Housing expert to speak at northern conference

Ben Walker, Regeneration & Renewal, 5 September 2008

Colin Blakey has agreed to speak at Regeneration & Renewal's Northern Regeneration Summit & Exhibition, which takes place on 22 and 23 October at Manchester Central.

He will sit on a panel discussing how best to increase affordable housing supply in a declining property market.

The panel will also feature David Cowans, chief executive of housing association Places for People, and Gill Taylor, chief executive of regeneration skills training body the Academy for Sustainable Communities.

Blakey is one of a host of private sector figures to confirm speaking roles at the summit.

It has also been announced that Danny Griffiths, personnel director at car manufacturer Nissan's Sunderland plant, will join Clive Drinkwater, North-West director for government inward investment body UK Trade & Investment, in a key panel session on the best way to make the North attractive to inward investment from high productivity businesses.

The news comes as conference organisers announced that Tom Hurst, principal economic development officer from Sunderland City Council, is to appear to provide a public sector perspective on the panel.

- For more information, visit www.northernregeneration summit.com.