Why attend Loveable Neighbourhoods?
Lovable Neighbourhoods is the new name for the Liveable Neighbourhoods conference, which was launched in partnership with Transport for London and hosted by Haringey Council in 2019.
This second event – hosted by Croydon Council on 20 May – will showcase how streets and places have been transformed to encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport. There will be analysis of the impact of projects on air quality and road safety as well as the connection between better streets and improved community cohesion, health and wellbeing.
The summit will assess the impact of the pandemic on local neighbourhoods and consider the lessons learned from Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes. Expert panels will consider the case for people-friendly streets in a post-Covid world, with more people working from home and using local amenities.
School Streets, 20-minute neighbourhoods, the roll-out of 20mph limits, pocket parks, parklets and cameras will also be discussed.
The programme will include timely advice on how to get projects funded, building a consensus through good data and ensuring effective engagement with local people.
This 2nd annual event– at Fairfield Halls in the heart of Croydon – will offer the best examples of the political leadership, policy-making, project delivery and programme implementation that is helping to improve our streets.
The programme supports the aims of the Mayor's Transport Strategy by funding local schemes to reduce car trips and improve neighbourhoods. The event will:
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Outline what key outcomes programme sponsor Transport for London is looking for across neighbourhoods that have very different opportunities, challenges and aims
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Provide a masterclass in bid-writing and mobilisation, and offer an essential toolkit for participating teams, now and in future
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See how the programme is being successully delivered by London Borough officers, working with TfL and local stakeholders
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Join a network that will support the successful delivery of Loveable Neighbourhoods across London by connecting and promoting knowledge-sharing between current and future participants
For 2022, Loveable Neighbourhoods is hosted by the London Borough of Croydon and will include plenary sessions, workshops, site visits and panel discussions. Delegates at Loveable Neighbourhoods will:
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understand the long-term aims, impacts and outcomes of the ongoing Liveable Neighbourhoods programme
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gain confidence in bid-writing for future funding rounds
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understand how to win local hearts and minds and build support for change
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share best practice in design and engineering
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network with other boroughs, towns and cities and gain insight into making the most of all opportunities
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make new contacts and re-boot enthusiasm for driving positive change
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celebrate what works – and share what doesn't
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leave better informed and better prepared to develop healthy living in London
Who should attend?
We carefully curate the best conference programmes by featuring an essential mix of keynote presentations from government ministers, council hosts and sponsors, plus streamed seminars on a range of topics, plus our well received Study tours.
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Loveable Neighbourhoods provides exhibitors with the perfect platform to meet and network with existing customers, your future customers and future colleagues.
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Urban & Transport Planners
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Air Quality Consultants
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Walking & Cycling Officers
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Project Managers
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Civic Leaders & Politicians
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Highways & Traffic Engineers
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Urban Designers & Placemaking Professionals
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Strategy Managers
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Heads of Transport
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Chief Executives
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Smarter Choices Managers
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Travel Planners
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Behaviour Change Managers
Speaker biographies
Keith
Hanshaw
Managing director, Project Centre
Keith is an accomplished leader in operation and strategic management. He is currently managing director of Project Centre and client services director for transportation at Marston Holdings responsible for the growth of the company’s transportation and environment sector, which includes NSL civil parking enforcement, business process and outsourcing, checking, Traffic Management Act debt, Videalert sales, air quality enforcement and the environment, as well as business development and strategic accounts.
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Previously Keith worked in local government for over 25 years, he was a director responsible for over 250 staff across areas of service delivery and strategic activity with experience of direct budgetary control of over £40m a year. Keith’s leadership and drive skills led him to chair the Six Olympic Host Borough Multi-area agreement, driving the group to securing £180m over three years for the Olympic fringe.
Catherine Rose
Councillor, London Borough of Southwark
Cllr Catherine Rose joined Cabinet in 2020 as Cabinet Member for Leisure, Environment & Roads. Cllr Rose was responsible for transport policy, streets and highway infrastructure, traffic management and parking enforcement. She will promote sustainability and improve air quality, particularly around schools.
Catherine has was first elected in a by-election in 2016 and sits on the Planning Committee as reserve and South Multi-Ward forum as Ward Councillor for Dulwich Wood. Catherine is also a Trustee and Chair of the Operational Committee of The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE)
Ian
Plowright
Head of strategic transport, Croydon Council
Ian has worked in transport planning since the end of the 1980s. This has covered stints working at the DfT and in academia, and principally for local authorities in central, inner and outer London. His main areas of focus include:
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Policy development and plan making
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Transport implications of built development proposals
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Healthy and sustainable transport
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Major transport projects.
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Ian has been Croydon’s Head of Strategic Transport for more than 10 years.
