National Traffic Managers' Conference 2024 - speakers

Amy Harhoff, Chair of ADEPT Transport & Connectivity Board / Corporate Director of Regeneration, Economy and Growth, Durham County Council

Conference Chair

Amy is Corporate Director of Regeneration Economy and Growth for Durham County Council, one of the largest local authorities in the UK.  

She has previously held senior roles in local government in two large metropolitan authorities in the West Midlands and South Yorkshire. Amy is committed to delivering outcomes for communities and our potential for real inclusive economies. She has also held senior combined authority roles including, Transport for the North, South Yorkshire MCA and Transport for Greater Manchester. Amy is responsible for a wide range of council front line business and community services and broad portfolio of regeneration themes, including transport, leisure, culture, corporate property, planning, commercial investment and housing as well as regional devolution.

Anthony Ferguson, Deputy Director Traffic & Technology, Department for Transport

Speaker

Anthony is a Deputy Director in the Department for Transport in charge of Traffic & Technology. This role encompasses traditional traffic management policy such as traffic signs, street design, streetworks and the Blue Badge scheme. His role also involves exploring the potential for data and emerging technology to improve the safety, efficiency and environmental performance of our road networks. Anthony’s team runs the Street Manager digital service and work on digitalisation of traffic orders. Anthony is also responsible for developing policy on micromobility including the national trials of e-scooters.

Neil Edwards, Traffic Manager, Kent County Council

Session 1 Chair

Neil Edwards is Traffic Manager at Kent County Council. He started with the council as a Streetworks team leader in 2008 and became the authority’s Traffic Manager in 2018. In this key role, Neil looks after a variety of the council’s vital highway network functions to support Kent County Council’s Network Management Duty and wider council policy and objectives. Neil is the chair of the South East Regional Traffic Managers Forum. He is an avid cricket fan and member of Kent County Cricket Club.

Rob Shoebridge, Group Manager, Derby City Council

Session 1 speaker

Rob Shoebridge joined Derby City Council in 2006 when Civil Parking Enforcement was introduced. Prior to working for the council, Rob worked for Derbyshire Constabulary in the police prosecutions team within the Crown Court Support Unit, latterly managing the Central Summons Unit handling offences dealt with under the summons procedure.

Rob prides himself on innovation and marginal gains. He challenges his team to push for those 1% improvements and openly encourages challenges to working practices to keep ideas fresh.

Ryan Hood, Digital Highways Leader, Arup

Session 1 speaker

Ryan is Digital Highways Leader at Arup, responsible for the application of digital, data, and technology solutions to improve outcomes in the highways domain. He is immediate past chair and current board director of ITS UK. Day to day he leads Arup’s Digital Highways Global Steering Group, represents Arup’s position in the National Highways Digital Lab. Ryan is also Project Director for Arup’s work supporting the Department for Transport on Integrated Network Management Digital Twins, and overseas a number of potentially transformative investments including ‘Digitally Optimising the Performance of the Road Network’ – an investment that seeks to builds on Arup’s pioneering work in the US on Integrated Corridor Management and AI-based Incident Management Decision Support System around Washington DC. He has two Masters Degrees, in Physics and RF Communications.

Paul Garrod, Traffic & Network Manager, Bath & North East Somerset Council

Session 2 Chair

Paul is Traffic & Network Manager at Bath & North East Somerset Council where he’s responsible for a number of teams that keep the road network running and deliver traffic, safety and traffic signals projects. He’s had previous roles at Highways England and Hampshire County Council in more than 20 years working in highways and transportation.

Much of the work Paul has been involved in has included reallocating road space such as cycle schemes, low traffic neighbourhoods, pedestrian zones and residents’ parking schemes. He chairs the ADEPT South West Traffic Managers Forum and very much believes in sharing knowledge, experience and learning from others.

Shamala Gadgil, CVLR Programme Delivery Manager and EV Infrastructure Programme Senior Engineer, Coventry City Council

Session 2 Speaker

Shamala is a 5th-year part-time PGR within the Research Institute for Clean Growth and Future Mobility at Coventry University and is also an experienced Senior Civil Engineer and Programme/Project Manager in designing and implementing challenging, complex and wide-ranging infrastructure projects. Her experience includes innovation projects within the decarbonising transport platform, Local Transport Plans (including network efficiency projects and waste management projects) traffic management, general roadworks, and regeneration, public realm, and urban environment projects.

Hannah Battye, Head of Placemaking, Oxfordshire County Council

Session 2 Speaker

Hannah Battye is the Head of Placemaking at Oxfordshire County Council, where she spearheads transformative initiatives aimed at reshaping central Oxfordshire. Her team is responsible for delivering ambitious plans such as traffic filters, zero-emission zones, and a workplace parking levy to improve the area’s sustainability and liveability.

With over 20 years of experience in local government, Hannah has built a distinguished career in transport, planning, and environmental sectors. A key figure in securing vital government funding, she played a pivotal role in obtaining Oxfordshire’s £500 million Housing Infrastructure Funding. Currently, Hannah is leading the Placemaking agenda across Oxfordshire, revolutionizing service delivery and coordination within the Council. She is a strong advocate for enhanced community engagement and co-production, driving positive change through collaboration.

