The Institution of Civil Engineers is inviting members of the public to get involved with the debate on North East devolution at an event with a panel of experts.
The panellists include Jonathan Spruce, one of the country’s leading civil engineers and the Chair of ICE’s National Transport Expert Panel, Professor Andy Pike, Professor of Local and Regional Development at Newcastle University, and Andrew Lewis, Managing Director of Tees Valley Combined Authority. It will be chaired by Dr Caspar Hewitt of The Great Debate.
ICE usually only opens its events to its 86,000 registered members, over 2000 of whom are in the North East, but this debate will be open to the public for just £3. The event is free to ICE student members. Because devolution is so important to the region as a whole, ICE is inviting anyone interested in discussing how devolution will work for the people, the infrastructure, the economy and the environment of the North East to attend.
The event is from 6.30pm-8.15pm on Thursday the 23rd of Feb at the Mining Institute, in Newcastle’s city centre. A buffet will be available before the debate starts at 7pm, with post-discussion drinks and a networking opportunity to follow. Tickets are available from ICE’s website: https://www.ice.org.uk/events/devolution-is-it-all-just-smoke-and-mirrors
The discussion will focus on a number of key questions about devolution such as will it benefit the North East, will bring much needed investment in our infrastructure and should the region embrace or resist it?
Penny Marshall, ICE Regional Director said: “We are extremely excited to open another one of our events to the public. With devolution potentially affecting all of us in the near future, it’s incredibly important that we have an informed public and invite anyone interested in the future of the region to attend.
“Our panel features experts on both devolution and infrastructure, one of the three pillars of the Northern Powerhouse, and will ensure an incredibly knowledgeable discussion on the night.”