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.

David Allen is Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Cumbria and currently serves as Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner. He previously completed a 30-year career at the highest levels of policing and law enforcement, finishing as Head of the UK’s Interpol Bureau, before spending seven years working in the NHS. Allen is standing for Mayor to provide strong local leadership, improve transport connections, create skilled jobs, deliver more affordable homes, support thriving town and rural communities, and strengthen partnership working to tackle environmental damage, and anti-social behaviour, helping make Cumbria an even safer and more prosperous place to live and work.

Jim Perks joined BAE Systems Submarines as head of future workforce strategy in November 22 having completed a 39 year career in the Royal Navy. Joining the Royal Navy in 1984, he became a Submariner and rose through the ranks from Junior Rating to Commodore. He was Commanding Officer of HMS Sceptre, "Teacher" of the Submarine Command Course "Perisher" and completed his career as Head of the Submarine Service. Perks has recently been seconded to Team Barrow as Operations Director. He is President of the Submariners Association, patron of HMS OARDACIOUS, patron of Military vs Cancer and a Trustee of the Cumbria Community Foundation.

Lauren Allison is head of communities & engagement at Genesis Homes, leading on community initiatives that ensure the company has a positive impact in the areas where it builds and integrates with the local community. The introduction of her role to the business in 2025 highlights a keen commitment from Genesis Homes to be a community-focussed homebuilder through engagement, events and a strong added value proposition for its customers. Allison's background is in marketing and communications, and she has worked in housebuilding over the past few years, bringing a breadth of experience to this exciting vision for Genesis Homes.