London Summit

The seventh and largest ever London Summit took place on Saturday 12 July at the QEII Conference Centre in Westminster. This event focused on the theme of community leadership, and among the hundreds of delegates attending, many were members of the public with an interest in becoming local councillors.

Main speakers were Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Communities and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears and Ben Page from Ipsos MORI. Details of their speeches are available from the menu on the left.

Introduction by the chairman

London Councils chairman Cllr Merrick Cockell stressed that real changes to local communities could be made by putting decision-making firmly in the hands of local people.

He also told the summit that real devolution could only be achieved once central government allowed local authorities to take on greater accountability for local services.

Cllr Cockell handed the stage to Stuart Fraser, chair of the Policy and Resources Committee, City of London Corporation, who sponsored the event along with Greater London Enterprise. Mr Fraser appealed to boroughs to keep up pressure on central government to ensure the long-awaited Crossrail project was completed on time and in budget so that all of London, not just the City, could draw lasting benefits.

Panel session

The morning session concluded with an animated question and answer session, chaired by BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti with executive director for the Centre for Public Scrutiny Jessica Crowe, national co-ordinator of Operation Black Vote Simon Woolley, Cllr Merrick Cockell and Ben Page.

Questions from the floor included how to communicate the role of councils effectively to residents, the challenges of standing as an independent councillor and the debate on term limits for councillors. A key thread running through several questions was that of how to engage young and black and minority ethnic communities in the political process.

To find out more about any items from the Summit, please select from the menu on the left.

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