CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > February 2025 5 FROM THE CEO FROM THE CEO It has been a very busy period at CPA since coming into post in mid-August. As well as dealing with the usual wide range of topics and issues that we are used to and are relevant to day-to-day plant-hire, the Autumn Budget and Business Property Relief (BPR) especially has dominated much of our time, effort and energy. Making sure that the Government hears our voice of genuine concern over decision making that has a direct impact on you, our members. Decisions and policies that are not for the benefit of the vast majority of the membership, if any, with many unintended consequences. Engaging with our membership, promoting and supporting Careers, Training, Guidance, Investment, Theft Prevention and Recovery, Abnormal Loads Regulations are among just some of the topics which I see us being able to push on with, in part by better influencing Government policy making in these areas which affects us including increased and stable Infrastructure Workflows to help support our sector. The Budget has accelerated our work around Policy. We have managed to engage with stakeholders and get better access to politicians including the Prime Minister, Treasury, Departments of Transport and Business and Trade, Opposition Parties, to name but a few and be included in numerous meetings and forums, in some cases now through national media. Whether Government listens to us remains to be seen, but they certainly know who we are now and why we are genuinely concerned. One thing I can assure you of is that being heard in the corridors of power was always my intention and our efforts will continue regardless of the outcomes of our efforts to get Government to ‘row back’ on the potentially disastrous combined changes around National Insurance Contributions, Business Property Relief and Inheritance Tax changes. One of the articles in this CPA Bulletin is written by Luis Bassett, our Sustainability and Decarbonisation Manager. Along with the aforementioned challenges, we need to change ideas on Net Zero and what is actually available and required to achieve Government targets and those within the NRMM sector. We have made enormous progress over the last couple of decades in reducing air pollution and shall continue to do so. However, we need to see realism from politicians and industry leaders in setting Net Zero Sustainability targets. Evolution not revolution is what we need. As ever there is a lot to look forward to in the year ahead with CPA with a full list of events. Just to mention a few, we start with the Executive Hire Show in Coventry in February, the Stars of the Future Awards in July and this year we shall be finishing with a Gala Dinner in Liverpool in November, details of which shall be confirmed in due course. I shall finish with a thank you for the tremendous support that I have received in my first six months. With colleagues and through membership meetings, events, Special Interest Groups, the Rail Plant Association (RPA) and the events and exhibitions that we host. All of which I would urge participation in where you can as it is your voice that helps us to make the real differences. Collectively we are the construction plant-hire experts and should be mandating where possible what is fit for our industry and not be mandated to. At CPA we shall continue to persevere and show the same level of urgency and resilience required to make a difference as our members do in providing services day in, day out. I look forward to working on your behalf and meeting as many of you as I can throughout the course of 2025. Getting Stuff Done Welcome to the first CPA Bulletin of 2025 and my first one as CPA CEO. May I wish you and you families all the best for the year ahead.