Creating Active Communities 2019

Jason Colbeck

Urban Design and Mobility Consultant, Mobycon

Jason is an urban designer specialising in planning and design of streets and public space to enable cycling, walking and to create inclusive environments. Originally from the UK, Jason is inspired by the Dutch approach to creating people-focused places, and the opportunity to use the knowledge and best practice in The Netherlands and adapt it for the local context in the UK. He applies extensive use of co-design principles, working closely with local communities, schools and key stakeholders to facilitate ideas, develop visions and produce designs for public spaces and travel networks that reflect the aspirations of the community.

Workshop Presentations

The Active School Run: The Dutch Approach to Enabling Active and Independent Journeys - Charles Hallé Room

14:30 - 15:15

Yvonne Harrison
Managing Director
Project `92

Yvonne was appointed as Managing Director of Project 92 in March 2018, after leading Greater Manchester Charity, GreaterSport, as their Chief Executive for four years. Having spent over fifteen years within the sport and physical activity landscape, Yvonne has a wealth of experience across the sector incorporating strategic development, relationship management, finance, business planning and communications. Yvonne has been a key driver to galvanize the Greater Manchester network to produce Greater Manchester Moving, the blueprint for physical activity and sport across the City Region, as Greater Manchester trailblazes with radical reform of the health and social care system through devolution and begins to implement Sport England’s local delivery pilot. Yvonne led GreaterSport to multiple awards, before leaving to embark on a new challenge, working with the ‘Class of 92’ across their sport and education portfolio, which includes the brand new University venture UA92 in Trafford. Yvonne joined the Board of Why Sports Media Group in 2017 following a positive working relationship with the Founders and recognising the contribution she could make through her experience and network. Yvonne is enjoying helping the social enterprise realise its objectives and ensuring customers of Why Sports experience great content, networking and cutting edge thinking through the series of conferences and panel debates delivered.

Andy Burnham
Mayor of Manchester
Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Andy Burnham was elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester in May 2017. Responsible for shaping the future of Greater Manchester, Andy’s priorities include ending rough sleeping, transforming Greater Manchester into one of the greenest city-regions in Europe, and making Greater Manchester a great place to live, get on, and grow old. The Mayor works closely with Jon Rouse, Chief Officer of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, to improve the health and wellbeing of the 2.8 million people living in Greater Manchester. The Mayor has been a longstanding advocate of health and social care integration and is passionate about improving access to mental health services. Before being elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy was MP for Leigh from 2001. In government, Andy has held Ministerial positions at the Home Office, Department of Health and the Treasury. In 2008 he became Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, before returning to Health as Secretary of State in 2009. In opposition, Andy has served as Shadow Education Secretary, Shadow Health Secretary and Shadow Home Secretary. Andy lives in Leigh, Greater Manchester, with his wife and three children. He is a keen supporter of Everton FC.

Mr Richard Tisdall
Managing Director
Tisdall Associates Limited

As Director of Tisdall Associates with Health Parks, Richard draws from experience and qualifications in Landscape Design, Public Health and the Environment. He brings a unique perspective as to the value given to Parks and Green Spaces when used alongside Public Health initiatives and Social Prescribing. With an understanding of the importance of evidence-based solutions, and the need to address avoidable medical and mental conditions, Richard has been at the forefront of innovative cross-cutting developments to optimise the use of Parks, Green Spaces and the natural environment within the context of Primary Prevention, providing practical solutions to optimising the use of parks for health and wellbeing.

Chris Perks
Executive Director Local Delivery
Sport England

Chris trained as a Physical Education Teacher before studying for a Master’s Degree in Sports Science at Loughborough. Chris’ teaching career began at Roade Secondary School in Northamptonshire. Alongside teaching, he led a project to develop school-based sports development initiatives and the full community access to the facilities. Since joining Sport England, Chris has led work around improving sporting opportunities for young people and the use of sport in achieving social outcomes. For four years Chris was the Strategic Lead for all of Sport England’s work in the East region. Recently Chris became the Executive Director for Local Delivery at Sport England leading the work of all the local outreach teams. Chris continues to be actively involved in a variety of sports as a volunteer and participant.

