LGA media office

The Local Government Association (LGA) runs the national press office for local government, whose purpose is to build and enhance the reputation of local government nationally, by generating positive stories and rebutting negative ones in the national media.

We provide a daily news headline service for member authorities to keep you up to date with all the national stories that affect local government.

We work closely with councils, who provide case studies to illustrate positive stories and liaise with us to counter negative coverage. The LGA media team uses its network of contacts in the national media to ensure that local government has a voice on the important issues of the day, to win over public opinion and to influence decision makers.

Working in partnership with LG Communications we have evaluated our Reputation Campaign which was first launched five years ago and has helped councils improve their reputation. A new toolkit for councils is available. We keep in touch with council communications teams through Commsnet.

The LGA central media office number is 020 7664 3333. We operate an out of hours press inquiry service for the media.

Matt Nicholls (Group News and Media Manager)
LGA corporate affairs
matt.nicholls@local.gov.uk 
0207 664 3225

Lynne Morris (Interim Deputy Group News and Media Manager)
Children and young people (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday)
lynne.morris@local.gov.uk
0207 664 3282

Cherie Willers (Senior Media Relations Officer)
Community Wellbeing, Children and young people (Mondays and Tuesdays)
cherie.willers@local.gov.uk
0207 664 3120

Mike Morgan-Giles (Senior Media Relations Officer)
Improvement, leadership, productivity, housing and planning, localism, European and International
mike.morgan-giles@local.gov.uk
0207 664 3248

Ben Knowles (Interim Senior Media Relations Officer)
Transport, culture, tourism and sport
ben.knowles@local.gov.uk
0207 664 3252

Dale Atkinson (Interim Senior Media Relations Officer)
Finance, workforce
dale.atkinson@local.gov.uk
0207 664 3283

Simon Ward (Media Relations Officer)
Environment, Safer Communities, Fire, Local Government Challenge
simon.ward@local.gov.uk
0207 664 3147