LTT Summit takes shape with exciting new approach to addressing key challenges in local transport

Oxford, 3-4 November

www.localtransportsummit.uk

Since LTT announced the first annual Local Transport Summit would be taking place this autumn, there has been considerable interest and enthusiasm from the sector in helping shape a genuinely new approach to discussing and exploring how to take forward an enhanced framework for effective local transport service delivery that meets the changing needs of society, the economy and individual transport users. 

With devolution of responsibilities to a regional and local level, and new opportunities provided by technology and innovative business models and governance arrangements, there is much to discuss! Equally, there is the opportunity to tackle this conversation in new ways that open up the discussion to real exploratory thinking and sharing of views. 

The Summit structure will therefore break new ground by combining a high-level Senior Decision Maker Forum that pinpoints the major issues and challenges being faced by leaders in the sector, with a wider conference and round table workshop discussion allowing other specialists to take forward the dialogue and contribute new ideas and potential solutions to meet the challenges identified. 

All LTT readers are invited to join in this process, and to help shape a continuing debate that will be taken forward through the pages of this magazine and online.

The LTT Summit will take place in Oxford over 24 hours, starting in the afternoon of Thursday the 3rd of November and concluding at teatime on Friday 4th. The general theme will be effective transport delivery and management in an era of devolved powers and changing governance structures. It will be held at The King’s Centre, Oxford, hosted in partnership with England’s Economic Heartland Strategic Alliance. 

To set the scene for the discussion, LTT is organising a new Senior Decision Maker Forum which will provide the only opportunity of its kind for the movers and shakers in local transport to meet, network and map the future of transport planning and policy. For the first time, the team behind Local Transport Today will gather the most influential thinkers to join the most important discussion in a generation.  

Those responsible and affected by transport planning and policy structures and governance are being invited to attend this forum and add their own perspectives to the discussion.  

The Forum event, on the afternoon and evening of 3rd November, will comprise two main elements: a three-hour senior briefing and facilitated discussion, followed be networking and dinner. There will be an overnight accommodation package included for attendees, plus option of participation in the following day’s Local Transport Summit itself, with morning high level plenary presentations, and following further discussion and roundtables on specific themes. 

Invitees to the Senior Decision Maker Forum are being given the opportunity to stay for the whole 24 hours overnight package, or to nominate colleagues to take their place for all or part of the second day. The afternoon Policy and Leadership Forum session will be limited to 80 people, the dinner set for 120 and day two sessions open to 200 attendees. 

The 24 hours of the event will unfold in the following way…

Day 1 – Thursday 3rd November

Senior Decision-Maker Forum Programme 

1. A high level intensive scene setting and interactive discussion around key current challenges and change management issues led by experts and involving senior local transport leaders from 3.30pm - 7.00pm. Guests will assemble in mid-afternoon for tea, followed by facilitated presentations and discussion. Approaches will follow the approach of ‘high level briefing,’ ‘challenging conventional wisdom,’ ‘scenario-setting’ and ‘Gap Analysis’ techniques. Amongst those briefing and facilitating these discussions will be Professor Peter Jones of UCL, who will consider how to set horizons for policy outcomes and build them into delivery frameworks, Professor David Metz, formerly Chief Scientist at the Department for Transport, who will look at the benefits that are attained from transport investment and how they are distributed, and Cliff Edwards, award-winning professional facilitator and coach, who has led transformational change programmes at Network Rail, the Energy & Utilities Skills Council and ASDA, amongst other organisations. 

2. A pre-dinner networking drinks reception for Forum participants and additional sponsors and guests from 7:00-8:00pm will be followed by a semi-formal working dinner addressed by two top business and public sector speakers with experience from outside the traditional local transport community, sharing their experience of the issues of governance and organisational and change management. The evening will provide a high profile opportunity for attendees to catch up with old and new colleagues, and with the events partners and sponsors.

Hotel places have been reserved near the Forum venue for attendees to stay after the dinner on the evening of Thursday the 3rd. 

Day 2 – Friday 4th November

Local Transport Summit Conference and Workshops Programme

For those Forum attendees who wish to continue attendance at the Local Transport Summit and take part in the wider discussions, there will be two main sessions on Friday the 4th of November, where they will be joined by other LTT readers and local transport professionals. 

1. Morning plenary and panel sessions on Friday 4th November led by LTT Editor Andrew Forster and other regular LTT contributors will feature keynote speakers from the main local transport fields and other innovative sector leaders, including feedback from the previous day’s discussions and responses to the issues raised and what are agreed to be the key policy and practical challenges. 

2. After lunch, afternoon facilitated roundtable workshops will take place on a range of major local transport topics identified in advance and from the earlier discussion as key issues, reporting back their outcomes to a final stock-taking session that will identify new and emerging themes to take forward over the coming months in LTT, by online discussion and in further specific roundtable events

Decision-Maker Forum delegates are welcome to participate in all or part of this further programme as part of their own attendance, or to nominate colleagues to take their place on the second day. Individual one-day attendance at the Friday conference will also be available, with or without overnight accommodation and Thursday evening’s dinner. 

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How to be involved

For details about sponsorship and exhibition packages, contact Daniel Simpson on: 020 7091 7861 or email: daniel@landor.co.uk 

For details about dinner reservation and delegate bookings, contact Riannah Anglin on: 020 7091 7865 or email: conferences@landor.co.uk

In the run-up to the event LTT is giving space to sector thought leaders to help set the agenda, and this will include both those with established roles in the local transport field, others from outside it, and the next generation of transport professionals who are also encouraged to add their voices to the discussion.

The Summit will see host partner England’s Economic Heartland Strategic Alliance outline the progress it is making in establishing a statutory Sub-national Transport Body and its own transport strategy and share its work with other fledgling STBs. “It’s a great opportunity for us to come together and help shape the future for the sector,” said Martin Tugwell, the Alliance’s programme director. 

The first afternoon policy and leadership session will be limited to 80 people, the dinner is set for 120 and the day two sessions open to 200 attendees.

Preferential rates and delegate places are available to LTT subscribers and to those in education or currently working on a graduate scheme. Contact Jason Conboy on: jason.conboy@landor.co.uk