Dame Sally Ann Powell, DBE (née Vickers; born 2 October 1955) is a local councillor in Great Britain for the Labour Party, and was previously deputy leader of the

Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. Its core membership is made up of 339 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh Local Government Association. The LGA is p ...

's Labour Group.

Career

Sally Ann Vickers was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and educated at the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

; she became a dancer with the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. She later attended

Southampton University , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, where she obtained a law degree in 1984, and qualified as a solicitor. In 1986 she was elected as a councillor in

Hammersmith and Fulham The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...

and swiftly became chair of the Environment Committee."Who's Who in Local Government", LGC Publications, 1997, p. 191. The reorganisation of leadership roles in local government changed her job title but she remained responsible for regeneration in the borough until Labour lost power in 2006. Her primary prominence has been in associations representing groups of local authorities. She was Vice Chair of the

Association of London Government London Councils is the local government association for Greater London, England. It is a cross-party organisation that represents London's 32 borough councils and the City of London. It was formed in 1995 as a merger of the London Boroughs As ...

from 1996, and was a member of the

London Development Agency The London Development Agency (LDA) was from July 2000 until 2012 the regional development agency for the London region in England. A functional body of the Greater London Authority, its purpose was to drive sustainable economic growth within ...

, Chair of Greater London Enterprise, Deputy Chair of Business Link for London and Vice Chair of the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA). She became one of the UK's representatives on the Committee of the Regions in 1994. In the New Year Honours list of 2001 she was awarded a Damehood for services to London and to local government. Powell, as Deputy Leader of the Labour Group on the Local Government Association, was one of two councillor representatives on the Labour Party's National Executive Committee until she retired in 2008.

Personal life

Powell is married to

Iain Coleman Iain Coleman (born 18 January 1958) was the Labour Member of Parliament for Hammersmith and Fulham in London from 1997 to 2005. He was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for Shepherd's Bush Green ward in Ma ...

, former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

; they have one son."Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1998", p. 559.

References

1955 births Living people Councillors in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) councillors Politicians from Bristol Women councillors in England {{UK-politician-stub