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Charles Snead
Principal City Planner, Transport for London
Charles works for Transport for London (TfL) as a principal city planner. He has worked for many years on transport policy and strategy with a focus on active travel modes. More recently he has led on the development of policies relating to green infrastructure, biodiversity and climate change adaptation in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy.
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Charles has championed the delivery of SuDS in TfL, working closely with the GLA and also helping to bring in external funding. He has also initiated the trial of alternative methods of management of roadside verges in order to increase biodiversity and is constantly looking for new opportunities for TfL to contribute to the natural environment.
Richard Eason
Programme Director, Healthy Streets, London Borugh of Enfield
Richard leads a multi-disciplinary team who are responsible for the delivery of Healthy Streets projects - a key part of Enfield’s plans to become carbon neutral. The team mange these projects through the complete lifecycle, including the design, build and then handback to other business as usual departments within the council. The programme brings together physical infrastructure interventions and blends these with other supportive measures such as school engagement, cycle training, Dr Bikes and second-hand bike markets.
Current projects include the delivery of segregated cycling infrastructure to extend Cycleway 1, Low Traffic Neighbourhood implementation, School Streets expansion, cycle parking and major town centre regeneration in the Borough’s primary town centre, Enfield Town.
Jane
Sherry
Sustainable transport project manager, Waltham Forest Council
Jane has worked at Waltham Forest Council since 2014, and her work on the borough’s Enjoy Waltham Forest Programme focuses on encouraging and enabling everyone to walk and cycle where possible whilst enjoying the unique culture and green spaces of the borough.
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The Enjoy Waltham Forest Programme consists of 33 infrastructural schemes, which have been introduced in conjunction with tailored behaviour change projects, aiming to enable residents, businesses and visitors to the borough to feel confident, knowledgeable and safe in using our new and innovative infrastructure, and encourage them to live more sustainable lives.
Brian
Deegan
Head of inspection, Active Travel England
Brian has a background in walking and cycling infrastructure delivery. Working on projects such as the Greater Manchester Bee Network and London Mayor’s Vision for Cycling. He was the co-author of the London Cycling Design Standards and developed the Healthy Street Check for Designers in his time at Transport for London.
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Brian has published several technical papers and led research projects looking at protected junctions, parallel signalised crossings, side road zebra crossings and light protection for cycle routes. He is a frequent conference speaker with a passion for the subject of active travel. He sees the main role of the Active Travel England inspectorate as being one of supporting and encouraging local authorities.
Patrick Lingwood
Active travel lead, Oxfordshire County Council
Patrick leads the Active Travel Hub at Oxfordshire County Council, which has the role of developing cycling and walking policy, programmes and projects for the county. Patrick said the role caps a lifetime spent devoted to researching, designing and implementing schemes to increase cycling and walking.
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After two years as transport researcher at Oxford Brookes University, he worked as ERCDT regional co-ordinator for the South East region, helping councils raise the standards of cycling in policy and delivery.
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Whilst working at Bedfordshire County Council, he prepared the successful Leighton-Linslade Cycle Town Bid. For two years he was cycling policy advisor at DfT under both Labour and Coalition Governments. While at Bedford Borough, he prepared the design for UK’s first and still only turbo-roundabout.
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Patrick moved to Oxfordshire County Council in 2018 to write the Oxford LCWIP. This year will see an expansion of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and further work developing the Quietway and Quickway cycle network for Oxford.
Tom
Cohen
Senior lecturer, transport, University of Westminster
Tom is a senior lecturer at University of Westminster, where he contributes to the MSc in Transport Planning and Management. He is also part of the Active Travel Academy based there. Tom has a long-standing interest in democratising transport and in developing more effective ways of involving stakeholders in transport planning as part of that. He is also a professional Londoner and enthuses about improving the public realm in this fine city, especially where this leads to increases in active travel.
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Like everyone else, he has watched the LTN debate with keen interest and led a piece of work for the LGA on learning the lessons of delivering transport schemes during the pandemic. He is currently involved in the European EX-TRA project which is studying street experiments across five partner cities including fair London.
Martijn Cooijmans
Director Climate Change and Transport, Islington Council
Martijn is responsible for driving Islington's organisation-wide Net Zero Carbon Programme, and is directly leading two NZC workstreams: the Sustainable and Affordable Energy Workstream and the Transport Workstream.
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In his role of director (and previously as the head of service) he has been leading Islington’s transport response to the Covid public health emergency, driving the development and delivery of Islington's People-friendly streets programme: delivering eight Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, 22 new School Streets and three pop-up cycleways. As a result, Islington Council became the leading London borough on the 2021 Healthy Streets Scorecard, and received recognition by winning the Global Action Plan Sustainable Cities Award 2021 as trailblazing public sector organisation for the programme.
