Who we are

Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen has been Breckland Council’s Leader since May 2019, having previously held the Deputy Leader position. Sam is ultimately responsible for setting the strategic direction of the council, ensuring the council meets its statutory duties while delivering projects and initiatives that best support local people and businesses.

He was initially elected to the council in 2007 and served on the council until 2011, before pursuing other opportunities. During this time, Sam worked closely with Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP, while Mr Lewis served as Minister of State for Housing and Planning at the Department for Communities and Local Government. Sam subsequently stood for election to the district council again in 2015 and has served at Breckland ever since. Sam is currently the Chairman for the District Councillors Network (DCN) along with this holds the role as a national board member for the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU), Conservative Councillors Association (CCA) and Local Government Association (LGA).

Outside of local government, Cllr Chapman-Allen worked for nine years with the Ministry of Defence and continues to work with the MOD in a part-time voluntary role. Sam is often found walking his two mad springer spaniels or behind a tractor.

Bill was recently appointed Chair of the District Councils’ Network (DCN) Chief Executive Group. Bill is currently the Chief Executive at Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council (rated Excellent in a CPA judgement). Prior to this appointment he was Deputy Chief Executive responsible for Development Services, Strategic Partnerships, Culture/Regeneration, Sport, Housing and Community Safety.

Bill is a Director on Hinckley Town Centre BID and chairs the Borough’s Employment and Skills Task Force. Bill is a volunteer Chair of East Midlands Crimestoppers and is a member of the charity’s National Advisory Board. He also chairs the Hinckley & Bosworth Health & Wellbeing Partnership and the MIRA Enterprise Zone Steering Group.  Bill is a special advisor to Active Leicestershire – the County Sports Partnership. Bill is a Chartered Town Planner, with a strong track record in regeneration and development, and has spent much of his career leading major regeneration schemes, having worked in the North East, Hertfordshire, York City and Bedfordshire (where he led on major new settlement proposals).  He enjoys surfing, football and tennis.

James joined the District Councils’ Network in September 2021. He provides policy, strategic and operational oversight for the Network.

Before the DCN, James held a range of senior posts in the civil service. Most recently, he worked at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). His roles included being Joint Director of Housing Strategy & Markets, Director of Building Safety & Remediation, and Deputy Director of Local Authority Housing. He has wide local government experience and networks from his time at DLUHC. He also worked in policy and strategy roles at the Ministry of Justice and HM Treasury. He has extensive experience of operating in Whitehall. He also has private-sector and commercial experience from his days as a strategy consultant in the oil & gas industry at the start of his career.

Vicki joined the DCN in January 2020. In her role as Senior Policy and Partnerships Officer, Vicki provides support on a broad range of issues and has a particular focus on the role of district councils in building stronger economies, and district council finance. After graduating from the University of Sheffield in 2006 with a in BA French Studies, Vicki moved into social policy, firstly with a regional development agency and then with a charity, before joining local government in 2007, where she led a team building local partnerships and supporting members in local decision making.

Stephen joined the DCN in June 2019 and works on our events and engagement with the districts, and is the DCN’s first point of contact. Having graduated with a politics degree, Stephen’s first role was in local government as a graduate planning officer at a county council working on major infrastructure projects and planning policy, and liaising with districts. After this role, he worked at a policy conference company for two years as a researcher, planning and researching senior-level conferences on a variety of topics including housing, devolution, regional development and infrastructure.