Ellie Kuper Thomas is the Planning Policy Manager at the London Borough of Newham. She has worked at Newham for a year and a half and before that worked at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets – just the other side of the river Lea. The Planning Policy Team is responsible for writing and monitoring the policies which shape and manage development in the borough.

Ellie Kuper Thomas will be covering cross-cutting issues.

Amy Rosa is a Participatory Democracy Coordinator at Newham and coordinates the Community Assemblies programme.

The Community Assemblies are open and inclusive neighbourhood forums, where residents can discuss and find solutions to issues of local concern. Through the current assembly cycle, residents have been able to decide how to spend £100,000 in each neighbourhood on a range of projects to improve their local area and benefit the whole community.

Amy Rosa will be covering the topic of community-led activities.

Mohamed Hammoudan has over 35 years’ experience working in the public and charity sectors. Before joining Newham in 2012, Mohamed worked for a number of local authorities across different disciplines, including sports and leisure, play and youth, community work and neighbourhood and town centre management. Since 2015, he has managed Newham Council’s Resident Engagement and Participation service.

Mohamed Hammoudan leads on Newham’s community assemblies, which is one of the largest resident participatory budgeting programme in the country. Mohamed has responsibility for a range of community assets in Newham, including libraries, community centres and the town halls.

Mohamed Hammoudan has worked for a number of national charity organisations including Community Matters, where he led on the National Youth Empowerment Programme.

Mohamed Hammoudan will be covering the topic of everyday service delivery.

Jeremy Leach is Chair of London Living Streets which works to be a voice for people on foot across the capital. Active travel offers a huge opportunity to reduce emissions across Newham where three-quarters of all journeys in Newham are already active being made either by public transport, walked or cycled but where motor vehicles currently dominate much of the streetspace.

Living Streets is a volunteer organisation that campaigns for a city that enables and inspires people to walk.

Jeremy Leach will be covering the topic of active travel, walking and cycling.

I have lived and worked in Newham for a decade and I’m constantly learning about the borough and the people that live here. I have a passion for improving the local environment and enabling as many people as possible to walk and cycle more, to help people live healthier lives and to make the borough a better place to live.

Change can be difficult; I have worked with schools, community groups, and individual residents; and led the delivery of infrastructure and traffic management projects, to enable behaviour change.

Jeremy Leach will be covering the topic of active travel, walking and cycling in Newham.