President update 3rd June - latest news from ADEPT
Hello everyone! I’m thrilled to share my very first update as the new President of ADEPT.
The ADEPT Spring Conference and President Awards Dinner on 16th of May gave us all a chance to recognise and celebrate the work of partners across the country. I received a warm welcome as Anthony Payne handed over the Presidential chain of office and I was delighted to see and talk to so many partners and colleagues. I had a great day and evening, hope you did too if you were there.
A big thank you to everyone who attended. It was a fantastic day full of thought provoking speakers and we presented trophies to some truly innovative and inspiring projects. If you couldn’t make it but want to know more about the winners and highly commended projects, including the President’s Special Recognition Award, you can find all the details here.
We are also planning a lunchtime webinar on Wednesday 19th June to showcase all of our brilliant winning and highly commended entries, which I very much hope you can attend.
The year ahead
The theme of the conference was resilience in our places and this will be my guiding focus as ADEPT president.
My priorities for the year will include building resilience across place services in what and how we deliver, developing resilient organisations against a backdrop of changing local government landscape and ensuring resilience for ourselves and our people. You can find out more about my priorities here.
I’ve been out and about already, taking part in a panel discussion on how to recruit young people into the highways sector at Traffex and looking forward to speaking at the NCE Roads Conference later this week.
And finally – it would be remiss of me not to mention the announcement of a general election being called for 4th July. ADEPT published its Manifesto for Stronger Places last autumn, and we’re developing a strategy that will help us to engage with the new government, and Westminster more effectively to ensure the needs of our sector are understood by those in places of influence.
Commuted Sums Guidance and Digital Connectivity Policy Position published
At the Spring Conference, we launched two important new documents, our Commuted Sums Guidance and our updated Policy Position on Digital Connectivity. Please take a moment to read and share them with colleagues and partners.
Live Labs 2 - Mini Expo
April’s Live Labs 2 Expo event was so popular that we decided to host an online Mini Expo to give more people a chance to access the content from the main event. You can find all the vital resources from the Mini Expo here and explore the brilliant illustration created as part of the Live Labs 2 Expo.
Autumn Conference – save the date
Please save the date for the ADEPT Autumn Conference, which will be held on the 21st and 22nd of November in Bristol. Registration and booking will be available soon, so please do watch this space and check the events page of the ADEPT website regularly for updates. We look forward to seeing you there.
You can find out more about ADEPT’s latest news, publications and the work of our boards and groups on the website: www.adeptnet.org.uk
