As Local Government Association (LGA) delegates descend on Liverpool, Council Leader, Cllr Liam Robinson, outlines why the city is a fitting host for this year’s conference…
It’s a real honour and privilege to welcome 1,600 council delegates from around the country to this year’s LGA conference.
We’re a city of innovators and entrepreneurs that have been changing the world for more than 300 years.
Be it the world’s first Public Health Officer, the world’s first commercial wet dock – near to where we are today – or the world’s first intercity train service to the first tropical disease institute that continues to save lives across the world.
Today, from leading developments in AI for Good to tackling climate change and preventing the next pandemic, Liverpool is seeking solutions to the challenges of tomorrow.
Our waterfront, upon which this city grew and flourished, is to be renewed again, with a 30-year vision currently out to public consultation.
Major regeneration schemes such as Bramley Moore Dock, Festival Gardens, Central Docks, Liverpool Film Studios, Paddington South, Pall Mall and Great George Street and a plan for a new town – Liverpool North, will provide employment and housing.
On the frontline, we’re investing in digital systems so that residents can track services in real time, bringing transparency and responsiveness to the heart of local government.
We’re focused relentlessly on the fundamentals. From cleaning up the city and cutting street cleanliness complaints by over a third, to reshaping our parking strategy and taking on inconsiderate and nefarious parking head-on.
We’ve laid down solid foundations and we’re using them to build a better city – to deliver for what I always call our half a million bosses – everyone who lives here in Liverpool.
We’ve a great story to tell.
Of a city that has turned a corner. On the up and getting back to where we once belonged.
It’s important we show our peers that trust can be rebuilt, and that local leadership can rise to the challenge.
At a time when devolution is a major priority for the government, we’re doing all of this alongside our partners and colleagues in the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
We are proof that a large city can work with partners, within a City Region, to deliver for all of our communities.
Liverpool and our city region, is not just the setting for this year’s conference but is a symbol of how local government can be at its best: resilient, innovative, and relentlessly focused on the needs of our people.
Cities like Liverpool prove that, when we get the powers, the resources, and – most importantly – the trust, we can transform lives and places.
That is why there is no better place in the country for the local government community to gather.