Mike Potter, Head of Customer Success, AppyWay

Session 2 speaker

Mike Potter, Head of Customer Success at AppyWay, brings over a decade of local highway authority experience to his role. His expertise in Traffic Order processes proved instrumental in implementing innovative map-based solutions for local authorities. Mike played a crucial part in the network operations team managing traffic and parking for the London 2012 Olympic sailing events in Weymouth. With his unique blend of public sector insight and tech-forward thinking, Mike advocates for data standardisation to unlock the potential of rich local authority data in shaping the future of highway services including the continued emergence of Kerbside Management. Mike is a keen advocate for ensuring D-TROs are used to their full potential, becoming a crucial part of Kerbside and Network Management now and into the future.

Hannah Winstanley, General Manager and Country Lead UK, Brightly 

Session 3 Chair

Bringing over 19 years’ of dynamic leadership experience, Hannah has consistently driven teams to deliver exceptional outcomes for clients, enhancing their operational efficiency and intelligence. With a rich professional journey spanning diverse locations including South Africa, Canada, Australia, and Europe, Hannah has fostered long lasting relationships with clients and partners such as National Highways, Hampshire County Council, Jacobs and Amey, culminating in unparalleled levels of customer satisfaction and retention. Embracing innovation, technology, sustainability, and diversity, Hannah has championed change across the public sector. 

Dr Shaun Helman, Chief Scientist for Behavioural Sciences, TRL Ltd

Session 3 panellist

Shaun is a Chartered Psychologist with a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Reading, and a BSc. in psychology from the University of York. He has over two and a half decades’ experience working in transport behaviour, human factors, evaluation science, behaviour change, and road safety in particular. Much of Shaun’s work at TRL involves using evidence-based evaluation to ensure that clients are getting the best value from their investments in new technologies, training and education interventions, and working practices. His research has focused largely on the safety improvements that can be realised for high-risk groups such as newly qualified drivers, motorcyclists, and those driving for work.

Suzy Charman, Executive Director, Road Safety Foundation 

Session 3 Panellist

Suzy is the Executive Director for the Road Safety Foundation (RSF) and is a leading expert on the Safe System with just under 20 years of experience. Before joining RSF, Suzy was head of international road safety at TRL, and before that she was responsible for overseeing the establishment of the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP). The RSF is the United Kingdom Road Assessment Programme lead, providing coordination and leadership of the programme that brings together work for National Highways, Welsh Government, Department for Transport and many local authorities. RSF provides training and tools helping road authorities to unpack the realities of trying to implement a safe system. Suzy is a Trustee for the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund and a judge for several road safety awards including the prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards.

Steve Gooding, CB FCILT FCIHT, Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England / Director, RAC Foundation

Session 3 Panellist

Steve is Director of the RAC Foundation, an independent motoring research charity. Foundation output has covered many aspects of motoring policy, urban mobility, transport technology, and highway management, including work relating to road condition such as the Foundation’s annual bridge survey.

Before taking over at the Foundation in 2015 Steve enjoyed a long civil service career, joining in 1983 after graduating from Durham University, and moving to the Transport Department in 1987. After spells at the Office of the Rail Regulator and the Cabinet Office, he was DfT’s Roads Director from 2004 and then Director General for Roads, Traffic & Local Transport from 2009-2015.

Steve is a past President of CILT UK, a member of the Highways Sector Council, and a regular columnist in Highways magazine.

Sonia Hansen, Traffic Manager, Cambridgeshire County Council

Session 4 Chair

Sonia Hansen is the Traffic Manager at Cambridgeshire County Council having been at the council since 2015. Sonia chairs the East of England Regional Traffic Managers Forum. Previous roles include Streetscene Manager at Huntingdonshire District Council. Sonia is a keen sailor in her spare time.

Giles Perkins, Live Labs 2 Programme Director

Session 4 Speaker

Giles Perkins is the Programme Director for Live Labs and the Head of Profession for Future Mobility at the consultancy WSP in the UK. He has over 33 years’ experience in mobility / transportation planning and intelligent transport. Giles has worked in the public and private sectors as senior client / director level consultant and have led major projects and research across all modes. He has a detailed understanding of the strategic needs and opportunities surrounding the mobility / transport challenges that face our networks, regions, towns, communities and cities.

Karl Rourke, Service Manager, East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Session 4 Speaker

As Service Manager for East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Street Lighting, Traffic Signals and CCTV department Karl is responsible for an overall revenue, capital and energy budget of £6m.

Karl joined the East Riding of Yorkshire Council as Street Lighting Engineer 14 years ago and has been Service Manager for 3 years. In that time he has overseen a £12m column replacement programme, £10m energy reduction investment and energy reduction of 17m units.

Karl is Project Manager for the Live Labs 2 project, Decarbonising the Highway, looking at decarbonising and rationalising street lighting and lit sign provision.