CIHT South West is excited to announce the return of the CIHT South West Conference which this year is taking place at the Firepool Centre for Digital Innovation in Taunton and will be themed around innovation and the future of transport!
Venue: Firepool Centre for Digital Innovation, Trenchard Way, Taunton, TA1 1FH
Date: Wednesday 22 October 2025
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
Bookings will close on Friday 10th October at 12 noon.
The theme for this year's CIHT South West Conference is innovation and the future of the transport industry. We will have panel discussions on AI in transport and regional LiveLabs projects, as well as presentations from this year's CIHT South West Award winners.
Pay by invoice
09:30 |
Arrival |
12:45 |
Networking ice-breaker quiz - CIHT SW Committee (Activity) |
10:00 |
Welcome & introduction - Josh Manning & James Meredith | 13:00 |
Lunch & networking |
10:15 |
A Practical Guide to AI for the Highways and Transportation - Lucy Batley (Talk) |
14:00 |
You are here - simplifying wayfinding solutions to improve user experience - Lottie Davies (Talk) |
10:45 |
Exhibitors Elevator Pitch - Various (Activity) |
14:25 |
The Politics of Pavement: Understanding Each Other to Improve Scheme Delivery - Chelsea Randall & Greg Neil (Interactive Workshop) |
11:00 |
Comfort Break |
15:20 |
Comfort Break |
11:30 |
Project of the Year: Firepool Northern Boulevard - Pete Boden & Alice Searle (Talk) |
15:45 |
Understanding the role of automation in the bus industry - Insights from an electric autonomous bus demonstration service - Dr Ben Clark (Talk) |
12:00 |
LiveLabs2 - Innovation in Decarbonisation across the South West - Giles Perkins, Mike O'Dowd-Jones, Beth Lewis & Chris Harris (Panel Discussion) |
16:15 |
Closing Remarks - Josh Manning & James Meredith |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Anyone working or interested in Highways and Transportation
CPD is defined as any activity that provides new knowledge or skills that help you to achieve your professional development goals or has otherwise helped you to develop as a highways and transportation professional.
Plan, record and manage your CPD for free at CIHT Learn.
Need help with getting the most out of your CPD access CIHT’s CPD Guidance here.
For more information, please contact southwest@ciht.org.uk.
Please find below information about our confirmed speakers. More speakers are to be confirmed.
![]() |
Lucy Batley - Owner, Traction Industries Lucy Batley is a tech innovator and AI strategist with 30 years’ experience shaping the digital landscape. She began her career with EMAP’s Best Young Designer award, going on to create digital experiences for Audi, MaxMara, Vespa and The Manic Street Preachers. She also designed the platform to launch the Euro into the UK for Barclays Bank SME division. Lucy later founded digital agencies and now leads Traction Industries, delivering AI-powered innovation. A respected thought leader and broker, she speaks widely on human–AI collaboration and is known for making complex tech accessible, creative and strategically impactful. |
![]() |
Giles Perkins - Head of Future Mobility, WSP & Programme Director, ADEPT Live Labs 2 Giles Perkins, the Programme Director for the £30m, 3-year Live Labs 2 initiative will participate in a Live Labs panel. Giles will detail how innovations in materials and services are being used to drive down the carbon associated with the enhancement, improvement, operation and maintenance of the local road network. |
![]() |
Lottie Davies - Graduate Transport Planner, Stantec Lottie is a graduate transport planner at Stantec, having joined the team in September 2024. With a passion for accessible active travel, Lottie is committed to promoting inclusive and sustainable transportation solutions. She is excited to share her award winning presentation at the CIHT South West Conference 2025, focusing on making active travel more accessible for all. |
|
|
![]() |
Ben Clark - Associate Professor in Transport Planning, UWE Bristol Ben is an Associate Professor in Transport Planning working in UWE Bristol's Centre for Transport & Society. His interests span the planning, design and regulation of healthy built environments (from settlement to street scale) that support safe and efficient forms of mobility (efficient in terms of energy, space, time and cost), for all groups in society. Ben has pioneered the use of quantitative and qualitative longitudinal methods to improve evidence and theories of (i) how and why travel behaviours change over the course of people's lives; and (ii) to understand the impact of travel and transport on different aspects of health and wellbeing. He is also involved in the evaluation of transport planning interventions. |
|
|
![]() |
Chelsea Randall - Transport Planning Officer, Devon County Council Chelsea joined Devon County Council in 2020 and has since worked on road and active travel schemes, covering strategy and policy as well as scheme development and delivery. She has been involved with the CIHT South West Emerging Professionals Group since 2024, and joined the CIHT South West main committee in 2025, taking on the role of Secretary. In the past, Chelsea has run workshops based on Active Travel for the RTPI, for students at the University of Plymouth and for CIHT South West. |
|
|
![]() |
Greg Neil - Assistant Transport Planning Officer, Devon County Council Greg joined Devon County Council as a graduate in September 2022. He has since progressed to Transportation Planning Officer, working on strategy and business case development as well as delivery of infrastructure for a range of modes from active travel to public transport. Alongside his role at Devon, Greg has recently completed an MSc in Transport Planning and Engineering at Southampton University and joined the CIHT SW Emerging Professional Group Committee after partaking in the EPG Presentation Competition. He also recently found success at 22nd Annual Transport Practitioners’ Meeting , where he was awarded best paper by a young professional at the conference. |
|
|
![]() |
Mike O’Dowd-Jones - Director for Infrastructure & Transport, Somerset Council |
|
|
![]() |
Beth Lewis - Principal Engineer, Devon County Council |
|
|
![]() |
Chris Harris - Principal Project Officer - Engineering, South Gloucestershire Council |
Got a question?
t: +44 (0)20 7336 1555
e: info@ciht.org.uk