It’s Two Weeks Until the CTA Scotland Conference

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Whilst preparation for the CTA’s annual Westminster Conference is going on, we’re about to hold our CTA Scotland Conference on 3 November at the RBS Conference Centre in Edinburgh.

As is the case all across the UK, community transport in Scotland is undergoing a period of significant scrutiny and our conference comes just at the right time, with the Scottish Government refreshing its transport strategy for Scotland.

The conference will feature Derek Mackay MSP, the Scottish Government’s Transport Minister, who is giving his first address specifically to a community transport audience. Derek is going to be speaking to the conference on where community transport fits in to Transport Scotland’s plans. There may also be news on how the Scottish government might be able to help community transport operators navigate the issue of D1 licences, which is making it increasingly difficult to recruit volunteer drivers.

Derek will be joined by Les Huckfield, a former MEP and a seasoned expert on European funding. Les will be sharing his wisdom on the new EU funding programme that is now open and which will be running until 2020. The programme has an emphasis on ensuring that their financial support has a bigger impact on communities than in previous years, meaning that the fund could provide significant opportunities for our members to receive European funding. Anyone who’s had experience with EU funding in the past will be aware of how complicated it can sometimes be, so Les will be breaking it down to make it more accessible to our members.

As with the Westminster Conference on 25 November, the Scotland Conference will have discussion on the regulatory scrutiny under which community transport is currently being placed, looking at potential changes and how they might affect community transport operators.

The day will also give attendees the opportunity to make their voices heard in the Scottish Government’s ‘A Fairer Scotland’ consultation with the government hoping to hear from community transport operators. At the Community Transport Association, we work to make sure that the voices of our members are heard in the policy-making process so we’re pleased to give attendees the opportunity to raise issues, and be listened to, by people with the ability to make political changes happen.

The conference will run from 09:30 – 15:30 and will cost £50 for CTA members and £70 for non-members. For more information and to register click here.  We hope to see you there.