This week has been unusual for me in the sense that three of the Boards that I attend all occurred on the same day, which without platforms like Teams would have otherwise been impossible. Where these meetings are face-to-face it would generally take me a day and a half to complete one of them because of the travel distance involved so for time efficiency purposes virtual meetings can be a winner. That said, there is nothing that can replace face-to-face but I’m thinking a mixture of the two methods is the right way to go into the future.
My Board meeting almost ran back-to-back with the first being the NY Highways Board where I was sad to see the departure of the MD, Ross Bullerwell, who is moving on to progress other interests. Ross was employee number 1 at NY Highways, and I was/am employee number 2, so we have both been engaged with the new Teckal prior to its formation. Ross has taken the business through mobilisation and a reorganisation to create a strong business that is fit for the future being well positioned to provide an excellent service to the County Council. Coming in to replace Ross is Jamie Crumlish who I am really looking forward to working with over the coming years.
The second of my Board meetings was the LCRIG Main Board which was a joy to Chair. We discussed a whole range of topics around our 2023 consolidation plans from the training platform and DPS through to our excellent relationship with DfT’s TTF. The input from every Board attendee was first class and there is no doubt that the Board is setting our direction for the future as we continue to grow and become ever more influential in local government highways.
My final Board meeting of the day was with the LCRIG Innovation Board, chaired by Ian Large of Blackpool Council. This is an exciting Board to belong to as we are all encouraged to ‘future gaze’ and explore new innovations that can improve how we deliver the highways function. The subject of Lignin came up again and one of the Board members was planning a series of controlled trials for this wood based binder replacement. As with anything new, there will be many hurdles to overcome but working together we go further and faster. I was able to share with the Board members some feedback on the Lignin product from one of our Council members who had been working alongside one of our Associate members to explore the potential of the binder replacement.
Their initial findings were:
• Lignin comes in powder form so it’s not easily handled. It is delivered in bulk bags. Supply requires retro-fitting of two hoppers, one of which has to be earthed due to fire risk from static when emptying bags into hopper
• There are H&S concerns regarding fumes (very pungent) and low flash point which limits temperatures to 140 C
• From trials, the maximum dosage is 15% due to appearance and compaction issues at higher dosage percentages
• There are concerns regarding UKCA compliance in terms of the solid nature (not liquid) of the lignin binder
All of the above points can be overcome and if we truly want to change things we need to persevere and not give up at the first sight of difficulty.
Hopefully, by sharing this information LCRIG will be instrumental in speeding up the process of innovation as it will encourage more of our members to get involved.