Developing and influencing policy to support the growth of rail freight in the UK

• Experience of chairing meetings and developing public policy mainly in the field of transport. • Have held various portfolios and I am currently portfolio holder for Environment and Transport. • Originated the Ipswich Freight Chord (completed March 2014) a £60m investment to take freight trains from Felixstowe Port across country avoiding London for the Ipswich Local Plan.• Council’s representative on numerous bodies including the East West Rail Consortium Members Board• Board Member of Ipswich Buses Ltd. (to 2006) including 2 years as company chair. • Other duties include attending public meetings, interviewing for senior appointments, preparing budgets and service plans.• Mayor of Ipswich in 1996/7.

• Responsible for analysis of Schools Service Data (mainly attendance and exclusion trends)• Presentation of data to managers, Education Welfare Teams and School Head Teachers to highlight priorities for action and service planning• Identified reasons for poor attendance in Essex to develop the attendance strategy. This resulted in Essex becoming an upper quartile authority. • Handling Press enquiries on school attendance matters• Performance monitoring for the ‘Special Educational Needs’ service• Producing analysis on a variety of Education Related topics to tight deadlines under the ‘Freedom of Information’ process.

• Southwold Park & Ride study for the TAS partnership. • Bus to Tram conversion study in Central London for the TAS Partnership.• Economic assessment of North London for Labour Market Solutions.• Computer modelling of rural bus services for Essex County Council to evaluate policy options. Identified potential budget savings of £1.3m.

• Responsible for time critical monthly production forecasts, budgets and sales reporting analysis, for managers to director level. • Managing external market data and membership of user panel. • Served on “Quality Improvement Teams” and on a project team for decision support software evaluation.

Personnel & Training Assistant with Babergh District Council.Identifying training needs among Community Programme Workers and arranging courses including induction, H&S, first aid and “job search” trainingTrained as a Clerical Officer with the D.H.S.S.Duties included answering enquires from claimants by telephone and letter, calculating benefit entitlement and maintaining the filing system.O. and M. assistant (student placement) with CompAir Reavell Ltd. Surveying company paperwork. Staff interviews and recommending changes to use, routing and design of information flow.Sales Day Book Clerk (student placement) with West (Ipswich) Ltd.‘Raising’ works orders. Buying, invoicing, despatch & delivery, answering telephone and drawing office work.