President's Update

Remembering Steve Berry OBE, Head of Highways Maintenance, Innovation, Resilience, Light Rail and Cableways at the Department for Transport - a personal reflection from Mark Stevens, Chair of ADEPT’s Engineering Board. 

Welcome back from the Easter break everyone, I hope you have all managed to enjoy some well needed time off.

I wanted to start this blog by taking a brief moment to acknowledge Prince Philip’s passing and his many long years of service. On behalf of ADEPT, I would like to offer our deepest condolences to the Queen and the Royal Family.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

As I write, the Government has announced the local restriction tier system that will replace the national lockdown from December 2^nd. 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.