Policy Insight: The Long Read

Policy Insight: The Long Read

The latest edition of Policy Insight by Paula Claytonsmith - Director, Government and Policy at the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) has a theme of AI and climate change, with a focus on activities in the areas of innovation, skills, net zero and collaboration. 

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Policy Insight: Inspiring innovation

Policy Insight: Inspiring innovation

As part of her regular Policy Insight update Paula Claytonsmith - Director, Government and Policy at the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) - highlights research and insight to help councils and the private sector. In the second edition, Paula covers innovation, the environment, data and social value - whilst also touching upon the results from the Census 2021 in England and Wales and what this means for local authorities.

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Innovation

Delivering innovation at a national level is one of the biggest challenges facing the sector. LCRIG continues to play a key role in helping to facilitate innovation through the sharing of ideas and learning through informative events and content.

23 August 2023 | Collaboration

IPS webinar available on demand for LCRIG Members

LCRIG members can exclusively access an on-demand webinar which provides details of the Innovation Procurement System (IPS) and informs suppliers on how to join it. Launched at the Innovation Festival last month, the IPS has been developed by LCRIG in partnership with Crown Commercial Service (CCS) and with the support of the Department for Transport. The IPS was established with the aim of increasing the pace of change and to remove the hurdles in accessing innovation in the sector by creating a dynamic route for LCRIG Members to access the market and engage with innovators nationally. As part of a recent webinar, the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) invited supply…

23 August 2023 | Innovation

Innovation Festival in numbers

This year's Innovation Festival brought together local authorities, central government, the supply chain, associations and academia from across the highways sector. The event, which took place at Newark Showground from 04-05 July showcased emerging technology and maintenance solutions. Attendees had the opportunity to see the latest innovative products, maintenance solutions and techniques on display as well as in action, demonstrated over a range of live sessions. Not forgetting the amazing food, live music and even a sprinkling of magic! The festival provided local authorities with a chance to find out about new innovations from the supply chain that will help to meet their current and future challenges and featured a conference…

9 June 2023 | Innovation

LCRIG launches Innovation Procurement System

To support highways innovation, the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) has launched an Innovation Procurement System (IPS) in partnership with Crown Commercial Service (CCS) - with the aim of increasing the pace of change and giving greater control to LCRIG members to adopt innovation at a lower cost. The LCRIG IPS will remove the hurdles in accessing innovation in the sector by creating a dynamic route for LCRIG Members to access the market and engage with innovators nationally. The partnership will achieve the following benefits: Easy access to proven innovation to expedite adoption thus contributing to improved whole lifecycle asset cost and leveraging impactful, cutting-edge technology. Dynamic access to innovation…

2 March 2023 | Innovation

Companies sign up for LCRIG's Innovation Festival

The Promotional Partner and Networking Partner for this year's Innovation Festival have been confirmed. Multevo will act as Promotional Partner for the event.  Multevo is an established turnkey supply chain partner, self-delivering an award-winning highways. civil engineering, vegetation, arboriculture and traffic management service. With an ever-expanding team of over 200 highway maintenance and civil engineering operatives as well as 35 vegetation and arb specialists working nationwide. In addition to in-house skills and expertise, Multevo is also the UK exclusive distributor of the innovative Multihog and Waterkracht product range. Josh Sweeney, Director of Marketing and Growth at Multevo said: “Supporting innovation is fundamental if the sector is to meet the challenges of the…

13 April 2023 | Collaboration

New social value initiative launched by LCRIG

Eleven years after the introduction of the Social Value Act in the UK, the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) will launch a new initiative to look at how far the highways sector has come in embedding social value and where challenges still lie. The series, which is being delivered in association with Colas, will start with an invitation-only virtual roundtable discussion to help scope out the way in which the sector has responded thus far, and how collaborative social value delivery can respond to future challenges faced. Councils will talk about where they are on the journey and the key findings from this conversation will then be taken forward and presented…

