Introducing Our South West Local Government Leadership Roundtable Series

Turning Shared Challenges into Practical Action

Local authorities across the South West are facing an unprecedented period of change. From Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and increasing financial pressures to AI adoption, legacy technology and organisational transformation, councils are navigating complex challenges while continuing to deliver vital public services.

At RedRock, we’ve been engaging with senior leaders across the region and have found that, regardless of council size or digital maturity, the same themes consistently emerge.

While technology often receives the most attention, it is rarely the biggest obstacle, as the real challenges lie in securing stakeholder buy-in, breaking down organisational silos, embedding new ways of working and demonstrating measurable value from digital investment.

To help address these shared challenges, we’re excited to be launching a South West Local Government Leadership Roundtable Series, a collaborative forum designed to move beyond discussion and deliver practical outcomes.

A Different Kind of Roundtable

Rather than delivering a series of presentations, our roundtables our designed to be collaborative, where local authority leaders can engage in valuable discussions, openly sharing their experiences, highlighting the real-world challenges they are facing and learning from one another.

Each session is focused on practical problem-solving, giving participants the opportunity to explore proven approaches, exchange lessons learned and leave with actionable ideas that can be implemented within their own organisations.

Participants will benefit from:

Sharing practical experiences with peers facing similar challenges.
Learning from real council transformation journeys and case studies.
Identifying opportunities for regional collaboration.
Taking away tangible actions rather than simply new ideas.
Building a stronger network of digital and transformation leaders across the South West.

Themes Shaping Local Government Transformation

The series has been built around the priorities consistently raised by local authority leaders, including:

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)
Budget pressures and technology-enabled savings
Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft Copilot adoption
Legacy systems and technical debt
Customer experience and the Single Front Door
Enterprise Architecture and systems integration
Data quality, governance and information management
Target Operating Models
Stakeholder engagement and organisational change
Breaking down organisational silos
Workforce capability and digital skills
Procurement and regional collaboration

The Roundtable Programme

Session One: Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)

Local Government Reorganisation represents one of the most significant transformation programmes many councils will undertake. This session focuses on sharing practical experience from organisations that have already begun this journey.

Topics include:

Developing Target Operating Models
Service redesign and organisational change
Technology harmonisation
Data migration and consolidation
Building stakeholder engagement and organisational buy-in
Lessons learned from existing LGR programmes

Outcome: Practical approaches to planning and delivering successful Local Government Reorganisation programmes.

Session Two: Doing More with Less: Budgets, AI and the Future of Local Services

With increasing financial pressure, councils must deliver better outcomes while operating more efficiently. This session explores how digital technology and AI can support productivity, improve customer services and reduce operating costs.

Topics include:

Financial sustainability and budget pressures
Using AI and Microsoft Copilot to improve productivity
Data governance and information management
Delivering a Single Front Door for customers
Technology investment that delivers measurable savings
Enterprise Architecture and integration

Outcome: Practical strategies for improving services while making better use of limited resources.

Session Three: Building Sustainable Digital Capability

Long-term transformation depends on people, partnerships and sustainable capability. The final session explores how councils can build resilient digital organisations through collaboration and shared learning.

Topics include:

Digital skills and workforce capability
Collaborative procurement
Supplier ecosystems and delivery partnerships
Shared platforms, cloud services and licensing
Regional collaboration and shared services

Outcome: Practical approaches to building sustainable digital capability across the South West.

Delivering Lasting Value

The success of the roundtable series will not be measured by the quality of conversation alone, but by the outcomes that participants take back into their organisations.

Together, the group will work towards producing:

Shared playbooks
Real-world case studies
Action plans
Collaborative procurement opportunities
Regional working groups
An ongoing South West Digital Leadership Network

Facilitated by Experienced Public Sector Leaders

The series will be facilitated by senior members of the RedRock leadership team, each bringing extensive experience of delivering transformation across central government, local government and regulated industries.

Sessions will be led by our Chief Digital Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Lead Architect, whose combined expertise spans digital transformation, enterprise architecture, AI adoption, technology strategy, operating models and organisational change.

Rather than delivering presentations, our facilitators will guide the discussion, challenge thinking where appropriate and share practical experience to help participants identify achievable actions they can implement within their own organisations.

Join the Conversation

The South West Local Government Leadership Roundtable Series has been created to foster a collaborative community of local authority leaders committed to solving shared challenges together.

By bringing together experience from across the region, we aim to help councils accelerate transformation, deliver better outcomes for residents and build stronger digital capability for the future.

If you’re a senior leader within a South West local authority and would like to be part of the conversation, we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Rob Green Account Manager

Nick Passey Director of Business Development