16 September 2026 | Park Regis Birmingham
Programme
The LGC Summit: LGR Special will feature a topical programme full of content specifically relevant for those going through local government reorganisation today.
The sessions will provide a high level of debate with up-to-date information, practical advice and new ideas. In an interactive format, attendees can also share their experiences and gather valuable insights from peers and colleagues.
If you are interested in speaking at the event, please contact Jenny Vyas at Jenny.Vyas@emap.com .
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Registration and refreshments
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Welcome from Editor
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The politics of reorganisation: Managing the member dimension
Panel discussion
As reorganisation moves from preparation to delivery, the relationship between officers and members becomes one of the most complex challenges of the process and during the government’s current pause. This session looks at how political leadership, member engagement, and decision-making change as councils move into shadow arrangements.
- How do you bring members on the journey when their roles and futures are changing?
- What needs to be in place to keep decision-making moving in the transitional year?
- How do you keep predecessor councillors engaged and avoid a "last one out, turn the lights off" mentality?
- How do you build culture and governance in a new authority when the people shaping it are still running the old one?
- Communicating with members during the hiatus
Speakers
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How do you run a programme this big?
Panel discussion
This session explores the practical reality of delivering LGR while keeping existing councils running. It will look at how areas are structuring their programmes, resourcing them, and making progress even while key decisions must wait.
- How have you structured the programme, and what would you do differently?
- How do you resource LGR without hollowing out the existing organisation?
- How do you sequence disaggregation across budgets, workforce, assets and contracts, and how do you avoid one part racing ahead of the rest?
- Where are the biggest bottlenecks in delivery at this stage, and how are you getting around them?
- How does the government’s decision affect the programme – what to pause, what to continue, what to stop?
Speakers
Executive Director of Place and Economy (Deputy Chief Executive)
North Northamptonshire Council
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Beyond safe and legal: How AI can build a transformation-ready unitary
LGR programmes can become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data, decisions, and critical tasks required for Vesting Day. This session explores how AI can reduce that administrative burden and create a trusted, real-time view of readiness, viability and transformation opportunities, enabling the new council to deliver value from day one.
Speakers
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Networking break
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Running the Services: How does the pause affect these services and what does good look like on day one – and beyond?
Roundtable discussions
Discussion topics:
1. Children's services and SEND
How do you transfer children’s services and SEND provision safely and make sure nothing is missed?
2. Adult social care
How do you maintain safe delivery through transition and build prevention and integration into the new authority?
3. Waste, highways and environmental services
How do you protect continuity in the most visible services, and what decisions cannot wait?
4. Finance and financial resilience
How do you build a financially sustainable new council when the true cost of delivery is still uncertain?
5. Planning, housing and growth
What needs to be in place to support housing delivery and growth from vesting day?
6. People, workforce and culture
How do you build one culture and one team across multiple organisations?
7. Ensuring continuity of capital and estates delivery
How do we ensure that communities continue to see delivery and investment during LGR, rather than projects pausing while structures change?
Speakers
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Case study: What the UK can learn from LGR in Australia and New Zealand
Speakers
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Lunch and Networking
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Open Mic: Dealing with the uncertainty and looking for the opportunities
An entirely audience-led, Chatham House Rule discussion, giving participants the opportunity to share candidly:
- How are you communicating with staff and commercial partners?
- What work are you continuing or pausing?
- What is the impact of the delay and where are the opportunities?
A constructive space to share experiences, learn from each other and look ahead
Speakers
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The tech decisions you cannot afford to get wrong
Fireside chat
LGR is bringing major technology decisions to the forefront, with councils needing to balance short-term continuity and long-term change. This session explores the three decisions every new unitary needs to make early, and why getting them right is essential for service continuity, integration, and future transformation.
Speakers
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How to be a good ancestor and life on the other side
Panel discussion
The closing session asks what it means to hand over a council in genuinely good shape, before authority shifts and the new unitary begins to take over. It will explore what should be settled now, what can safely wait, and what those who have already reached the other side wish they had done differently, and how would they have dealt with the current pause had it happened during their journey?
- How do you hand your organisation over in genuinely good shape?
- What should chief executives and leadership teams make sure is left in order?
- What does a new unitary inherit that no one anticipated?
- What lessons do people on the other side wish they had heard earlier?
Speakers
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Closing remarks