5 October 2022 | Collaboration

Transport Technology Forum to grow with £1m DfT and Innovate UK investment

The Department for Transport and Innovate UK are committing to maximising the value of technology in transport by investing a million pounds in the Transport Technology Forum. The funding was revealed by TTF Manager Darren Capes of the DfT as part of his speech at the Strictly Highways Event in Blackpool. It was a fitting event for the announcement to take place, given the annual gathering is delivered by the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG), and the million pounds will be granted to LCRIG to run services for the TTF. “The million pounds will support and grow TTF over the next three years and help authorities deliver technology,” Mr Capes…

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Collaboration

LCRIG is proud to be certified to ISO 44001, a global first for an organisation of its kind. Embracing the principles of collaborative working, LCRIG brings together the highways community to increase efficiencies, provide cost savings and improve safety for the benefit of all road users.

12 October 2023 | Collaboration

Strictly Highways 2023 in pictures

Last week's Strictly Highways brought together the whole highways community, including councils, the Department for Transport (DfT), academia, industry associations, the supply chain and media. The event enabled everyone to learn about new innovation and technology, share experiences, receive updates from the DfT and showcased the industry associations The theme for this year’s event was centred around ‘Collaboratively Speaking: Sharing Solutions to Meet Local Roads Demands' and delegates were given the opportunity to learn something new, refresh existing knowledge, improve skills, and keep up to date with the latest developments in the highways sector. This year’s event was the biggest yet, with over 400 delegates from public and private sector in…

28 September 2023 | Collaboration

View from the top: Strictly Surprises!

I can’t tell you how excited I am for next week, and our Strictly Highways 'Collaboratively Speaking' event in Blackpool. There is excitement with our team, and it’s great to see the hard work coming to fruition. Susanne, Kerry, Charlotte, Shelley, Claire, Adam, Emily, Karla, Keely and Alec have all pulled out the stops to make this year’s (bigger) event a fantastic experience. Sadly, it will be Alec’s last Strictly as part of the LCRIG team, but we wish him all the best for the future and the development of his publications. Back to Strictly, there are some great sessions that we’ve pulled together this year and I must thank our…

20 July 2023 | Collaboration

View from the top: Strictly Collaboration

As the dust settles on the Innovation Festival, our attention is turning towards our autumn events. In particular, Strictly Highways on the 3rd to 5th of October. Each year the event gets bigger, with more moving parts and more to think about, as the sector is faced with greater challenges. But, as a non-profit, we have never lost sight that bringing councils and supply chains together is incredibly important and absolutely key to solving the thorny issues that we face as a sector. Collaboration is part of our DNA, and not just our DNA, but how we work internally and externally. Last week, we had our annual ISO44001 assessment and all…

31 August 2023 | Collaboration

Embedding social value

Professionals from the highways sector spoke about the importance of embedding social value on both the contractor and client side during an invitation-only virtual roundtable discussion on the subject. LCRIG Content Director Alec Peachey reports.  Eleven years after the introduction of the Social Value Act in the UK, the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) kicked off a new initiative to look at how far the highways sector has come in embedding social value and where challenges still lie. The new series, which is being delivered in collaboration with LCRIG Associate member, Colas, started with the discussion to help scope out the way in which the sector has responded thus far,…

15 December 2022 | Collaboration

LCRIG launches new training platform

The Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) has developed a new online training platform which is designed to provide learning and development support to individuals working in the highways sector. LCRIG Skills will support individuals professional development by: Bringing together a range of training from recognised providers in the highways sector. Providing access to sector specific training that can be delivered in person, online or through on demand videos. Supporting an individual’s training journey by recommending courses that are relevant to job roles and areas of interest or expertise. Creating a CPD record when individuals take part in and log training through LCRIG Skills. LCRIG was awarded funding by the Rees…

15 December 2022 | Collaboration

Care leavers to be presented with gifts

123 care leavers will be presented with individual gift bags thanks to the generosity of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) and local suppliers: A.J Bretherton, Beever and Struthers, Connor Specialist Paving, Curo Pharmacy, Jointline, Multevo, Tensar and Uniplay. Every year the council runs a “Christmas Gift Box for Care Leavers” initiative where council staff are encouraged to donate presents to care leavers who may not ordinarily receive any gifts at Christmas. Working with LCRIG and local suppliers this year, the local authority managed to raise a total of £2,900, with the money raised used to create individual gift bags, containing thoughtful individual gifts for…

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Net Zero

With the roads sector under increasing pressure to adapt to improving environmental standards and meeting the expectations of government and society, including bringing all greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050, LCRIG helps members to deliver change in this area.