Roger Harper
Principal Consultant, Waterman Aspen
Roger is a Highway Engineer with over 35 years of experience working on minor engineering and highway schemes for both local government and private developers in London and the southeast.
Roger has spent the last 3 years working for Waterman Aspen and seconded to the London Borough Lewisham. He has been working on Lewisham 20mph speed compliance schemes and their School Street programme.
Heather Cheesbrough
Director of planning and sustainable regeneration at Croydon Council
Heather is a landscape architect and town planner with 25 years’ experience of working in local government and consultancy. She specialises in design and place making ensuring the delivery of successful places through collaborative working.
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Heather has been facilitating the growth and regeneration of the borough through enhancing connectivity, exploring how increased density can create more sustainable and attractive places and how new working patterns, lifestyles and technological innovations will influence our built environment.
Esther
Kurland
Urban Design London
Esther is a planner and urban designer by background. She worked for 10 years in local authorities in policy, development control and design and conservation planning posts. Esther then moved to the GLA where she worked on the built environment aspects of the first London Plan before moving to CABE to lead on planning issues in 2003.
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Esther has been director of UDL since 2005. Since then she has worked to develop and improve UDL’s programme, working closely with core partners TfL, the GLA, London boroughs and many others to support and encourage good design in the capital. During 2018 she was on secondment to TfL to head their Urban Design service.
Esther has been part of a wide range of Design Review panels, steering groups and advisory committees. “Through these I have learnt from, and hopefully helped improve, all sorts of projects including Crossrail stations, Thames Tunnel’s new riverside mini parks, council housing estate renewal projects,” she said.
Martina
Juvara
Director, URBAN Silence
Martina is the director of strategic planning and master planning company URBAN Silence. She said: “The company is small, ambitious and proudly led by women: working for governments, cities and communities, preparing programmes of change through spatial planning, improved governance and design that can have transformational impact.” With the World Bank and HS2 among recent clients the team works with prestigious companies like Khatib & Alami, Atkins, Arup and Jacobs.
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Martina is fiercely passionate about cities and what they have to offer to humanity. “We are at a time of dramatic societal and environmental change and cities can be part of the answer towards a better future,” she said. “Making appropriate use of expert thinking and listening to local people are the best ways by which ambitious opportunities can be realised on the ground.”
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She won two planning awards and a Landscape Institute Award in 2021.
Lucy
Marstrand
Walking and cycling design consultant
Lucy is an independent consultant specialising in inclusive walking and cycling design. She supports local authorities with data analysis, network planning, and street design. She is currently part of the consortium of consultants providing Inspectorate functions for Active Travel England.
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Lucy is particularly interested in querying inherited engineering wisdom, and the link between highways design and wider equality issues. She is a member of the Department for Transport's Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Group (CWIG), co- chairs the ICE Active Travel Community of Practice, is on the Board of Directors of the Transport Planning Society and was involved in the development of the national cycle design guidance document LTN 1/20.
Mark
Frost
Chair of the Transport Planning Society
Mark is an experienced local government professional to assistant director level, now director of Fern Consulting Services providing support to clients on strategic transport planning; regeneration & placemaking; environmental strategy, traffic and parking policy and; supporting regional networks and public sector staff capacity building/mentoring.
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Mark is a Chartered Transport Planning Professional (CTPP), Chair of the Transport Planning Society, Vice President of the Local Government Technical Advisors Group and a Future London Leaders graduate.
Alex
Shipp
Head designer, Meristem Design
Alex has a passion for all things design and holds a degree in Industrial Design and Technology. Now running the design department at Meristem, his favourite aspect of this role is the “instant, visual gratification of turning some of the most polluted, deprived areas in the country into a ‘green oasis”.
Alex recently won Pro Landscapers 30 under 30 award for his contributions to the landscaping sector during his time with Meristem Design. He plans to leave his mark on the sector by helping to pioneer the green revolution in city centres, making them a greener, safer and all round better environment for generations to come.
Andrew Miles
Consultation Specialist, Transport for London
Andrew joined TfL in 2001 and has performed a variety of comms roles since then. He joined the TfL Consultation team in 2012 and has managed a variety of consultations on major projects, including the east London river crossings programme, Silvertown Tunnel and the transformation of Oxford Street.
Since the spring 2020 Miles has led TfL’s engagement and consultation on the London Streetspace Programme.
Chris
Harrison
Regional Director - South, Project Centre
Chris Harrison has been with Project Centre for six years leading projects and producing highly skilled teams. With over 17 years’ experience in transportation, he has extensive experience in both the public and private sector developing, introducing and reviewing active travel programmes and projects as well as transport planning, traffic, parking, road safety engineering and safety auditing.