Mr Lee Preston
Sport and Leisure Lead
Manchester City Council

Lee is responsible for the development and implementation of Manchester City Council’s Sport and Leisure policy and a range of service areas that directly contribute to the “Our Manchester” strategy. These service areas include: the Council’s indoor leisure facility contracting arrangements, sport and leisure capital development plans, strategic plans for major sports events, elite training centre provision and city wide school, community and performance sport and physical activity provision. Lee, heads a service that is ultimately tasked to increase participation in sport and physical activity, alongside reducing levels of inactivity which contributing to Manchester’s wider growth agenda and neighbourhood priorities.

Hayley Lever
Strategic Manager
GM Moving

Johan Diepens
CEO
Mobycon

For over 30 years, Johan has shaped sustainable mobility best practices in the Netherlands and Europe. Early in his career, Johan was part of a national taskforce that developed the Dutch safe systems approach known as Sustainable Safety. He also worked with the Technical University Delft to create the Star Analysis method for developing cycling networks and collaborated with Hans Monderman on the first Shared Space pilot projects. He has researched child behaviour in traffic situations and conducted a pilot on intelligent speed adaptations in school zones. Currently, Johan is developing new methodologies for designing multimodal transportation networks, prioritising active modes and public transport.

Angela Lewis
Head of Programmes
Fields In Trust

Angela Lewis is Fields in Trust’s Head of Programmes and is currently deputising for the Helen Griffiths, the Chief Executive. She also has a Development Manager role covering the West Midlands and Gloucestershire. She joined Fields in Trust in 2011 with a focus on the QEII Fields Challenge and lead’s the organisation’s work on the Centenary Fields programme in partnership with The Royal British Legion, and the London Marathons Charitable Trust’s Active Spaces programme. Angela has always worked in sport and leisure for a variety of organisations at national, regional and local level including Sport England and the London Borough of Richmond.

Rachel Fowler
Managing Director
Strategic Leisure

Following her first degree in English, Rachel studied sport and leisure management at post-graduate level at Loughborough University. She moved into consultancy in 1997 after a ten-year career in leisure management with six different local authorities. She has over twenty-eight years’ experience in sports and leisure management in both the public and private sectors. In addition to her management responsibilities, Rachel retains an active role in the delivery of consultancy services to a range of clients across the UK, and internationally, and is now one of the UK’s most experienced leisure consultants. Rachel has completed over 800 consultancy projects; her experience covers the whole range of Strategic Leisure services and sectors but she has particular experience in strategic planning for indoor and outdoor facilities, green space and cultural provision, feasibility studies, facility development, funding, procurement, planning policy, evaluation, stadia and arena planning and operation, funding and major events. She has worked with many clients to address the challenges of strategic planning for facility provision, involving rationalisation, partnership and planning across boundaries. Much of Rachel's current work involves identifying and assessing options for the future delivery of cultural and leisure services, including libraries, heritage, the arts, theatres, sports and leisure facilities, and sport and arts development. She is also developing a significant number of strategic plans for facilities with local authorities. Her appreciation of the current public sector funding context, together with a detailed understanding of local authorities makes her ideally placed to advise on options for future delivery, their impact and implications, and what alternatives might be appropriate to ensure long term service sustainability. Rachel is also currently working with a number of clients on major facility developments, involving a wide range of different partnerships, and other strategic planning projects. Passionate about client care and delivery of quality outputs, Rachel has contributed significantly to the development of Strategic Leisure’s consultancy approach and team ethos.