15 December 2022 | Net Zero

LCRIG report highlights actions needed over net zero

A report by the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) highlights a range of actions needed to help local councils achieve net zero. As local council highways teams come under pressure to reduce their carbon emissions and achieve net zero, LCRIG carried out an exclusive survey to find out more about activity levels, barriers and the actions that are needed to drive this agenda forward. This survey was kindly facilitated by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) as a voluntary addendum to its ALARM Survey, carried out at the beginning of 2022. The findings are based on data analysis by LCRIG. The findings of the ‘net zero in highways’ report show that…

8 December 2022 | Net Zero

Carbon reduction in fleet to be discussed at next net zero webinar

The date for the next event in the Local Council Roads Innovation Group's (LCRIG) webinar series 'Practical steps on the journey to net zero' has been confirmed - with the event focusing on carbon reduction in fleet. The webinar is being sponsored by leading specialist road marking business WJ Group and will take place on Tuesday 07 February 2023 at 11am. WJ recently competed against more than 500 other nominations to be awarded an international Green Apple Environment award in the campaign to find the greenest companies. Their nomination “Reducing Carbon through Life Cycle Assessment Models” detailed the development of their product carbon footprint calculator and how they were able to…

9 November 2022 | Net Zero

COP27 'Loss and Damage'

This week COP27 started in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Running from 6 November until 18 November 2022 it will become an increasingly fractious collection of countries meeting together. Not just as our climate edges more towards the climate emergency many councils have announced. But also, more fractious as thorny subjects get discussed. One that caught my eye was the intensity of the argument around climate reparation. For over 30 years, developing nations have been calling for compensation from industrialised countries for the costs of devastating storms and droughts caused by climate change. And for just as long, rich nations, have resisted those calls. In the last day or so the COP…

16 June 2022 | Net Zero

Materials webinar available to watch on demand

The Local Council Roads Innovation Group's latest webinar: ‘Practical steps on the journey to net zero: The materials challenge’ - is now available to watch on demand. The event, which took place last Tuesday (7 June 2022), saw panellists discuss how carbon savings can be made across highway and transportation infrastructure with respect to the type of materials used. Panellists included: Mark Heaton, Programme Leader, Surfacing and Patching at Lincolnshire County Council Paul Boss, Chief Executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA). Ken McNeil, Regional Technical Manager, Scotland at Breedon Lila Tachtsi, Director of Asset Management for National Highways Daniel Morgan, Quarrying and Asphalt Development Director at Colas, facilitated a…

17 May 2022 | Net Zero

A bold vision for active travel

Paula Claytonsmith highlights the importance of active travel and the work being done by both central and local government to make change happen. Earlier this year the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) held one of its most popular #AsktheDfT webinars. On the 8th of February #AsktheDfT showcased an open discussion on Active Travel Policy between DfT’s Matthew Eglinton, Head of Local Highways Maintenance, Innovation, and Resilience, Local Infrastructure, and Kevin Golding-Williams, Head of Cycling and Walking Policy, Active Travel. The webinar brought an opportunity to hear more about the importance of one of the biggest new policy areas for local government in over a decade. The seeds of this landmark policy…

17 May 2022 | Net Zero

National Highways to participate in LCRIG webinar on materials

Lila Tachtsi, Director of Asset Management for National Highways, will take part in the Local Council Roads Innovation Group's (LCRIG) upcoming webinar entitled 'Practical steps on the journey to net zero: The materials challenge’. Lila is responsible for developing and implementing the company's end to end asset management approach. She has more than 25 years of international experience in all aspects of transport asset management, from developing and implementing national policy to developing skills and capability in organisations and addressing operational challenges. Lila is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Chair of the PIARC UK National Committee and Executive Board member of the Conference of European Directors for Roads…

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Skills

LCRIG Skills has been created to provide learning and development support to individuals working in the highways community, at all stages in their career.