Chris client managed the award-winning Mini Holland programme for Waltham Forest and led the implementation of the Walthamstow Village Project. Recently, he has been working closely with London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the development and delivery of the Liveable Streets programme.
Chris is passionate about creating inclusive environments that gives a real choice of active travel for every user. He uses active engagement and campaigning to ensure active travel programmes are successful and enjoys taking part in community co-design.
Nick
Ruxton-Boyle
Director of environment, Marston Holdings
Nick joined Project Centre in 2017 before moving to Marston Holdings in 2019 to lead on the group’s air quality and carbon reduction business.
He works with public and private sector clients across the UK and Europe supporting environmental schemes, such as clean air zones and low emission zones, with market leading technology, data and enforcement services.
A chartered transport planner, Nick spent 15 years in the public sector developing data lead sustainable transport plans and policies and delivering active travel and demand management schemes.
Nick writes a monthly blog for Air Quality News and sits on the BPA innovation board and is chair of the editorial panel for the CIHT magazine.
Neil Manthorpe
Associate Director Landscape & Urban Design, Atkins
Neil leads the Atkins London Landscape and Urban Design Studio. The award winning design team create inspiring places that connect people and nature. The team work across London and select international cities delivering creative, holistic and innovative solutions. Neil’s areas of expertise include green infrastructure, public realm, cycling and smart cities. Neil has worked throughout the Middle East and has also worked in Sydney, Beijing and Colombia. He has used this international experience to produce several design guidance documents and sits on the Wandsworth Design Review Panel.
Neil is currently working on phase two of the Barbican podium where an urban greening approach driven by the City of London’s Climate Action Strategy has been adopted. This transformational scheme will increase biodiversity, improve water management and create a place that connects people and nature in the heart of the city.
Conference programme
Published programme is subject to change.
09:00
Registration & exhibition opens
Ashcroft Theatre
09:45
Welcome
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Welcome by: Keith Hanshaw, managing director, Project Centre
10:00
Why the case for people-friendly streets has never been stronger
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Travel behaviour has changed in the wake of Covid-19, with many continuing to work from home, connecting with their surroundings and using local amenities more. This represents an opportunity to create streets that are attractive, greener and more welcoming. Underlying this is the need to make it safer for people to walk and cycle, with all the health benefits this entails, while also helping achieve Net Zero targets and improving air quality. So, what is stopping councils from doing more to improve their streets?
Chair: Keith Hanshaw, Managing Director, Project Centre
Panel:
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Heather Cheesbrough, Director of Planning and Sustainable Regeneration, London Borough of Croydon
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Catherine Rose, Councillor, London Borough of Southwark
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Brian Deegan, Head of Inspection, Active Travel England
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Further speakers to be announced.
11:15
Tea & coffee served in the exhibition area
11:45
Ashcroft Theatre
Complementary measures: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
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What are the key components to changing streetscapes, improving road safety and air quality and cutting congestion? How can measures such as School Streets, 20-minute neighbourhoods, 20mph limits, rain gardens, pocket parks, planters, parklets and camera enforcement be effectively joined up to transform streets?
Chair: Esther Kurland, Director, Urban Design London
Panel:
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Martina Juvara, Director, URBAN Silence
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Lucy Marstrand, Walking and Cycling Design Consultant
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Neil Manthorpe, Associate Director, Landscape and Urban Design, Atkins
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Alex Shipp, Head Designer, Meristem Design
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Charles Snead, Principal City Planner, Transport for London
13:00
Lunch served in the exhibition area
15:15
Tea & Coffee served in the exhibition area
14:00
Ashcroft Theatre
Beyond boundaries: Spotlight on ‘game changing’ schemes
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Focus on groundbreaking schemes, how they won local support and how they can inspire and inform other projects.
Chair: Mark Frost, chair of the Transport Planning Society
Panel discussion:​
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Ian Plowright, Head of Strategic Transport, London Borough of Croydon
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Patrick Lingwood, Active Travel Lead, Oxfordshire County Council
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Chris Harrison, Regional Director - South, Project Centre
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Roger Harper, Principal Engineer, Creative Roads
15:45
Ashcroft Theatre
The path to change through strong data, engagement and leadership
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Building a consensus through good data, thorough engagement, and the need for strong leadership. How do you tackle misinformation? How do you effectively highlight the true benefits of street improvement schemes?
Chair: Nick Ruxton-Boyle, Director of Environment, Marston Holdings
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Panel discussion:
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​Tom Cohen, Senior Lecturer, Transport, University of Westminster
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Martijn Cooijmans, Director Climate Change and Transport, London Borough of Islington
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Jane Sherry, Sustainable Transport Project Manager, London Borough of Waltham Forest
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Andrew Miles, Consultation Specialist, Transport for London
Bar
17:00
Drinks Reception
18:00
Event Close