November 2020
CIHT Annual Membership
Dear Member
For good and for bad reasons, 2020 is a year that we will all remember. The ongoing pandemic has challenged the resilience and ingenuity of us all and we have seen some inspiring responses. We have all had to be agile in the ways we work in order to maintain a safe and efficient transport network, ensure business continuity, and look after the well-being of family and colleagues. It is testament to the professionalism of our members and others in the sector that transport infrastructure has continued to be well-managed and maintained throughout the pandemic. This is something we can all be very proud of.
To support our members during these challenging times, our Trustees have taken the unprecedented step not to increase subscription rates in 2021. This decision was made after wide consultation and a review of how CIHT can maintain and extend the high-quality services offered to members and prudently manage our resources.
During 2020 CIHT members, volunteers and staff have worked incredibly hard to respond positively and quickly to change the way we work and offer on-line platforms and digital services to support you during this extraordinary year.
CIHT strives to ensure that our members receive sector recognition, support, and business insights. We have done this through increasing access to information, intelligence, training, and qualifications – a real focus for us in 2020. Our growing global community of multi-disciplinary professionals helps members to learn about how common problems, such as mitigating the effects of climate change, are being tackled in other countries and share practical solutions.
Across the UK, CIHT working closely with our members, is raising the sector’s profile and influence in many ways. In 2020 we have produced several key documents, to name just two: - Better Planning, Better Transport, Better Places, and Improving Local Highways. We also made a submission to the Comprehensive Spending Review. The points we make in these documents have influence with decision makers, we know this through our conversations and engagement with key stakeholders and politicians.
Other examples of our influence include in England, a grant from the Department of Transport to take forward the revision of Manual for Streets. We have also been awarded a grant by the Department’s Road Safety Fund to undertake research into visibility at junctions. CIHT Northern Ireland is contributing to the creation of an Infrastructure Commission; CIHT Wales has become a founder member of the Placemaking Charter and CIHT Scotland continues to be at the forefront of the National Transport Strategy.
Our international groups have continued to expand and have switched to using digital technology to enable them to be more accessible and have a wider reach.
We recently held our Young Professionals Festival of Learning, a week-long programme of 30 digital events and we will be looking to develop our digital offer still further in 2021. Our inspiring early career professionals are the future of our sector and we want to continue to encourage new entrants into highways and transportation roles whilst supporting our early career professionals to broaden and deepen their knowledge and experience.
CIHT has always put great emphasis on continuing professional development. We moved quickly in March to replace our face-to-face conferences and seminars with regional and national virtual webinars ensuring that members continued to have access to the latest thinking and discussions on Highways and Transportation practice and policy. If you haven’t already done so, do sign up to our webinars, they provide fantastic accessible CPD for people working in the sector.
During the pandemic we have continued to assess members for professional registration across the full range of transport qualifications – EngTech, IEng, CEng and CTPP. We moved swiftly to remote professional interviews and have assessed over 100 applicants so far this year. This indicates that members’ career aspirations are as strong as ever. Our recently launched on-line application module allows applicants to compile and submit their portfolio of evidence electronically, a new service for our members.
To provide more support for members working towards professional registration, or those who simply want to structure their professional development, we introduced our Professional Development Framework in May this year. The Framework allows users to build up and record their knowledge and experience against the appropriate professional standard with the support of a mentor. We plan to develop a suite of training modules in 2021 to run alongside the Framework so that you can top-up your skills and knowledge gained at work with training that links directly to professional standards.
One of our most exciting new member services which will be launching imminently is CIHT Connect. This is an on-line platform that enables members to have real-time conversations about the hottest topics of interest to Highways and Transportation professionals.
As we look forward to 2021, we will be reviewing with members our Strategic Plan to cover the next five to ten years, further embedding our Climate Change Action Plan and continuing to champion diversity and inclusion in our membership and sector. By June 2021, our governance changes will be implemented, and I am confident that CIHT will be even fitter and better at supporting our members for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Now, more than ever, we need to stay connected as professionals. CIHT exists to inform, improve, and inspire people working in the Highways and Transportation sector, raise standards and guide and influence policymakers. The Trustees’ decision not to raise subscription rates in 2021 and the introduction of even more services mean that membership of CIHT offers tremendous value to you.
I hope that you will continue your membership with us next year and take full advantage of everything CIHT has to offer.
Best wishes for a safe and healthy 2021.
Yours sincerely
Sue Percy CBE
Chief Executive
