President update 1st September - latest news from ADEPT
Welcome back! Most of us will have had our summer breaks and as we wait to find out who will be the next Prime Minister, we are all concerned with how we can support our communities through the coming energy crisis, while being impacted by many of the same issues ourselves.
Many bus services are in crisis, with passenger numbers never having returned to pre-pandemic levels and leaving some councils contemplating a wholesale switch to demand responsive transport. Please see below for details of the extended Contingency Bus Recovery Funding. For many of us, changes in how our communities live and work, with more online shopping and working from home, have impacted on parking revenues compounding the impacts of inflationary pressures.
There are details below about an important survey we are running for DfT about issues in our local highways sector, but be certain that ADEPT will be raising with new government ministers the problems faced by place and the programmes under threat from inflationary and budgetary pressures. We have already worked with the LGA to highlight acute pressures on street lighting and pothole repairs for local transport authorities, which has gained substantial media coverage. Read the press release here.
Live Labs 2
Just a reminder, Live Labs 2 is open for applications until 12:00 Friday 30th September. To support applications and organisations seeking partnerships, we have opened a new Live Labs 2 forum which you can sign up to from the webpage. All the information you need is in the ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonisation of Local Roads in the UK prospectus. For more information, please email [email protected]. You can also read the press release.
ADEPT working with government
I hope you have all seen the ADEPT survey in your inboxes. We are running the survey on behalf of DfT and are seeking information on inflation, supply chain issues and labour shortages. The closing date for this survey is 9th September, but it will be issued on a regular basis. Given the combined impacts of inflation, energy and the cost of living crises for local authorities, we hope you will be able to take the time out to provide this vital information and ensure government understands the severe challenges we face. We’ve also collecting evidence on the impacts of inflation on the delivery of waste services via the Waste Working Group to share with Defra.
Publications
There is new guidance for applicants, setting out the criteria and eligibility for Contingency Bus Recovery Funding. DfT retained an element of this funding to enable Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) to support commercial operators in their regions for specific and limited interventions. Operators can only access this funding through their LTA.
Events & other news
ADEPT’s 4th National Traffic Managers conference will be held in The Eastside Rooms, Birmingham on 20thOctober. The main focus this year is on the skills gap, how the education sector is preparing the next generation of traffic managers and how to increase diversity in leadership. The conference, which is supported by DfT, is free to attend thanks to sponsors Gramm Barrier Systems, One.Network, the RSMA and StarTraq. Book your place and download the draft programme.
Our Climate Change blog this month is a roundup of our Last Lunch and Learn session, hosted by WSP. Clean growth is a term that has gone quiet recently, but Bradford City Council with WSP and the UK Business Council for Sustainable Development have been undertaking pioneering work into how to embed clean growth principles in council-wide decision making.
The next Lunch and Learn session, hosted by Amey, features our own Excellence in Place Leadership Programme who this year have focused on local leadership and levelling up. Register here for Levelling Up Challenge – transforming the tensions between productivity, prosperity and people across the UK on Friday 23rd September, 12pm-12.45pm.
And of course, it’s time to book your place for ADEPT’s Autumn conference, Place Leadership in a Perfect Storm, which this year will be held in the Hilton Leeds City Hotel on 17th and 18th November. Built on my presidential themes of People, Place and Planet, the conference will explore the ever more acute challenges facing place leadership in a perfect storm of cost of living and energy crises, inflation and ongoing post-covid recovery. Find out more by downloading the draft programme. Confirmed speakers include Lord Deben, Chair of the Climate Change Committee and Lord Kerslake, former head of the civil service.
As ever you can find out more about ADEPT’s latest news, publications and the work of our boards and groups on the website: https://www.adeptnet.org.uk.
Author