Community builder. Political campaigner. Energy specialist. Change leader.

CLICK HERE FOR MY RUSHCLIFFE CAMPAIGN

Arguably most significantly, I led the bottom-up campaign to bring the UK’s first fusion energy plant to 2.5 miles away from my front door. This is because I am a passionate and bold advocate for change. Not for change’s sake but for the benefit of the people I work with, the customers I serve and the communities that I represent.

I want to make sure that everybody has the same opportunities in life, no matter where they come from, how well educated they are or what they believe. This drives me to seek new opportunities for underrepresented, overlooked groups of society.

I hope that this website gives you a flavour of what I do and how I go about it. Please get in touch if you have any questions or need help with something.

Contact me

Hi, I’m James. I have lots of passions and spend most of my life channelling my time and energy into three of them - representing and investing in my local community as a councillor and business owner; leading my wider community as a Council Leader and board member for various organisations; and as an energy industry professional, helping to lead some of the most complex programmes facing the utilities sector.

The relentless pursuit of progress isn’t easy but I believe that I have a track record which shows that change is possible.

I was part of a team that introduced contactless payment technology for mobile phones, for example. I helped design new public service malls in Albania to reduce corruption. I led a piece of work to set-up a new water company in preparation for deregulation.

Where I focus my time

Community builder

Community has always been a key part of my life, having been brought into the world as the youngest of triplets! I am fundamentally driven by a desire to translate hard work into meaningful outcomes for the teams I work with or the communities that I live in and represent. This includes preparing as best we can for the challenges of the future such as climate change, flooding and the rapid growth of technology in the workplace. By working together and planning ahead, we can make sure that our future communities are valued, productive and sustainable.

Political campaigner

From leading rent protests at university to chairing neighbourhood planning groups and fighting to bring fusion energy to Nottinghamshire, I have always been prepared to help others by leading from the front. As a local councillor and a Council Leader, I use my professional skills and background to help shape policy and decisions that support the community. This has included producing Vision 2040 which outlines how Bassetlaw, my home district, can build on its legacy of energy production, manufacturing and logistics to power the net zero economy.

Energy specialist

My day job - leading large transformation programmes in the energy industry - is in an industry that I am passionate about. For the past few years, I have been working at SSE where I’ve led programmes to, among other things, deliver faster switching for consumers and to roll-out smart meters to business customers. I have also helped the distribution network operator Northern Powergrid produce its business plan for 2023-28, leading a £3m stakeholder engagement programme to shape its decarbonisation and community energy approach. The energy industry is where my public and private sector experiences overlap, meaning I can facilitate future investment discussions with insight, knowledge and genuine experience.

Small business owner

Growing up on a farm means that the workings and challenges of running a small business are well-known to me. At the same time as leading projects for well-known brands in retail banking (TSB, Lloyds, Barclaycard), utilities (SSE, Thames Water) and the public sector (Derbyshire County Council, the government of Albania), I have used these experiences to lead and support smaller enterprises. This has included diversifying the farm where I grew up and helping my brother to franchise his auction business. Whether working for a FTSE100 leader or providing funding support to a micro enterprise, I understand the challenges facing today’s entrepreneurs. I am on the side of small businesses in the day-to-day challenges of post-Brexit trading.

About me