Abigail Melville

Senior Consultant

Abigail joined Apex in May 2008. She has 20 years experience in politics, public affairs and public sector management with a particular expertise in local government and local public services.

She was the Labour’s Party Head of Local Government between 1994 and 1998 where she was responsible for political relationships, campaigning and policy development. During this time she helped found and served on the board of the New Local Government Network (NLGN).

She has also worked as Director of NLGN’s Innovation Forum of leading local authorities. She has worked in Parliament as a front bench opposition researcher for Ann Taylor MP on water privatisation and environment issues. She was a Labour Party policy officer from 1988 helping develop policies for local government modernisation.

She has public affairs experience with LLM communications where she developed stakeholder influencing strategies for the Local Government Association, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, Northumbria NHS Trust and the National Housebuiding Council. She was a local councillor on the London Borough of Lambeth from 1998 to 2002. From 1999, she was Assistant Director for knowledge and innovation at the national Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government.

Abigail also led on the Radical Middle Way Evaluation Project in 2007 and 2008, which involved working to satisfy criteria set out by Government for the funding of projects.