Welcome to the ADEPT newsletter.

In this edition we bring you news of our response to the Government's Productivity Plan as well as advance notice of a further round of the New Stations Fund. There's also a link to Survey Magazine's interview with our President, Heather Barnes, and diary reminders for our conference in November and the President's Meeting next May.

We hope you find this newsletter informative and useful. If you have any feedback or suggestions for content, please contact Coast Communications.

ADEPT responds to Productivity Plan

ADEPT has published its response to the Government’s Productivity Plan which was published in July and aims to reverse the UK’s long-term productivity problem.
The response, which can be downloaded from the ADEPT website, looks at the proposals for transport, housing and devolution, and calls for the Government to go further in reducing rail regulation and reviewing the Community Infrastructure Levy and s106 agreements.

Further funding for new stations

In this year’s Summer Budget, the Chancellor announced that the Department for Transport will be running a further round of the New Stations Fund with £20m of funding available.

So that bids can start to be prepared, the DfT is giving advance notice that it will launch the bidding process formally in September. Information about the previous round of New Stations Fund can be found on the Network Rail website. The programme’s launch will be announced via press release and published on the government's website.

For further information, email Mike Speirs or Kapil Vijh at the Rail Executive.

In the press

This month, Surveyor Magazine’s Transport Network profiled ADEPT President, Heather Barnes, in its ‘Big Interview’. In the interview, Heather speaks about community commissioning, devolution and her secret to keeping motivated.

For access to the full article, visit the Transport Network website. Registration is required but full access is free.

Flood Expo 2015

The Flood Expo returns to ExCeL, London, on 14th and 15th October. The largest event of its kind in the world, it presents solutions to widespread flooding problems with 80 expert seminars, informative debates, live demonstrations on the Thames and 150 suppliers.

Limited free tickets are available from the Flood Expo website. Anyone interested in exhibiting should email the Event Director, Jon Greenslade or call him on on 07837 867533.

Dates for your Diary

Annual Conference 2015
This year's ADEPT conference will be held on 5 and 6 November at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Manchester Airport. We will bring you further details as soon as they become available and look forward to seeing you there.

President's Meeting 2016
Next year's President's Meeting will be held from 12 to 14 May 2016 at Bovey Castle, Dartmoor National Park, Devon. More details will follow nearer the time but please put the date in your diary. We do hope you will be able to attend.

ADEPT Meeting Updates

The President’s and Management teams met in London at the beginning of September, with particular focus on the coming year: promoting the newly revamped policy prospectus, planning conference and reviewing accounts, research and communications. The meeting was joined by Kevin Monaghan from Northern Ireland and Bill Barker from Scotland, who gave useful insights into the challenges of the Northern Ireland powershare agreement, as well as the implications of devolution for Scotland, particularly in respect of Highways.

The pressure to reduce costs and increase revenue was and remains a key challenge, so whilst membership continues to be a opportunity to broaden our reach and strengthen numbers, the area of research funding came in for scrutiny. It is clear that the Ringway Delivering Differently pilot has been a tremendous success, which could be a model for more research projects going forward. The joint commissioning approach has enabled far smarter and more valuable outcomes, so with reduced resources and capacity, it makes sense for more research to be managed in this way, furthering the agenda of ADEPT, as well as key private sector partners.

Finally, given that devolution deals were being submitted that morning, the outlook for Whitehall and Westminster was debated, given the revised funding allocations submitted the previous day. Whilst no one is yet clear on the implications of the remodelled budgets, it is apparent that many of the departments that interface with ADEPT will be more reliant on the input of our members to policy and thinking, representing an unrivalled opportunity to influence and showcase innovation in our authorities.

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