President update 4th November - latest news from ADEPT
Hello everyone,
While the recent autumn budget didn’t bring any big surprises, the impact on local authorities is still significant, with funding challenges more pressing than ever. It was good to see the government committing to setting five-year capital budgets to avoid funding ‘cliff edges’ and give more certainty. And additional money for highways was welcome, yet the investment still falls short of addressing the significant backlog for maintenance and the improvements we all want to see in our areas. Our full response to the budget is here.
You may also have seen that we recently joined forces with other leading local government associations - ADCS, ADASS and ADPH - calling for urgent reform and it appears the government has listened, in part at least. You can read more in our joint press release.
I’ve had some useful meetings this month and attended several events, including a RAC Foundation round table event exploring aspects of highways stewardship and participated in a panel debate at Highways UK. We were delighted to have the transport minister Lilian Greenwood visit the LA Hub, along with the Mayor of West Midlands Combined Authority. Great to have a quick chat with the minister.
I’d like to say congratulations to the Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads (North Campus) Live Labs 2 project, who won the Net Zero Award at Highways UK. Brilliant news! And a special shout out for Karl Rourke, project manager for the East Riding ‘Low Carbon Street Lighting’ Live Labs 2 project, who featured in the Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph and on BBC Radio 4 World at One as a thought leader on new and innovative ways of enabling carbon reduction within street lighting.
This year’s ADEPT Autumn Conference comes at a pivotal moment for the sector, making our theme ‘Creating places fit for the future: our past, our present, our future’ more pertinent than ever. We have a great line up of speakers for the plenary sessions, and a diverse set of workshops on issues ranging from local energy, streamlining school transport and funding regeneration. Booking is now closed – however, it’s worth contacting Lucy at SAS Events in case of any cancellations.
As always, for more updates on ADEPT's latest news, publications, and the work of our boards and groups, visit our website: www.adeptnet.org.uk.