Sally Higham
CEO
Groop

Sally volunteers across many different organisations and charities in addition to her full-time commitment as the CEO of Groop and role as Chair of the Inspiring Impact Steering Group. She runs her local County Junior U18 Badminton Team and she is the Founder of the Championing Women network - she also mentors young women in early stages of their careers. Until late 2018, Sally was a Non-Exec Director (NED) on the board of Aster Group; previously a NED at Bromford Housing and a Guardian Professional writer. Sally is a passionate strategist committed to supporting communities, education, youth services, charities, social housing and social enterprises to survive and thrive. In October 2018, she secured a £3 million investment to develop and grow her multi-award winning RunAClub club management platform. In January 2019, this successful technology business rebranded to Groop. Still very much a socially focused business built from knowledge, it is now expanding its offering to customers, providing new and exciting functionality in an all-in-one community management platform. During 2019, this socially focussed business will continue to listen to their customers and develop the technology to make a real difference to communities across the UK. An award-winning social entrepreneur: Winner of Techies Social Impact Award (May 2019) for a product or service driven by technology that is making a difference to its users and the wider community; Shortlisted British Small Business Awards (Nov 2017); Bristol Women in Business 2016 Innovation Award; Next Gen Intelligent Communities Award 2015; Big Venture Challenge Winner 2014 and 2013; Unltd Fast Growth Winner 2013; Sally delivers talks on using technology to create social change in communities, social entrepreneurship, start-ups and social investment, building partnerships and Board roles.

Simon Ward
Atkins UK Head of Discipline for Landscape Architecture and Urban design.
Atkins Global

Simon is Atkins UK professional head of Discipline for Landscape Architecture and Urban design, with overall responsibility for a team of 76 Landscape Architects based out of 7 studio hubs around the UK, who provide high-quality design and assessment advice for public and private sector clients. Simon holds placemaking and deliverability as his core skills and has over 30 years of experience in overseeing landscape projects on the ground. Simon has worked all over the UK and also overseas and is passionate about creating distinctive and engaging places. Simon has given a number of papers at conferences including the Landscape Institute and The Institute of Historic research and he has also led design teams shortlisted on numerous National and International design competitions. Simon sits on Manchester Metropolitan University courses Professional Review Group assessing its suitability for life in professional practice and has long-standing ties with the University, delivering numerous lectures. Simon has been with Atkins since 1993.

Ceris Anderson
Head of Knowledge & Insight
StreetGames

Jan Inge Ebbesvik
President for the Road Worlds for Seniors
Motitech

Jan Inge Ebbesvik is the president for the Road Worlds for Seniors at Motitech. The championship was firstly held in 2017, and it was an overwhelming success. We aim for the Road Worlds for Seniors to become the world’s largest sporting event, measured in number of participants.

Eugene Minogue
Chief Executive
Parkour UK

Geoff Thompson
Executive Chair MBE, FRSA, DL
The Youth Charter

Geoff Thompson was appointed to the GB Sports Council - now Sport England in 1990 following an outstanding career in competitive Karate. He was five times World Karate Champion from 1982 to 1986 and holder of over 50 national and international titles. As one of Britain’s most successful and celebrated sportsmen of the 80’s Geoff made a transition from tracksuit to lounge suit where he established himself as a sports politician and administrator. Geoff is one of the leading youth activists and experts in sports development and politics with over 25 years experience in the bidding and hosting and legacy of major games and the positive impact of sport and the arts in the social and human development of young people and communities. He is Founder and Executive Chair of the Youth Charter (www.youthcharter.co.uk), a UK registered charity and United Nations accredited Non-Governmental Organisation established in 1993.

Tim Crabbe
CEO
Substance

Tim is Chief Executive and one of the founders of Substance and was formerly Professor of the Sociology of Sport and Popular Culture at Sheffield Hallam University. He has over twenty-five years' experience of leading multi-disciplinary research teams investigating the impact of sport-based social policy initiatives. As well as representing the company more widely Tim currently leads Substance's work with UEFA to assess the social and economic value of grassroots football participation across Europe and the evaluation of GM Moving, a whole systems approach to tackling inactivity in Greater Manchester. He previously led research and evaluation projects focused on the use of sport and physical activity as a social policy tool for the Home Office; chaired the consortium leading the DfE Information and Signposting Project to promote youth activities; led the research and development of Sportworks for Sported; and is a board member of the Inspiring Impact Programme. With a succession of publications to his name, Tim is widely regarded as one of the leading authorities in relation to the research, development and analysis of sport and activity-based policy initiatives.

