Cumbria Development Update 2026

Miranda Cannon is the chief executive of Westmorland and Furness Council, appointed in January 2026. She brings more than 25 years’ senior leadership experience across large unitary authorities, national audit, and consultancy and major transformation programmes. As Chief Executive, she leads one of England’s largest geographic unitary councils, responsible for diverse rural, coastal and urban communities across a vast and distinctive landscape. Miranda brings a strong personal connection to the area, having grown up within its farming community and maintained close family roots locally. Before joining Westmorland and Furness, Miranda served as executive director of Resources and Transformation at Salford City Council, where she provided corporate leadership across a wide portfolio including finance, HR and OD, digital and data, governance, and customer services. She led major programmes such as the council-wide Innovate Transformation Programme which included a focus on replacement of legacy systems, new neighbourhood prevention models, and strategic workforce reform. Miranda’s earlier career includes senior roles at KPMG and the Audit Commission, giving her strong commercial insight, national policy influence, and extensive experience shaping performance and value-for‑money frameworks.

Laura is a development director at Muse with over 18 years’ experience delivering major mixed-use regeneration projects across the UK and internationally. Renowned for leading complex public-private partnerships, she brings deep expertise in creating long-term value through design-led, commercially robust, and socially impactful places. Before joining Muse in 2025, Laura was senior development Director at Landsec, where she led transformative schemes across the Northwest including the £1.7bn Mayfield regeneration and the acquisition of MediaCityUK. Previously, as head of development at Bruntwood, she directed nationally significant projects such as ID Manchester and Circle Square. Laura excels at navigating multi-phase developments, securing investment, and aligning diverse stakeholders to deliver sustainable, inclusive urban transformation.

Libby Bateman is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Cumbria. A former county councillor representing Kirkby Stephen, she has extensive experience in local government and rural advocacy. Libby has also worked as a community campaigner in Cumbria, including supporting broadband rollout and running a bus service in remote areas. She brings a strong focus on local services, connectivity and infrastructure upgrades to her mayoral campaign.

John Barradell is interim chief executive of the newly created Cumbria Combined Authority. Based in Carlisle, he is passionate about ensuring Cumbria’s voice is heard and championing a part of the UK he believes is too often overlooked by national decision‑makers. John brings decades of senior leadership experience, including serving as Chief Executive of the City of London Corporation and Brighton & Hove City Council. He has also led major national resilience efforts, including the Government’s Grenfell Recovery Taskforce and the London Strategic Group during the COVID‑19 pandemic.