President update: 21st June
It’s certainly a really busy start to summer for ADEPT. One of my first events as ADEPT President was chairing a Building Back Better session at last week’s Traffex conference. Immediate Past President, Nigel Riglar, spoke at the Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge session at the LGC Climate Change conference, also last week. Sue Halliwell will be representing ADEPT and the Blueprint coalition during London Climate Action Week, joining a panel debate on taking a place-based approach to net zero (click here to register).
The Waste Working Group, has been working hard to develop and submit the ADEPT response to three recent Government waste consultations. Click on the links for our submissions: ADEPT response to the Consultation on the Waste Prevention Programme for England, Consultation on Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging - ADEPT response and Deposit Return Scheme Consultation June 2021 - ADEPT response. The Group is currently working on a fourth Defra consultation submission, and the one with the most potential impact for local authorities, the Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England, which closes on the 4th July.
We’ve also been fortunate to have been called to give evidence to two select committees. David Sutherland spoke on ADEPT’s behalf for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee evidence session for the Tree Planting and Woodland inquiry. You can watch the session here. Polly Cook will be appearing before the HCLG inquiry in Local Government and the Path to Net Zero at 4pm on Monday (21 June), which you will be able to watch, here. We were pleased to see that the HCLG select committee report on planning reform reflected many of the points we made in our evidence.
The Rights of Way Group has published the results of its third survey into Public Rights of Way. The impacts of Covid-19 have continued to impact on rights of way teams through the public’s greater usage of the network and a backlog of maintenance needs. Although more people discovering the health and wellbeing benefits of our footpaths and bridleways is most welcome, we need greater funding certainty to ensure their safety and upkeep. You can find the accompanying press release here.
I’m pleased to be able to announce that Amey has agreed to sponsor the Excellence in Place Leadership programme for another year. The programme is aimed at our radical thinkers and seeks to develop new approaches and disrupt our tendency to rely on business as usual, encouraging innovation and forward thinking. The theme for this year’s cohort has been how we build back better and you can find more information, blogs about the programme, supporting documents and toolkits here.
The Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) Live Labs team welcomed Transport Minister, Rachel Maclean last week. I’m pleased to say the Minister was impressed with their Network Resilience Live Lab, which aims to manage congestion, understand travel behaviour and deliver personalised travel planning in the area, using video technology. The latest Live Labs blog comes from Suffolk, who have been working with Canadian firm, Liveable Cities. The company has provided microsensors as part of their smart sensors trial. Find out more here.
I know that many of you were disappointed in the technical difficulties that disrupted the networking sessions at the Spring Seminar. Although we were all really frustrated on the day, it was good to know that so many of you wanted to participate. As a result, we have set up four concurrent Lunch and Learn sessions on 24th June running between 12:00 -12:45. You will need to select which session you would like to attend. All conference delegates, and the wider membership, will have received an email – if you can’t find it, please just email Helen on [email protected].
Finally, look out for an email about our next webinar with CIPFA on renewable energy and investment. We will be publishing details shortly.
As you know, with the delay in lifting the final lockdown restrictions due to increasing numbers of infections, Covid-19 is still very much with us. Keep checking our COVID-19 updates page for news, but also, the ADEPT website, for a whole range of updates and documents that we publish regularly to support members.