Mr Jeff Gorse
Performance Management Officer
Inspiring healthy lifestyles

Jeff has worked for Inspiring healthy lifestyles leisure trust since 2006. His role as Performance Management Officer sees him oversee the performance reporting for three contract areas – Wigan, Selby and Cannock – monitoring contractual KPIs and identifying the short and longer termoutcomes being achieved in physical activity participation, health and wellbeing through engagement with the services delivered. Jeff also supports the SHAPE (Sport, Health and Physical Education) partnership in Wigan, providing a strategic overview to physical activity provision across a broad range of local stakeholders. Additionally, Jeff is chair of the Wigan Borough Sports Council (voluntary sports club network) and of Leigh Miners Rangers amateur rugby league club.

Emma Forward
Chief Operating Officer
EMD UK

Emma is the Chief Operating Officer for EMD UK, the national governing body for group exercise and a member of the FitgroupUK executive panel. With over 20 years’ experience in the fitness sector, Emma drives the operation of EMD UK with a particular focus on the relationship with Sport England. An active group exercise instructor and participant, Emma is passionate about championing the role of the instructor and the importance of quality in all aspects of group exercise. Being involved weekly in a range of classes keeps Emma in touch with the real issues facing instructors and group exercise managers and brings a unique and valuable perspective back to the board table of EMD UK.

Jason Colbeck
Urban Design and Mobility Consultant
Mobycon

Emma McNamara
Service Manager in Public Health and Adult Social Care
Wigan Public Health

As Local Authority Service Manager, Emma has a broad remit that includes a lead role in the development and commissioning of leisure, physical activity and weight management services, as well as the being the Population health lead for Age well. Emma is passionate and committed to enabling people to live healthy, active and happy lives and has over 18 years of experience working within the NHS and Local Government. She has worked in a number of leadership and commissioning roles and has been instrumental in the transformation of Wigan Borough’s approach to weight management, physical activity and asset-based approaches to health improvement.

Tom Flower
Head of Community
Wigan Athletic FC Community Trust

Tom has worked in professional football for 16 years and for the last 7 has been Head of Community at Wigan Athletic Community Trust having previously been employed in a number of community-based roles at Manchester City. A qualified journalist, Tom has a Masters in Community Sports Development having studied the impact the Premier League funded Kicks project had on the communities of Moss Side and Fallowfield while at Manchester City. During his time at Wigan Athletic, Tom has helped establish the community Trust a key strategic priority for the Football Club and the charity now works with over 12,000 people a year on activities designed to improve health, enhance life chances and create stronger safer communities. In 2019 Wigan Athletic Community Trust was named North West Community Club of the Year by the EFL for the second time in three years.

Hazel Musgrove
Development Manager, Research and Insight
GreaterSport

As Development Manager; Research and Insight Hazel builds localised knowledge of people and place across Greater Manchester to understand what works, trends, motivations and barriers for increased physical activity, in particular within key inactive cohorts.

Ms Alice John
Business Development Manager
4Global

Matt Archer
Market & Business Developer
Motitech UK

As a Market & Business Developer for Motitech UK I am responsible for identifying like-minded partners who believe, as we do, that all humans deserve to be afforded the same treatment and opportunities, no matter their age or functional level. To that end, we work in collaboration with our partners across sectors including; private and public care and nursing homes, adult day care centres and local government with the aim of increasing the focus on physical and mental wellbeing by getting older people and people with dementia to be more physically active.

Speaker Profiles

Jason Colbeck

Urban Design and Mobility Consultant, Mobycon