Tag Archives: nick da costa

Why is Autumn Conference always in Brighton or Bournemouth?

I sat on the Federal Conference Committee (FCC) for several years – which I thoroughly enjoyed – and like most newbies I asked questions about the venues we used. Why do we seem to rotate the Autumn Conference between two towns on the south coast? What about other places further north with good Conference facilities? The reasons soon became apparent.

FCC does look at as many potential Conference venues as possible, and in the end it comes down to two things – facilities and cost.

Nick da Costa is the current Chair of FCC and he is regularly asked the same questions by members, so he has published a paper that breaks down the issues in some details. You can read it here.  It is rather long, and includes some useful tables and charts, but here are some extracts:

The Conference Office and FCC regularly review future venues; this is an iterative process, and we regularly review over 40 venues in relation to costs, suitability and availability. We have looked at venues in Scotland, Wales and in England, and continually try to identify new opportunities.

In many cases, unfortunately, the venues are simply either far too expensive for our budget, or are simply not suitable for our requirements.

For example –

  • Lack sufficient accessible fringe space 
  • Lack a suitable conference hotel within easy reach of the main conference venue
  • Have insufficient back of house space for the many staff and volunteers who make Conference happen and contribute to its success
  • Too expensive
  • Unsatisfactory transport links

The document goes on to list the requirements in more detail.

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 7 Comments

And the new chair of Federal Conference Committee is…..

… Cllr Nick Da Costa.

Nick was one of the Committee’s Vice-Chairs and is also a Councillor in Haringey.

In a post on Facebook, he said:

I am delighted to have been elected as Chair of the Federal Conference Committee taking over from the brilliant Geoff Payne who stood down as Chair at the end of May.

Firstly, a massive thanks to Geoff for his hard work for this party as member, Vice Chair and then Chair of the Federal Conference Committee. He has always championed the importance and sovereignty of Conference in our party and will be sorely missed as he moves onto his next exciting work.

My previous position as Vice Chair of FCC will be filled at the next meeting of the Federal Conference Committee on 11th July, which will also be the agenda setting meeting for Autumn Conference.

Posted in News and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged | 1 Comment

A changing of the guard at Federal Conference Committee

Geoff Payne has been elected as the new Chair of Federal Conference Committee (FCC). Geoff served as Vice-Chair of the committee for eight years and was responsible for chairs’ training, access arrangements and the initial selection of venues and setting of registration rates. He was also a long-standing member of the Federal Policy Committee.

The election for chair followed the decision of long-serving former chair, Andrew Wiseman, to step down. Andrew was a highly popular chair of FCC and steered party conference through a period of great change including the coalition years. Everyone on FCC has paid tribute to …

Posted in Conference and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , and | 10 Comments
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