Highlighting some of the range of policy and technical affairs activity that CIHT has been involved in over the last 12 months.
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2020 became a notable year with the Covid 19 pandemic challenging many aspects of our members personal and professional lives. The ongoing pandemic has challenged the resilience and ingenuity of us all and we have seen some inspiring responses. We have all had to be agile in the ways we work in order to maintain a safe and efficient transport network, ensure business continuity, and look after the well-being of family and colleagues.
It is testament to the professionalism of our members and others in the sector that transport infrastructure has continued to be well-managed and maintained throughout the pandemic.
The pandemic has influenced the work and activity of CIHT in the Policy and Technical Affairs area throughout the year.
In March we published our report Improving Local Highways – the route to a better future which recommended that the government commits to deliver a four-point strategy for the Local Highway Network (LHN) that will create a vision, funding and focus over the next ten years. The recommendations presented in this document have been followed up and are gaining traction with key stakeholders.
The advice we produce in Better Planning, Better Transport, Better Places, published in 2019 has gained traction across various governments and various stakeholders. As a result of this publication and its recommendations, we have been able to influence government through discussions around the need for changes to the planning system that saw a wider consideration in the role of transport.
Our work from these reports and earlier policy work was captured under the theme of 'a new future for transport' which formed the basis of our submission to the government’s Comprehensive Spending review in September and has been subsequently been reflected in ongoing discussions around the future of funding for highways and transportation.
We used these reports in our discussions both formally with government in responses to consultations this year, but also in discussions with officials around the Department for Transport’s Decarbonisation Strategy and the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local government work on revising the planning system in England.
Other examples of our influence include in England, a grant from the Department of Transport to take forward the revision of Manual for Streets. We have also been awarded a grant by the Department’s Road Safety Fund to undertake research into visibility at junctions. CIHT Northern Ireland is contributing to the creation of an Infrastructure Commission; CIHT Wales has become a founder member of the Placemaking Charter and CIHT Scotland continues to be at the forefront of the development of their National Transport Strategy.
CIHT has been represented on various key stakeholder groups including as a founder member of the Highways Sector Council, and spoke on several platforms including Highways UK and to the Construction Industry Council.
Find your CIHT Member Resources here
CIHT has responded to several consultations this year. We have engaged with our members to inform our responses and provided professional and technical advice to government and other organisations.
CIHT Nations and Regions responded to consultations across the UK and we are currently working on a UK wide initiative through the UK Connectivity review.
We have produced and published a wide range of podcasts this year, with over 60 now available across topics including most recently Climate Change, the role of streetlights and lessons from the lockdown to name a few. We have published blogs on a range of topical areas including how Covid 19 has impacted on the way we work and the requirements of good urban design
CIHT depends upon the knowledge and support of its members to develop its policy and technical work. In December we launched CIHT Connect. This is on-line platform enables members to have real-time conversations about the hottest topics of interest to Highways and Transportation professionals. The platform contains special interest groups that will cover all the areas our members are engaged with. Members will be able to help us to develop our approach through having conversations around policy and technical areas in a new collaborative way.
If you are interested in developing articles for Transportation Professional, podcasts or blogs please get in touch at: technical@ciht.org.uk.
Our events changed dramatically in 2020, moving from face to face to on-line events in a variety of formats.
We were able to produce a much bigger range of events than previously, attracting higher attendance from more members. Total webinar attendees registered for 2020 was over 11,000. There were almost 500 registered attendees at the Young Professional Festival of Learning in October which was made up of over 30 events.
Our 2020 Awards attracted more entries than ever before and the shortlisted entries were launched virtually – details of those and the winners are found here Awards 2020.
CIHT hosted various roundtables with stakeholders such as our Partnership Network that looked at issues including resetting the skills agenda and the future funding model for highways and transportation.
The 2021 CIHT Awards will open for entries in January.
Details of all these events and more can be found in our member exclusive resources area of the website.
World Road Association (WRA) UK ran two sessions at Highways UK and ran a webinar on diversity in November.
There has been ongoing support to the UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG) and they recently published “Guidance for Local Highway Authorities: a security-minded approach to [Counter Terrorist] Security”. A copy of which is available here.
2021 will see CIHT continue to be the leading voice in highways and transportation. We have exciting projects under development including Manual for Streets 3 and looking at transports response to tackling the climate challenge. 2021 will see us move to a monthly topical online event or webinar on the key themes that our members are interested in including, Sustainable Transport, Active Travel, Infrastructure Construction, Maintenance and Design.
April will see the return of our Spring Conference where we will invite participants to take part in an exciting new look 3-day event that will support CPD, further learning and raise policy awareness. Lots more on this and lots of other exciting activity will be released soon.
Best wishes from all at CIHT
Join other savvy professionals just like you at CIHT. We are committed to fulfilling your professional development needs throughout your career
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