Craig is Chief Executive of North Ayrshire Council and the SOLACE Scotland Lead for Climate Change. A building surveyor by professional background, managing a wide and varied range of services during a career of over 30 years in local government delivering real change that places service users and communities at the heart of provision.

Leading sustainable change in Environmental Services in areas such as waste management significantly increasing the amount of waste recycled and re-used whilst removing disposal to landfill was one of many early actions in addressing the climate agenda locally along with supporting the development of national schemes including the Scottish Household Recycling Charter and Deposit Return Scheme.

The development of the Council’s first Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Strategy in 2014 is a notable achievement. Now in its third iteration the strategy and its successors has helped the Council reduce its emissions by 45%, the development of renewable energy initiatives and support the work to reduce fuel poverty.

Craig is committed to delivering services that challenge the current way of thinking to deliver improved outcomes for residents, communities and businesses. Effective partnership working and co-design taking a whole systems approach is critical to putting in place sustainable solutions that address route causes.

A key new approach is Community Wealth Building, which also applies a climate change perspective as a key pillar, that seeks to develop a new economic model that is resilient and inclusive so that everyone benefits from economic growth and investment in the area.