Robin joined Calderdale Council in January 2010 as Director for Communities. He manages a wide range of functions including neighbourhood services, community engagement, streetscene, customer services and communications, culture, sport and leisure. He has supported the Council to become at the leading edge of the communities and localism agenda, and is leading the restoration and redevelopment of the Piece Hall in Halifax, which has just successfully secured £7m of Heritage Lottery funding.

Prior to this he worked for six years for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. During that time, Robin instigated the borough’s pioneering work on gang intervention and Waltham Forest was awarded Beacon status for Cohesive and Resilient Communities. Robin began his career in the voluntary sector, subsequently working in the Probation Service and at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. He has master’s degrees in social work and management. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, member of the Editorial Board of the Probation Journal and a school governor for Todmorden High School.

Robin has written widely on how public services can work effectively with communities, and has edited a pamphlet for SOLACE on the role of local government http://bit.ly/haoEl6. Robin is a keen advocate of the use of social media and tweets at http://twitter.com/robintuddenham