12 October 2023 | Our Work

New report on skills in highways highlights challenges and opportunities facing sector

A report by the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) highlights a range of actions needed to help local councils address skills shortages and increase workforce knowledge. The skills shortage in the industry is a huge challenge and with local council highways teams coming under pressure to deliver increasing services, the number of professionals required to deliver them is rising. The Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) carried out an exclusive survey to find out more about activity levels, barriers and the actions that are needed to drive this agenda forward. This survey was kindly facilitated by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) as a voluntary addendum to its ALARM Survey, carried out…

5 October 2023 | Skills

Strictly Highways 2023: Retaining younger talent is key

The industry must do more to attract and retain younger professionals, according to a group of apprentices who spoke about careers in highways at this year's Strictly Highways event. Day two of the event kicked off with a session entitled 'Careers in highways: The next generation'. LCRIG's Finance and Operations Director Kerry Winstanley chaired the session and was joined by Charlie Dunkerley, East Riding of Yorkshire Council; Stephanie Fox, Cheshire East Highways; and Joseph Aindow, Wigan Council. During the debate the panellists talked about a range of topics, highlighting what attracted them to come into the highways sector and what more needs to be done to attract a younger and more diverse workforce into…

26 January 2023 | Collaboration

View from the top: Addressing the skills shortage

I’d like to share my recent observations whilst in Portsmouth last week. On behalf of DfT, I attended an event where 2020 announced Future Transport Zones (FTZs) were sharing their programme insights. For those not aware, FTZs was a £90m Government programme. The programme truly allowed councils to trial innovative technologies, mobility and multimodal travel solutions. It was a great opportunity to see and hear from solutions to encourage people to make smarter, greener changes to their everyday travel decisions – such as taking an e-scooter or bike rather than a car for short journeys – to innovative ways to transport goods such as delivering medical supplies by drone were being…

5 April 2023 | Our Work

CPD accreditation for users of LCRIG Skills

Users of the Local Council Roads Innovation Group's online training platform - LCRIG Skills - can gain CPD certification after watching webinars and other content via the platform. A number of events on the platform conform to CPD guidelines and LCRIG is able to offer delegates a Certificate of Attendance, which they can attach to their CPD log as evidence of continued professional development. CPD certification means that the learning value and structure of an event conforms to CPD guidelines. LCRIG Board Member and Skills advocate Dwayne Lowe said: ''Individuals using the LCRIG Skills platform are able to log training to create their own CPD record. LCRIG Skills was developed to…

29 July 2021 | Collaboration

Industry interview: Addressing industry challenges

Past President of the Local Government Technical Advisers Group (LGTAG) John Lamb talks to LCRIG Content Director Alec Peachey about some of the challenges facing the highways sector and why asset management is about more than just fixing potholes. Q. What's your background and how has it helped prepare you for the role you're doing now? A. "Thirty years ago I completed my Master of Science at the University of Westminster in Transportation Planning and Management. This cemented my earlier choices during my BA (Hons) where I had placements in British Rail and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. "Early roles were technical in nature – major scheme assessment, investment strategies and…

16 September 2021 | Collaboration

LCRIG awarded grant funding by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund

The Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) is excited to announce that it has been awarded grant funding by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund. The grant funding is to support the LCRIG Training Project, an exciting new initiative to address the challenges highlighted by LCRIG's council members. The project will provide local authorities with coordinated access to sector relevant, affordable training - ensuring the right training is delivered at the right time and assist with filling the current skills gap at all levels to ensure the highways sector has a robust succession plan in place. The Rees Jeffreys Road Fund was created by founder, William Rees Jeffreys in 1950 and exists…

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Join the LCRIG community and help make the case for local roads

The Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) provides Members with a unique platform to engage with councils, the DfT and the wider highways community.

By joining LCRIG, you will connect with a group of like-minded councils, organisations and individuals, all of whom are driving change through innovation and technological advances across the local roads network.

Become a member