Rob Francis

By day: freelance engagement & OD facilitator; by night: occasional community event organiser. Into local gov, systems leadership & citizen engagement.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@tfwrail Thanks Meg, hopefully that will help ☺️

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

Often in #climate #engagement folks say they’d use trains if the cost & experience made them more appealing. I’ve taken 2 @transport_wales trips in 2 days: packed seaside services yet just 2 carriages, no AC, very few opening windows & unbearably hot. The UK HAS to sort this out.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@tfwrail Hi Meg. Yesterday it was the 17.27 from Aberystwyth & today the delayed 14.46 from Wellington (both towards B’ham Int). Yesterday especially hot and crowded, but staff great handing out water. Maybe 2 carriages is normal but in summer holiday season it appears not to be enough!

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

Lots to think about this morning - a new government with a huge majority but not a huge share of the vote; with a pile of challenges waiting but often a lack of consensus (let alone money) to tackle them. This must be the era of #delib #engagement… https://t.co/4NscPNrLrL

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@telfordlive Full marks to Anthony for finding that many orange clothes. Terrific effort 👏👏👏

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@pete62jackson @telfordlive @WellingtonH2A When you’ve got material this good it’s only right to share it with each new generation.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@JackTShaw Brilliant thread, thanks Jack.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

Councils not yet flashing red need to lean into the challenge now. This month I worked with one LA to host a Budget Fortnight: 150 managers in a room to find big savings (& consider impacts) together. Share the challenge, generate new ideas, convert into concrete business cases.

[Jack Shaw @JackTShaw]

Local authorities are pausing capital investment, introducing voluntary redundancy, selling off assets and in some cases re-interpreting their statutory responsibilities in order to set a balanced budget. A thread on the situation in authorities and the action they’re taking:

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@sketch_skye My pet, Tiny, looked a bit like that. I called him Tiny because he was my newt.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

On what would have been his 100th birthday, here’s a reminder of the imagination, positivity and insightfulness of local legend George Evans. Writing a decade ago, here’s how he imagined his home town would look today. @DrPaulEvans1 @LoveWellington1

[Wellington H2A @WellingtonH2A]

In 2013 we asked the late George Evans, then 90, to imagine Wellington on his 100th birthday - today. He wasn’t far off the mark. The Clifton gave rise to @WellingtonOrbit, @WellingtonMrkt is resurgent & the high street buzzing. We just need that museum... https://t.co/4izYyCM3pN

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

Many @ggharingey hands made light work of this last night… what a team! For years we’ve been looking at this patch of grass thinking we should recreate the flower bed it used to be, now we have.

[Chapmans Green @chapmans_green]

A huge thank you to @ggharingey for their work last night - they began with a half-dug bed full of weeds & 1 hour later had weeded, dug out the other half and planted with 50x lavender & 50 geraniums (courtesy of @haringeycouncil). All in time for our Summer Fair on 9 July!

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@soapachu We’ll we’re your neighbours and we love it. I ran some workshops before Christmas for #Haringey Council asking people how they pictured the future of Wood Green, and ‘more colourful’ was one of the things people said over and over. So this is bang on.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@ACJSissons Yes, the findings are striking as in other times & places these are not the answers you’d get - but I agree that I’d want to see what happens when you explore the costs: everybody gets X guaranteed but tax goes up by Y (and spend on these others things gets deprioritised).

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

Great thread on house-building targets. We a) keep failing to hit annual govt target by 100,000+; b) the target itself is arguably too low to meet natural growth in households & c) the target would in fact need to DOUBLE to give us same no. of homes per cap as comparator nations.

[Paul Smith @Paul_SLG]

How many new homes do we really need? 🏘️

The proposed changes to the NPPF have prompted lots of debate about their impact on meeting the government’s target of 300,000 new homes per year.

And is that even the right number in the first place?

A thread 🧵, with graphs. 📊 🥰

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@pete62jackson @telfordlive Good to see you, Pete!

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@CarolynHealy @WellingtonOrbit I was taking a tour yesterday - it’s such an exciting project, and in a super-accessible location. I get to see a lot of amazing community-led projects in my work, but to start from scratch - no money, no building, no organisation - and to create what they have is pretty rare.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@timbidey Not so central but 5 mins walk from Wood Green tube is @chapmans_green pavilion… if you wanted to check it out I can put you in touch with the charity that occupies the space.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@JonFraserKing @amberleybooks @DarwinDay_NCSE @BuildingsNEH @WellingtonH2A @shrewsmuseum @OriginalShrews @ShrewslibraryUK @ShrewsburyTC Congratulations! Great way to start the year, Jon.

[Rob Francis @ThinkingRob]

@annaghartley @MyWakefield That’s very kind, thanks Anna. A bunch of us are excited about continuing to work together as a network, including @sketch_skye & @LucySomerset from our Wakefield team. Watch this space! #BetterDecisionsTogether