Lana Hempsall is an Entrepreneur, Business Coach, Conservative Activist, Author, and Podcaster. She has held elected office since 2011 and is a member of the Norfolk County Council Cabinet with responsibility for Highways, Infrastructure and Transport.
Lana is the National Discussion Lead for Transport at the Conservative Policy Forum and Chairman of Active Travel Member Group for Transport East.
Education
Lana studied Physiotherapy at Manchester University
Business
In 2010 Lana was the co-founder and COO of Energy Market Analysis Ltd, a company she established with her husband, Miles, to provide global business growth for established energy consultancies. In 2020 Lana transferred her skills to provide business coaching in the creative arts sector.
Politics
Lana has been a Conservative Councillor since 2011 when she won Acle Ward on the toss of the coin. Lana has served as a District Councillor, a member of the Broads Authority and is now Deputy Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Transport at Norfolk County Council. Lana was appointed as an LGA peer in 2022 and is the Chairman of the Active Travel member group for Transport East.
Lana stood as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in Denton and Reddish in 2015 and Norwich South in 2017.
Lana is the National Discussion Lead for the Conservative Policy Forum.
Lana is an active campaigner for the Conservative Party. She has been involved in politics since she was eighteen studying constitutional law at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.
Community and Charity Work
Lana became an Official Speaker for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in 2000 when she was matched with her first guide dog, Sarge. Since then, Lana has held key roles in the charity at a local level and most recently coordinated the Norwich Guide Dog Forums during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Lana hosted an award-winning Facebook Live cast for the charity, raising awareness of living with sight loss. In October 2023 Lana was a volunteer model in a charity fashion show to support Vision Norfolk, another sight loss charity supporting people in Norfolk.
Lana is an enthusiastic advocate of physical activity and utilised her physiotherapy skills to proactively support First Aid teams during her children’s rugby and hockey matches and became the Youth Fixtures Secretary for North Walsham Rugby Football Club 2013 - 2015. Lana also served as trustee at her local recreation centre in Acle, fundraising for enhanced play equipment provision and sports equipment.
Lana has a passion for modernising transport and promoting active travel. She uses her highway member grant to install EV charging points in hard-to-reach villages that would otherwise not qualify for public funding.
Lana lives near the North Sea coast and loves walking her dogs on the vast sandy beaches and swimming, sometimes with a family of local seals in the refreshing water off Winterton-on-Sea beach.
Podcast and Public Speaking
Lana is the author and presenter of the Sustainable Transport Podcast where she discusses all things sustainable transport and active travel with her guests from the UK and abroad.
Lana is a regular speaker at conferences on the subject of transport and has been a member of expert panels at CPC22, Spring Forum 22, Transforming Cities Conference in Leicester 2023, and Cycle Active in Oxford 2023.
Family Life
Lana is married with three children and lives in Norfolk.