Solace Summit 2025: Reflecting on a few of the big questions

Last week’s Solace Summit 2025 was a fantastic experience, not just for the sessions, but for the chance to reconnect with friends and colleagues across the sector. It’s always energising to share space with people who care deeply about shaping the future of local government and this event has become like a family event for me over the years with some real long terms friends and colleagues and a safe space where LG folk can break breads on the continuing challenges of our world whilst enjoying downtime.

It feels like this year is a line in the sand with real change on the horizon for almost all of the sector and ecosystem and the event was actually one of my favourites - given this I'd love to keep some of the conversations in the air as no doubt they will become foundational to the next few years of change and deserve to continue beyond the Summit.

I've chosen a couple of take-aways which are close to my heart and although rather honest (but not critical), they are reflections on the deeper truths that surfaced in the discussions and definitely things we need to grapple with.

1. Planning Reform: Ambition Without Alignment

Joanna Key from DLUHC spoke about planning reform and set out a bold ambition for creating coherence across housing, regeneration, and infrastructure. However, the notable lack of alignment between Local Growth Plans, Spatial Development Strategies (SDS), Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), and devolution was striking and this was a point I raised during the session.

The join-up between these elements, alongside investment priorities and the skills and organisational redesign needed to make this successful, is still missing. A recent Bevan Brittan session highlighted that regeneration strategies often lag behind structural reforms. I've written about this previously and although the default position for most LG folk is to focus on LGR which is understandable, the real driver behind this is a government ambition to deliver growth and homes.

This is clear from the alignment and details within both pieces of primary legislation currently making there way through parliament and I think the framing of the join up between this and the more immediate requirements to planning (SDS's and Mayoral Powers) needs to be much more coherent and overt from Government.

2. The True Cost of Digital Transformation

The session with Cumberland Council and Netcall was refreshingly honest and although a scary stress test on the current fiction being presented in technology savings; this is especially true in the financial element of the bigger is better argument as from a tech rationalisation perspective this means more aggregation of business critical systems such as housingh management, planning and revs/bens, even if there is less disaggregation of the big social care systems. Despite us all having to play along with them, we all know that business cases often present a neat fiction: projected figures for technology implementation and savings that rarely match reality so just a word of caution on this.

Moreover, the general process of merging systems data, retiring legacy platforms, and retraining staff is complex and costly. Cumberland’s own LGR closure report documents the strain on digital capacity, and recent updates show escalating resource costs as transformation continues.

Grant Thornton’s analysis also reinforces this: most councils face multi-year timelines where ambitious digital goals are sacrificed to meet “safe and legal” requirements on Day One. Without realistic digital transition plans and adequate funding, we risk repeating the same mistakes promising transformation but delivering fragmentation.

I wrote more about this challenge in more detail (geeky) recently in my blog: Signal Over Noise on LGR Business Cases. If you’re interested in the deeper dive, check it out.

3. Beyond Empathy: A Broader Leadership Skillset for the Future

Empathy was a powerful theme at the Summit, brought to life by Stela’s keynote and Katie Piper’s address. But the conversation needs to go further.

Local government faces a generational leadership challenge: succession planning has been poor, and the skills required for future leaders are evolving rapidly. Research from ICMA and others highlights the need for diverse, adaptive leadership blending strategic vision, digital literacy, and community engagement with traditional governance skills.

Building a pipeline of leaders who reflect the diversity of our communities and can navigate complexity is essential. This isn’t about criticism; it’s about recognising that the next phase of reform demands a wider skillset and a more inclusive approach to leadership development. This is especially overt in the new and emerging skills which will form part of the new ecoystem of public services. How many top teams are currently digital or AI literate?

This has to be a top down cultural shift. I have been recently working in a fractional role for The Incremental Pathway who are delivering comprehensive programmes helping senior leaders and chief executives become fluent in AI and GenAI tools they already have access to like Microsoft Copilot. This is growing exponentially as it can demonstrate and deliver productivity gains within days help them own the narrative around proper digital transformation, rather than being passive recipients of change.

GenAI will be essential to getting through the transformation need for LGR and creating the capacity, resources and skills to actually make it work. This is a big cultural change and needs to be owned by our next succession of leader.

Other Highlights Worth Mentioning

Beyond these, there was lots more on offer and some genuinely thought-provoking content:

• Equity and Purpose: Progress, Possibility, and the Path Ahead
  Chaired by Kirsty Wark and led by Nazeya Hussain and Mae Wilson, this session invited senior leaders to pause and reflect on what it means to lead with equity and purpose in a world where political, social, and cultural ground is shifting faster than many of us can keep pace. It's not about ticking boxes it was about building trust, fostering belonging, and ensuring representation is a lived experience, not just a statistic. This is a much needed conversation to keep in the air challenging us to think about how local government can remain a builder of democratic resilience in increasingly polarised times.
• International Perspectives: Learning Beyond Borders
  Hearing from Mike Land (ICMA), Brenda Orchard (CAMA), and Craig Swift-McNair (Woollahra Council, Australia) was a reminder that the challenges we face governance complexity, community engagement, and leadership succession are global. Their insights on adaptive leadership and resilience underscored the importance of cross-border learning and the value of international networks in shaping the next era of public service.
• Lemn Sissay’s Keynote: Empowering the Vulnerable
  Lemn’s session was deeply moving. He shared his journey from growing up in the care system to becoming a powerful advocate for vulnerable children. His message was clear: systemic reform must be rooted in humanity. Through poetry and storytelling, he reminded us that leadership isn’t just about structures and strategies it’s about compassion, courage, and the willingness to challenge injustice

The energy in these sessions was undeniable: a shared commitment to shaping a future where local government is more agile, inclusive, and resilient. Can't wait for 2026.