New LLG president pledges support for MOs amid local government reorganisation

In her first speech as president, she said her presidency would focus on three priorities: consolidating the Association of Monitoring Officers (AMO), supporting monitoring officers through political change and local government reorganisation, and strengthening the profession while developing future leaders.

Bradley, who was previously LLG’s Vice President, was appointed through automatic succession during the membership body’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday (29 April).

She is currently Director of Legal & Democratic Services at Durham County Council, where she has worked for eight years. She has previously worked at Coventry City Council, Oxford City Council and Hull City Council.

Speaking during the meeting, Bradley said she was taking on the position “at a time of significant flux” for the sector, with local government experiencing “structural, institutional and constitutional change”.

On AMO, which launched in December last year, Bradley said her focus would be “not on expansion for its own sake, but on ensuring AMO is confident in its purpose, clear in its offer, and well connected across the profession”.

This work would include supporting “consistent professional standards, effective peer networks, and safe spaces for reflection and judgement,” she noted.

She also highlighted the forthcoming revised standards framework, stating that it “represents a collective articulation of what good looks like in modern local governance”.

“These principles support members and officers alike to navigate difficult decisions with clarity and integrity. Our role as lawyers and governance professionals is to use that framework as a reference point: steady, proportionate, and enabling.”

Turning to local government reorganisation and wider governance reform, Bradley said monitoring officers and deputy monitoring officers were operating in environments shaped by elections, leadership transitions, combined authority arrangements and structural change.

She said reforms raised governance questions, including around “the future shape of accountability arrangements in areas such as policing”.

“These are not political issues; they are questions of governance design, legal clarity and institutional resilience,” she said.

“As reforms evolve, whether through LGR, devolution or changes to existing oversight structures, our role is to ensure that scrutiny, standards, decision-making and legal accountability are clearly understood and properly supported.

“Particularly where boundaries do not align neatly between local authorities, combined authorities and police force areas, it is essential that governance arrangements are lawful, coherent and workable in practice.”
Bradley added that support for monitoring officers and deputy monitoring officers during periods of change “must be practical and empathetic”.

“We must recognise the pressure that comes with heightened scrutiny, acknowledge the strain of ambiguity during transition, and reinforce the professional judgement required where statutory roles sit at the intersection of law, governance and democracy,” she said.

On her third priority - strengthening the profession and supporting future leaders - Bradley said she wanted to continue building on LLG’s National Lead model, which helps provides specialist guidance across a range of practice areas.

She added that she wanted every region to have “clear, subject-specific leadership, so that specialist expertise is visible, accessible and nurtured”.

Bradley also said the profession needed to create opportunities for “exposure, confidence-building and professional growth” without assuming “a single pathway or a narrow definition of leadership”.

In his outgoing presidential address, Paul Turner reflected on what he described as a “privilege” to serve as president of Lawyers in Local Government over the past year, paying tribute to colleagues, staff and the wider presidential team.

Turner highlighted the launch of the AMO as the “clear highlight” of his presidency, describing it as the result of significant work by both LLG staff and the AMO shadow committee. He said the organisation had already begun providing valuable support to monitoring officers through initiatives such as its helpline service.

He also addressed local government reorganisation, noting the uncertainty it was creating for lawyers working in two-tier areas, and said LLG was considering how best to support members through the changes.

Turner concluded by encouraging greater member involvement in LLG, pointing to strong engagement in this year’s deputy vice president election as evidence of the organisation’s growing importance within the sector.

Adam Carey