BPA Annual Conference Above and beyond This years conference was a sellout. Held on 17 October at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London, St Pauls, it certainly lived up to its game-changer name, as Louise Parfitt explains f theres one thing you want from an annual conference, its inspiration and with a name like game-changer, the BPAs 49th annual conference set high expectations. Anticipation and excitement rippled through the air as delegates received a warm welcome from BPA CEO Andrew Pester and BPA President John McArdle, and within half an hour the room was buzzing. The beat of innovation was infectious from the Law Commissions canter through how self-driving cars could affect traffic and parking management in the future through to the brilliantly funny, inspirational talk from award-winning CEO Hamish Taylor. And throughout was the sense of pride that parking is and should be right at the heart of monumental change. That change is here, and more is coming. Its at events such as this that we have the opportunity to hear how our roles can I shape the future, and about the developments in projects on which government departments are busy working. Anthony Ferguson, deputy director, traffic and technology, at the Department for Transport, elaborated on the theme that Connor Champ, from the Law Commission, introduced: how the decisions we make now will affect what our streets will be like in the future. The size and shape of our towns and roads is pretty fixed, so the amount of consumable space is going to stay the same, he said. The impact [of connected and autonomous vehicles (AVs)] on our built environment will be profound. This is where data comes in. Ferguson explained more about the TRO Discovery project* in which the BPA is a key player in digitising traffic regulation orders and Future Mobility Zones, which give funding to chosen locations to trial new ways of kerbside and parking management. If we can make the move to be more dynamic, then we can move from enforcers to being seen as providing a service, he said. AVs will make this evolution happen more quickly and parking is a core part of it. It may not be the most noticed aspect, but lots of private industries are now looking at parking because they are interested in the commercial opportunities it offers. Its important we focus on the user as the most important part of this. Eco parking As we know, however, its not just self-driving and connected vehicles of which we need to be mindful: its also how to make this future cleaner and sustainable. Clean Air Zones are being introduced across the UK, and many local authorities are thinking of other actions they can take to better care for the environment. Dr Nina Skorupska CBE, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, explained that, in some areas, the UK is making progress in moving to clean energy; around 35 per cent of our electricity comes from renewable sources, In other areas, however and transport is a key one we are much slower to tackle pollution. Emphasising Fergusons point about how parking needs to be at the forefront of change, Skorupska said adopting cleaner energy initiatives makes business sense. Making it as simple as possible for consumers [to be green] with easily accessible chargepoints, solar canopies, renewable energy suppliers can give you a unique selling point over other parking suppliers, she said. and eco driving Skorupska acknowledged that the requirement to make all new vehicles sold in the UK electric by 2040 will have a massive impact on our profession. This was picked up in a later session with Claire Jones, head of infrastructure policy at the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), and Lauren Dickerson, head of partnerships at Centrica. Jones shared some early findings from the recent consultations on the proposed changes to the Building Gold sponsors Silver sponsors 20 britishparking.co.uk PN Nov19 pp20-23 Annual Conference.indd 20 24/10/2019 12:20