By John Challen

Based around the subject of net zero, the CIHT National Conference provides an opportunity to tackle the new political agenda, gain access to top-level strategic content and get questions answered. 

One of the speakers in attendance will be Ann Carruthers, ADEPT President and Director of Environment and Transport at Leicestershire County Council (LCC). Carruthers will be looking at devolution and local delivery of net zero, a subject very close to her heart.

“When we, as an authority, try to reduce our own emissions, there are some straightforward things we can do, such as making our fleet greener,” she says. “But there’s also a lot we need to learn, and we don’t have all the answers.”

Thankfully the ADEPT Live Labs 2 programme is focused squarely on decarbonisation, which helps the likes of Carruthers in her LCC capacity because, as she explains: “While we are all devolved authorities, we can’t all do the innovation and the research because there are so many different opportunities and options.”

Lighting up

One of the Live Labs projects is looking at street lighting, which is an area a lot of local authorities, including Carruthers’, have embraced. “We’ve moved to LEDs and introduced dimming, which has really brought down the costs and the emissions,” she explains. “However, that Live Labs 2 project is about challenging standards to reduce emissions and drive energy efficiency without compromising driver safety.”

Another area in which Carruthers says progress is being made is material choice: “I’ve got guys out using bitumen for surface dressing, which isn’t great from an emissions point of view. But there hasn’t really been an alternative to that, and we’ve been using bitumen, as a sector, for decades because it's the best option.

“But now we are moving to decarbonised versions and innovations such as lower temperature asphalt treatments. There's a whole scope of learning there, but we can’t afford to trial that, so the work done within Live Labs has been fantastic.”

Read more: Road surface innovation tackling climate change.

An initiative that Carruthers’ team has run with recently is an ecological treatment system for de-watering gully waste. 

“Landfill sites have not been allowed to accept liquid waste since 1999; the local system ensures we can treat our gully waste inhouse and not rely on external companies that are not local to Leicestershire,” she states.

“LCC designed a reed bed and salt marsh treatment system in our main highway depot to treat the water in an environmentally friendly manner without chemicals, and the treated water is recycled within the local water systems. The recycled aggregate can then also be recycled and used within local highways and construction projects.

“It is all EA-permitted and a natural way of dealing with materials. While it doesn’t strictly cut emissions, it still factors in cost-saving and environmental benefits.”

Carruthers admits there are lots of challenges around transportation and highways but not one authority has cracked decarbonisation. “The more we get together and actually talk, network, listen and contribute, the more we will move the sector forward,” she suggests. “Events such as the CIHT National Conference are key to bringing everyone together to exchange those views and experience that creativity to help us on our journey.” 

Newsletter image: cars driving at night, passing under a bridge in Liverpool. Credit: Shutterstock.