🕒 Article read time: 2 minutes
Help inform Logistics UK’s policy work
Elizabeth de Jong, Director of Policy, Logistics UK
The last two years have been busy for logistics, with our policy team focussed in particular on Brexit, COVID-19 and the subsequent driver shortage. As is often traditional at the beginning of the year, I have taken some time to reflect and set out our priorities for the year ahead and my hope is that this year will see us return to a regular rhythm of policy meetings and member engagement. I am therefore disappointed that January’s freight council meetings will need to be held virtually, as I had hoped to hold some face-to-face.
Virtual meetings have worked very well for a number of our forums, including our working groups. The Employment Action Group and the Innovation Group, for example, both launched in 2021, have not met in person. The level of attendance and participation has been strong and these two groups are already making an impact on some key policy concerns for members.
We continue to keep a very dynamic programme of specialist working groups – from engineering forums to environmental, van and utilities – which all focus on specific policy issues and give members a chance to discuss and inform Logistics UK’s policy proposals.
In 2022, we will be introducing a new warehousing working group, which will be launching in March. From a policy perspective, we will be working with members to define the challenges for warehousing and how we can work with government to make changes and improvements. The key areas we expect to look at are law use and planning, energy and energy efficiency, and skills. We have been engaging with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and we are anticipating a Planning Bill to be published this year. This working group will have a significant role in how we influence the legislation. We already have a lot of interest from members, and I encourage members to find out more about this and our other working groups at Logistics UK Councils.
Having a representative and diverse set of working groups will ensure we continue to be innovative in addressing issues and focus our efforts on the areas of most concern. The outputs from these working groups feed into the 13 regional freight councils and seven modal councils. While these start the year off with virtual meetings again, I do hope members will continue to find value in the format. Details of all councils are on the website and I hope to see many of you (virtually and in-person) in the year ahead.
*www.logistics.org.uk/councils
Published On: 20/01/2022 16:00:03
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