Growth and Prosperity is a central pillar of how the Council, and City, will move forward over the next 10 years. In this regard, Stephen is tasked with realising the extraordinary opportunities that exist within Southampton. Currently responsible for the implementation and delivery of some of the City’s biggest priorities, his overriding objective is about striving to ensure everyone, irrespective of their background, has the opportunity to succeed; that great homes are available for all; that places are designed in partnership with local communities; that high quality employment and skills pathways are there for anyone who wants to access them; and that we continue to narrow gaps, tackle inequality and support inclusive growth in all we do.

Stephen currently leads a workforce of over 600 staff, manages a £60m net revenue budget and a £500+m capital budget.

With the Chief Executive, Stephen is also leading the devolution agenda, with Southampton part of the Hampshire and Solent devolution agreement, now approved as part of the government’s priority programme for implementation.

Stephen was previously Strategic Director – Economy, Regeneration and New Homes at the London Borough of Hackney.  Among other things, Stephen was responsible for housing regeneration and delivery.  Under his leadership, Stephen’s teams delivered close to 2,000 new homes, almost half of which were genuinely affordable, delivered in-house, prioritised for local people.

Paul provides a focus on new business opportunities and the management of our partnerships with landowners.

Paul is a chartered town planner (MRTPI) and a chartered surveyor (MRICS) and is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society. Paul is also a member of the Cambridge University Land Society and the International Planning History Society.

Outside of work, Paul is a mentor in the Department of Land Economy at Cambridge University and in the Real Estate and Planning department at Henley Business School and a Governor of William Ellis School.

Sarah is a member of the corporate team at Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council and leads on the investment and sustainable growth agenda for the borough, oversees a large commercial investment portfolio and is responsible for the delivery of major projects.

Experienced in place making and regeneration underpinned by a solid foundation of land and property skills gained over 25+ years of working in a Local Authority environment, Sarah’s work focuses on enabling delivery, working closely with public and private sector partners. Sarah is experienced in setting up and operating joint ventures and commercial trading entities.

Sarah remains committed to raising the profile, maximising opportunities and driving forward the Council’s ambition for regeneration across the borough.

Krystian has a decade of experience in planning communications and has substantial insight into the local, regional and national political dynamics that impact the built environment.

He has led multiple high-profile engagement programmes for property, energy and infrastructure clients including EDF Energy, DLUHC, Homes England, Newlands Developments, Supermarket Income REIT, L&G and several major housebuilders and strategic land promoters.

Krystian drives Cavendish’s growth across the UK, whilst continuing to deliver strategic planning communications advice for clients.

As a specialist real estate partner, Olly’s main practice area relates to commercial development and regeneration projects. He and his team undertake the full complement of real estate services including sales purchase and landlord and tenant matters involving asset management.

As head of the firm’s Retail and Leisure team he has experience in delivering new store roll-out programmes, in particular working with the firm’s Construction team in delivering commercial development documentation for new-build and refurbishment projects. In recent years focus has been on the acquisition and development of land for retail distribution centres.

Olly’s career began with advising owners of farms and landed estates and, as a result of this, he brings to Commercial Development an in-depth knowledge and understanding of esoteric legal issues. Olly has experience of working with a wide variety of clients including private individuals, trusts, companies and public sector bodies, whose real estate needs vary in type and portfolio size. He is the operational partner for several the firm’s key clients who operate in the private and public sectors.

Stuart is Chief Executive Officer at Milligan. As well as overseeing the running of the company Stuart leads on a number of projects. He specialises in town centre regeneration and the repurposing of assets and is currently working on projects with Local Authorities in Torbay and Dorset as well as advising several owners of shopping centres on their repurposing strategies. Stuart is passionate about regeneration and gets a huge amount of satisfaction seeing the positive impact that well thought out regeneration can have on our communities.

Stuart has over 30 years’ experience in the design, leasing, marketing, and delivery of retail and leisure led mixed use developments across the UK and Europe. Over this time Stuart has overseen hundreds of deals with occupiers covering retail, F&B, leisure, offices, hotels, and residential. Previously, he was a UK Board Director at Multi Development during the delivery of Victoria Square in Belfast, and SouthGate in Bath. He was a Co-Founder of Queensberry where he helped deliver major award winning projects for both the public and private sectors over a 10-year period. Stuart also sits on the REVO Operations and Strategic Boards.

Since January 2024 Harriet enjoys a portfolio career. This includes a range of advisory, pro bono and charitable work.

She is Chair of Cambridge Ahead (www.cambridgeahead.co.uk), Chair of the Cambridge Science Centre (www.cambridgesciencecentre.org, sits on the Governing Body of Anglia Ruskin University (www.aru.ac.uk) – which won University of the Year with the Times in 2023 and she is Founder Director of HFA Ltd, the latter being her advisory company.

Harriet was a Diplomat for over 20 years with the British Foreign Office. She served in 17 countries, in various roles including Deputy Ambassador 3 times, Head of Press and Public Affairs and Head of Commercial Services. She regularly served in hostile environments, trouble-shooting specific crises including in the Congo, Cambodia and Ethiopia.

Half her diplomatic career was spent in the commercial field, helping SME’s trade internationally. For 5 years she was the Head of the Governments national Life Sciences and Healthcare Trade Team.

Harriet was Chief Executive of One Nucleus from 2009 to 2017, which became the largest life science and healthcare membership body in Europe under her leadership and won a major award as ‘Best Global Life Sciences and Healthcare membership organisation’ in 2016. From 2019 to 2023 with her Board she created, set up and led, under the auspices of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge’s inward investment shop window Cambridge& www.cambridgeand.com.

Harriet was the Prime Minister’s Business Ambassador for Life Sciences for 5 years to 2018. She has worked at the heart of the Cambridge business ecosystem since 2003. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2016 for her services to Healthcare and Life Sciences.