President's Update

This blog page features updates from ADEPT's President, Anthony Payne.

Latest post

President update 2nd April - latest news from ADEPT

Hello! 

As the weather becomes decidedly more spring-like (with hopefully less rain?), I hope this finds you all looking forward to the longer days ahead and enjoying the lighter evenings.

The ADEPT Spring Conference and President Awards Dinner is quickly approaching! The conference offers members a fantastic opportunity to get together, celebrate our achievements and gear up for the challenges ahead. In a general election year where change is on the agenda, but no let-up in the significant pressures we face in sight, we will be returning to the theme of resilience in our places. If you haven’t already booked your place, then please consider doing so. You can find more information on the draft programme and book your place on the conference webpage. 

We’ll also be celebrating the many achievements across our places over the past year at the Annual President's Awards ceremony. There’s still a chance to enter the awards - the deadline is Friday 12th April! Full details on how to submit your entries is available on the ADEPT website. 

News 

Earlier this month, we provided a response to the Spring Statement, emphasising the urgent need for sustained investment in place-based services. We stressed that current budget allocations and investment strategies overlook the critical needs of local authorities, leaving essential services at risk and negatively impacting vulnerable communities in a disproportionate way.

We co-hosted another successful green finance training day with CIPFA, with inspiring case studies from Westminster Council and South Gloucestershire Council. Also, over 100 people attended the webinar on our recently published SEND Transport toolkit (here) including representatives from both place and children’s services.

Carolyn McKenzie, Hannah and I met with the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, Philip Duffy, for a wide-ranging discussion about partnership working, waste reforms, water quality, surface water flooding and planning for good growth. And I am delighted that the Gen Z recruitment campaign pilot is finally underway, with Plymouth Council as one of the five participating councils, the others being South Gloucestershire, Oxford, Barnsley and Hounslow.

Publications

In March, we submitted our response to DfT Street Works Fines and Lane Rental Surplus Funds consultation. We responded to the consultation, which is looking at reforms to street works legislation covering surplus lane rental funds, fixed penalty notices and weekend overruns. We also responded to the WEEE reforms consultation which is considering proposals on reforming the producer responsibility system for waste electrical and electronic equipment. 

We are continuing with our equality, diversity and inclusion campaign, A Place for All, that we are running in partnership with Colas. Each of these stories is being published on ADEPT’s LinkedIn page and on ADEPT’s Workforce page. They offer genuine insights into the experience of each individual, exploring the challenges they’ve faced at work, how they overcame them and changed their workplaces for the better. Each story provides valuable lessons that can be applied to our own organisations - please take some time to read and share these personal stories.

Live Labs 2 Expo

Sold out! We have over 200 people registered to attend which is great news. The event is taking place in just a couple of weeks, on 17th April at Birmingham Conference and Exhibition Centre. It will bring the Live Labs 2 projects together with their commercial and academic partners – it’s a fantastic opportunity to meet the teams, partners, SMEs and academics involved in each trial. Find out more at the Live Labs 2 Expo website.

Blogs

This month’s Climate Change blog comes from David Dale, who gives a progress update on adaptation, focusing on government and local authority engagement, departmental initiatives and events.

We have an extra blog from ADEPT CEO Hannah Bartram, talking about the forthcoming Live Labs 2 Expo event. Hannah talks about the event in detail, discussing some of the key features and explains how it will be relevant to people outside of the highways sector. You can read the blog here.

We also have a project Live Labs 2 blog – this month the spotlight returns to the Devon project, where Beth Lewis, Devon County Council's Principal Engineer - Major Projects, tells us about some forward thinking tree relocation work. It’s a great story and has been picked up by lots of media outlets.

Events

Our next Lunch & Learn hosted by Virgin Media O2 is: ‘Location based video analytics – understanding and managing population behaviour using computer vision’ and will take place on Friday 26th April. The session will give an overview of how VM Virgin Media O2 combined connectivity and video analytics will help Transport for London better manage customer safety and reliability, alongside applications of the technology in other environments. It’s free for ADEPT members, you can register here. For anyone that missed the previous Lunch & Lunch on Using AI to optimise Transport Plan Delivery Plans, the slide deck is available here.

