BPA news Calling all Corporate BPA Advance employers Two lucky people can join the BPA team at the British Parking Awards on Friday 15 September in London! We would like each organisation to nominate two employees* who have gone above and beyond in completing their training on Skills Hub. Each entrant will be put into a ballot and two will be drawn out of the hat. Send your nominations to Paula Burton at paula.b@britishparking.co.uk by noon on 30 August. Winners will be announced the same day at 4pm. *Employees must be Corporate BPA Advance registered and be available to attend the event on Friday 15 September. Please note, this competition is for the event only and all travel/accommodation expenses must be met by the employer. Dates for your diary TTF Smarter Parking Group, 8 September (virtual) Parking Scotland Expo, 14 September (in-person, Edinburgh) Healthcare Group, 19 September (in-person, Manchester) Northern Ireland Regional Group, 21 September (in-person, Cookstown) London Regional Group, 26 September (in-person, London Councils) North East Regional Group, 28 September (in-person, venue tbc) Parking Technology Interest Group, 29 September (virtual) Highways UK partnership The BPA is delighted to announce a strategic partnership with Highways UK 2023, the highways industrys annual conference and exhibition, at the NEC, Birmingham on 18-19 October 2023. The BPA will be exhibiting at the show and liaising with the Highways team to deliver the inaugural Smart Traffic and Parking theatre. You can register for your free ticket at buff.ly/45D2MkM 44 New BPA EV interest group A new interest group, EV Connect, has been established to better support members who are working in the electric vehicle (EV) charging sector. As membership of the current Parking Technology group became more diverse, it was felt that a group that more clearly represents the EV sector was needed. The Parking Technology group was segmented and the new group will be represented on the BPA Council by Scott Gow, who was previously a representative of the Parking Technology group. If you are currently a member of the Parking Technology Group and your primary focus is in the EV sector, then you may want to realign your membership to this new group. The BPA believes there are about 25-30 members who might wish to do this. Importantly, you are only switching your vote to EV Connect and it does not change your membership rights or access to events and resources. The EV Connect Group will hold its own events, which any member may attend, and group members will be welcome at other events, including the Parking Technology Group and Parking Structures Group meetings. Contact Jon Allan (jonathan.a@britishparking.co.uk) or Yasmin Jefferies (yasmin.j@britishparking.co.uk) if you are interested in joining the new group. Smart streets manual published The Manual for Smart Streets (MfSS) has been published by the Smarter Parking Group, part of Transport Technology Forum, which is partly funded by the Department for Transport and run by the BPA (see dates, left). The MfSS is an interactive web resource delivering guidance to ensure local authorities understand the development, specification, procurement, and use of technology by road authorities. It initially sets out 12 use cases exploring how new and emerging technology can be used to realise transport policy aims. It also provides guidance around cyber security implications of new technologies. The MfSS is based on the Manual for Streets that, in the 15 years since its publication, has become an essential document for anyone developing schemes on the local road network. For more information, contact jonathan.a@britishparking.co.uk Code updates for AOS members As Parking News went to press, an announcement was expected from the government regarding the call for evidence to help inform the Private Parking Code of Practice. The BPA is holding a webinar to update members on 4 August: see bit.ly/PNAug23PPC The BPA believes the governments new Code is still some time away, so has launched a new version of its Approved Operator Code of Practice, Version 9. The updated version of the BPA Code goes live on 1 August 2023 and will introduce new complaintshandling clauses, tariff pursuit clauses and a number of other standard-raising clauses taken from the governments withdrawn Code. Members have six months to fully implement the changes. The BPA recently held a webinar looking at standard-raising clauses of the withdrawn Code. See britishparking.co.uk/Past-Webinars The BPA has added the next block of mandatory training modules for Approved Operator BPA Advance Members to Skills Hub. The courses can be accessed via the Individual Members area of the BPA website.