member of the Council.  He is Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for the Built Environment with specific responsibility for Planning, the Mayoralty and Special Events. Cllr Davis also chairs the principal Planning Application Committees.

Cllr Davis was Lord Mayor of Westminster in 1996-1997 and currently serves as a rota Deputy Lord Mayor. He is also a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London.

He also chairs the London Mayors' Association and the Board of the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park as well as being a Trustee of Mousetrap Theatre Project, the Savoy Educational Trust and the Sir Simon Milton Foundation set up in the name of his late civil partner Sir Simon Milton (former Deputy Mayor of London). In 2014 he was voted "Conservative Councillor of the Year" in a national newspaper.

He was educated at Gonville & Caius College Cambridge and at Wolfson College Cambridge before training as a Solicitor at the College of Law in Lancaster Gate.  Cllr Davis is a solicitor and recently retired as a partner in Freeman Box, where he specialised in property law.  

Victoria Hills

CEO
Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation

Victoria is a chartered town planner with 20 years post-graduate experience, working in local government (Wycombe District Council), consultancy (Steer Davies Gleave) and most latterly at the Greater London Authority. Working for the Mayor of London, Victoria spent seven years working in the Mayor’s Transport Team, and then a further three years in the Mayor’s 2012 City Operations Team, as Head of Programme, before returning to the GLA’s Transport Team as Head of Transport in autumn 2012 to drive forward delivery of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, Infrastructure Plan and transport manifesto commitments. In autumn 2014 Victoria was seconded to set up the Mayor’s second Mayoral Development Corporation, Old Oak and Park Royal (OPDC) where in April 2015 she took up the position of Interim Chief Executive Officer, and was permanently appointed in June 2015. This exciting role sees Victoria utilising her planning, transport and programme management expertise to drive forward the transformation of Old Oak and Park Royal, London’s largest opportunity area and what will become the UK’s largest regeneration project. Her brief includes seeking to maximise the benefits of the significant rail investment at Old Oak, most notably the High Speed 2, Great West Coast Main Line and Crossrail super-hub stations, to oversee development of an exemplary masterplan for a world-class place and to drive forward the preparation of a comprehensive and coordinated delivery and growth strategy for Old Oak and Park Royal. 

Dame Alison Nimmo DBE

Non-Executive-Director, MHCLG,
St Modwen Property, Berkeley Group & Imperial College London’s Property Committee

I’ve been delivering regeneration for 35 years across the UK in various executive roles, the most notable being Manchester City Centre (after the 96 bomb), Sheffield City Centre and London 2012 Olympics. In all 3 examples I helped establish and lead dedicated delivery vehicles and delivered in partnership - public/private. I was CEO of TCE for 8 years with a very extensive UK wide portfolio, including the seabed where we helped support & grow the UK’s world leading offshore wind programme. I’m currently a NED of: MHCLG, St Modwen Property, Berkeley Group & Imperial College London’s Property Committee. I’m also a commissioner of the 1851 Committee and we’ve given support to Dave Rudlin from URBED to research 100 of the UK’s high streets - which will be a fascinating insight into how they’ve weathered the pandemic (or not). I’m passionate about sustainability and am a built environment ambassador for UKGBC for COP26. Earlier this year I was part of a small steering group helping Peter Freemen with his review of Homes England, as the new chair; and I was a member of the government’s Urban Recovery Task Force.

Professor Tony Travers

Director of LSE London
Visiting Professor in the Department of Government

Professor Tony Travers is Director of LSE London, a research centre at The London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also a Visiting Professor in LSE’s Department of Government. His key research interests include local and regional government and public service reform.

Professor Travers is currently an advisor to the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Select Committee and the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.

He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government: The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis), Paying for Health, Education and Housing: How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills) and The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City.