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. 

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More posts

  • President update: 31st March

    This week we begin our path out of lockdown, with people being able to meet up with other households within existing guidelines. With some welcome sunshine and the clocks going forward, there is a sense of relief in the country, albeit with some wariness about how Europe’s third wave might affect the UK.

    Read more >

  • President update: 15th March

    The continued roll out of the vaccine and the drop in numbers of infections and deaths due to Covid-19 continues to be good news in what has been a hard start to 2021. The winter lockdown has been difficult for everyone and although it will be good to see restrictions lift, I think we are all mindful of Professor Chris Whitty’s warning and the continued need to support colleagues in public health.

    Read more >

  • President update: 2nd March

    It has been reassuring to see the Government take a more measured route out of lockdown based on data. Although there is inevitable discussion and disagreement about the approach to schools reopening and concern amongst business and the tourism industry, it is useful to have some degree of certainty on the route forward. All eyes are now on the Budget, where the Chancellor is expected to announce a continuation of support for business, the furlough scheme and other job support schemes, at least in the short term.

    Read more >

  • President update: 17th February

    The success of the NHS vaccine rollout has been most welcome amidst all the grim news, ongoing restrictions and winter weather. Unfortunately. it has also brought with it increased speculation and leaks to media about how we get out of lockdown and how soon - the kind of mixed messaging that helps no-one. So far, all it seems to be is speculation, and the Prime Minister is certainly indicating that by taking it slowly, this could be our last lockdown.

    Read more >

  • President update: 1st February

    I think I can speak for everyone when I say how the recent news about the UK’s COVID-19 deaths have saddened us all. We have all taken a moment, I am sure, to reflect on the people whose lives have been shortened and families who have been devastated by losing loved ones.

    Read more >

  • President update: 20th January

    A belated Happy New Year!

    For many of us, I suspect 2021 couldn’t come fast enough. Although we can be forgiven for the ‘Groundhog Day’ feeling of finding ourselves in another national lockdown, the vaccine rollout shows us that there is an end in sight. I think we all accept that this will take some time and that we will still be working hard to maintain core services, but at least we are no longer wondering whether it will end at all.

    Read more >

  • President update: 18th December

    Christmas is going to look very different for most people this year, but even so, it feels something of a relief to be coming to the end of 2020. Although there is plenty of work and more challenges ahead, and it is certainly not a time to be letting our guards down, I think we will all be glad to get this year behind us.

    I think ADEPT members can look back on a year that has been one of the hardest we have known, but also one where we can really say we have stepped up to do what we do best: support and advocate for our places, communities and people.

    Read more >

  • President update: 30th November

    As I write, the Government has announced the local restriction tier system that will replace the national lockdown from December 2nd. With very few exceptions, we will be continuing to live with many restrictions in Tier 2 and Tier 3, which means a continued need to provide meaningful support to our businesses and communities.

    Read more >

  • President update: 10th November

    The election of Joe Biden has come at the end of a tumultuous week for global leaders. Covid numbers are rising across the UK, Europe and US, and in England, we find ourselves in a second national lockdown and diverging ever more from the timings and strategies deployed in the devolved nations. Hopes for breaking the lockdown and lift cycle seem to be firmly pinned on a successful vaccine.

    Read more >

  • President update: 28th October

    I think it’s fair to say that as we look down the barrel of a Covid-19 winter, most of us are concentrating on how to keep our communities safe, our poorest children fed and our businesses, well, in business. It’s been a truly difficult couple of weeks for colleagues up and down the country and we all know it’s not going to get any easier. We also know that we will all continue to work hard to support our communities and places and try to provide the very best public services under continuing exceptional circumstances. 

    Read more >

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