Councillor Howard Sykes

National Member Peer

Howard has worked for the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) on a part-time basis for more than three years. He has experience of parishes, districts, metropolitans, unitaries, counties and London boroughs.

Previously he was Chief Executive of the Association of Liberal Democrats Councillors.  He has recently been re-elected to the Lib Dem Executive at the Local Government Association (LGA).

Howard’s work for the IDeA includes:

• work to develop new unitary authorities
• mentoring of senior members
• developing the role of the ward member thorough ward walks and Councillor Call for Action (CCA)
• the role of the elected member in vision and place shaping
• member development and training charters
• improve communications between officers and members.
• top team work
• dealing with and developing community cohesion issues along with preventing violent extremism
• work on local strategic partnerships (LSPs), local area agreement (LAAs), multi-area agreements (MAAs) and city regions.

He has worked with:

• North East Lincolnshire
• South Lakeland
• South Cambridge
• Barking & Dagenham
• Rochdale
• Durham
• the Welsh LGA
• Liverpool
• Birmingham
• Stockton
• Hull
• East Yorkshire
• Ashfield
• Shropshire
• Norfolk
• Suffolk
• Stockport
• Stoke.

He is the Leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, Vice Chair of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) and member of the Greater Manchester Commission for the New Economy.

Howard has more than 23 years unbroken service within local government as Chair of Environment and Transportation; Chair of Licensing; Portfolio Holder for Regeneration; Deputy Leader of Council; Opposition Leader and Council Leader. 

He also has experience in developing overview and scrutiny and has also served in opposition; balance and control.

Contact:

Howard Sykes
telephone: 0161 770 4016
email: howard.sykes@idea.gov.uk