Chair's Message - October 2023

Chair’s update

I hope you all had a good summer and are refreshed and ready for what the next few months may throw at us in what may turn out to be one of the longest pre-election periods ever!

The pace of policy and political activity has picked up now that the summer holiday season is over and in the wake of recent by-elections. Meanwhile the TPS Board has been thinking about what the future may hold in terms of organisational development and what our priorities should be over the next 3-5 years. 

TPS Board Strategy Day and Business Plan

We had a successful Strategy Day at Steer’s offices on 12 October, generously hosted by Lisa Martin. We talked about what we’d like to be able to do in 5 years’ time in terms of the TPS’s “outward facing” activities (policy, events, communications, nations and regions etc); what this would mean in terms of “inward-facing” activities and capabilities (membership, finances, governance etc); and what we would need to do over the next 12 months to start delivering those outputs. The aim is to develop a one-year action plan for 2024 and a five-year business plan for 2024-28 over the next couple of months. 

Events and engagement

Meeting with Jesse Norman MP

Keith Buchan, Lynda Addison and I had a very productive meeting with Transport Minister Jesse Norman MP on 24 October. We only had 30 minutes with the Minister but managed to get through a full agenda, covering issues including recent government announcements on transport policy (e.g. the Plan for Drivers), the importance of integrating transport planning and land-use planning, active travel, decarbonisation and the skills agenda. 

Highways UK

I attended Highways UK in Birmingham on 18-19 October. I chaired a panel discussion on “paying for roads in the future”, with Iain Stewart MP, Kerry Bangle (WSP), Claire Sheffield (ex-TfL, now Arup) and Rich Sallnow from PA Consulting. Perhaps not surprisingly the discussion focused on the practical and political implications of delivering a national road user charging scheme, which has been recommended by no fewer than 9 reports over the past 18 months. 

Transport Planning Day 2023 – Institute of Civil Engineers:   13 November 2023

The final planning for TPD2023 is underway. We have a very strong line-up of speakers and have secured an additional Silver sponsor in Believ. So far, we have 78 people registered to attend in person and 37 people registered to attend on-line. A number of supporting events are also in an advanced state of planning, including a workshop being organised at the ICE by one of our sponsors Ioki on the same day as TPD. TPD2023 promises to be a great event. I look forward to seeing many of you on the day. 

TPS/CIHT Skills Partnership Group (PMG)

Keith Buchan and I attended the regular PMG meeting with CIHT officers and other external members. We agreed the budget for 2024 and agreed that we need to keep a close eye on costs during the year to ensure that the skills programme covers its costs as a minimum.

Policy Developments

Plan for Drivers

The Plan for Drivers was launched by the Secretary of State for Transport during the Conservative Party Conference.   The TPS has issued a response to the TPD, which is linked here. Our response welcomes the recognition of the importance of walking, cycling and public transport; raises concerns about the framing of the issues regarding drivers’ interests relative to other road users; and repeats our call for an integrated transport strategy for England, incorporating the approach being taken in Wales and Scotland.