LCRIG has published its 2025 Annual Impact Report, showcasing a year defined by growth, innovation and meaningful collaboration across the highways sector. The report reflects how our community continues to evolve, strengthen and deliver real impact for local authorities, suppliers, academia and government partners.
A Year of Growth, Connection and Firsts
2025 was a record-setting year across almost every area of LCRIG’s work. From expanding our membership community to launching sector-shaping initiatives, the report highlights the scale of progress happening across the network.
Key achievements include:
A thriving membership community: LCRIG is now home to 400 members, including 154 local authorities, 199 suppliers, 35 partners and 12 academia, representing 99 percent of England’s highway authorities alongside members from devolved nations.
- Flagship events reaching new heights: Both major events saw exceptional growth:
- Innovation & Learning Festival
- 800+ attendees, 100 exhibitors and 61 apprentices
- £220,000 worth of funded delegate places supporting 400 fully funded attendees
- 4,800 hours of CPD earned
- 33 expert speakers and 5 demonstrations of new technology
- Strictly Highways
- 597 attendees – a 27 percent increase, marking the largest attendance yet
- £240,000 worth of funded delegate places supporting 224 fully funded attendees
- 2,464 hours of CPD earned
- Insights delivered from 42 expert speakers across 26 conference sessions
- Delivering impact through our CIC model: This year, £473,000 was reinvested back into the sector, funding apprenticeships, CPD and fully funded delegate places at our flagship events. Support also included:
Progress across innovation, skills and collaboration
The report spotlights progress under LCRIG’s three strategic pillars:
- Innovation
- Expansion of the Innovation Procurement System, now with £50 million in live contracts.
- Publication of the Innovation Report, the most comprehensive study to date on sector innovation barriers and opportunities.
- Launch of the AI Task Group, supported by sector guides and webinars.
- Major product launches at the Innovation & Learning Festival, including UK-first and world-first technologies.
- Collaboration
- A strengthened national platform through regional working groups spanning the North West, North East, South Central, South East and South West.
- Global reach through leading the UK Pavilion at the ITS European Congress in Seville, supporting UK SMEs in building international export and trade relationships.
- Over 1,300 public and private sector delegates attending LCRIG’s two flagship events to share best practice and accelerate innovation.
- Skills
- The inaugural DfT Special Recognition Apprentice Awards, celebrating 30 nominees with 6 winners and six highly commended.
- A 100% pass rate for the first Highway Maintenance Academy cohort, with 44% achieving distinctions, supported by donated portable classrooms.
- Over 2,000 professionals engaged in webinars, training and learning opportunities throughout the year.
The report highlights the increasing importance of sector intelligence work, particularly in supporting local authorities and suppliers to navigate emerging technologies, regulatory developments and new ways of working.
Key developments include:
- Continued collaboration with the Department for Transport on transparency reporting.
- Establishment of the Transparency Reports Collaboration Group, launching in 2026.
- Development of the Knowledge and Innovation Network – a central hub for peer learning, market insight and practical support for innovation adoption.
Kerry Winstanley, Managing Director at LCRIG, reflected:
“2025 has been a year of growth and impact. We’ve brought the sector together, shared learning and helped remove some of the everyday barriers that the sector faces in adopting innovation. With 99 per cent of England’s highway authorities and many others.”
Click HERE to download the report.
(Picture: LCRIG)
