The organisation formally known as the Highways Industry Alliance has issued a statement about its name change to the Road Industry Forum.
The full text is below:
You may recall some two years back hearing about the Highways Industry Alliance, a group of like minded bodies, associations and institutions who wanted to share their knowledge and understand the issues that were affecting the highways sector. The disruption caused by the covid pandemic had many horrible consequences but for some of us it has also provided an opportunity to step back and re-evaluate our purpose.
With normality beginning to return the group began reaching out again and got a very positive response with 9 bodies attending our first meeting of 2021 in August.
This meeting re-visited the objectives and even the naming of the group. Henceforth the group will be known as Roads Industry Forum, with the change to “Roads” representing both the wider number of attendees and giving recognition that while Highways has a very precise technical meaning to those in the industry, roads is better understood more widely, and the change to ‘Forum’ demonstrating more openness.
Small things you might think, but the group wants the overall effect to be one of an easily accessible meeting of equals for the benefit and well-being of all those working on, or providing products and services to the roads sector.
As well as re-evaluating the identity and scope of activity of the RIF the meeting dedicated a significant amount of time to areas where knowledge sharing could be beneficial, covering logo abuse, through relevant and achievable training schemes to the implementation of Government policy objectives and many other items.
The RIF is an open forum operating only under the Chatham House Rule. If you represent a professional or trade body industry federation or similar body and have areas of concern and you think others may want to know about them then please contact the RIF. If you are trying to raise awareness of policy, or seeking consultation with the sector’s industries, manufacturers, service providers and their people then the RIF is a good way to get a message to many at the same time.
Our next meeting is fixed for 2nd December 2022. If you wish to be sent an invitation please Kealie Franklin, the current Chair of the Forum via contact general.secretary@artsm.org.uk. All bodies in the industry are welcome to send representatives and even ask for items on the agenda.
(Picture – Road Industry Forum)
