Highways England is improving Norcross roundabout along the A585 in Lancashire. It had already enlisted ten local primary schools to design the safety signs before a spate of driving-through-roadworks incidents at the site. Similar incidents had also occurred at another congestion relief project at junction 3 of the M55.

The winners of the poster competition have now been unveiled with Stanah and Sacred Heart primary schools, both in Thornton-Cleveleys, scooping the two prizes – a chance to visit the site and see full-size versions of their signs on display next week.

More than 200 Highways England staff – many of them roadworkers – from across the North West voted for their favourite designs. There were two themes in the competition with Stanah winning the ‘Please drive safely’ competition and Sacred Heart the other with its ‘Thank you for driving safely’ design.

All ten of the schools taking part in the competition have been rewarded with vouchers, construction-themed goody bags for the children and have also taken delivery of full-size versions of their entries. The competition was sponsored by construction firm Carnell which is the lead contractor on the Norcross roundabout project.

Highways England senior project manager Steve Mason said:

It’s fair to say we got a brilliant response from children at every one of the ten schools involved and who would win the competition was anyone’s guess as the entries were all fantastic.

The competition was very timely as we did have issues at the beginning of the project with a small minority of drivers cutting through roadworks and jumping temporary traffic lights with little regard for their own or our road workers’ safety.

Highways England’s Lucy Gurney, who organised the competition in partnership with Carnell, said:

The competition was designed to help promote safer driving generally but especially around road workers. Getting local school children involved enabled the message to be taken home to families and friends – some of the schools set the competition as homework – and helps encourage a generation of future drivers to think ‘safety first’.

The competition was linked to the schools’ Key Stage 2 curriculum work.

Hamish Clough, head teacher of Stanah, said:

We are delighted that one of our pupils has won the competition. The prize money will enable us to buy some new play equipment for our children to use at break times.

A visit to the site is exciting for our children as they will learn how the new road has been planned and constructed. They will also have opportunity to discuss the roles and responsibilities of staff on the site. It will help enrich their Summer term topic on our locality and its development.

The Norcross project has had a dedicated safety van on site to record incidents of drivers breaching roadworks. In response to the incidents, Highways England adjusted its construction plans and closed access off the A585 during overnight work.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

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Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating Future’s proposed £140 million takeover of TI Media.

Future is a multi-platform media company that publishes specialist magazines in digital and print formats. TI Media is another leading specialist digital and print magazine publisher. The deal would create one of Europe’s largest magazine businesses, covering many well-known brands such as What’s on TV, Marie Claire, Country Life and Wallpaper*. As there is limited overlap between the two businesses at present, the CMA’s assessment primarily focussed on a small number of markets where the two businesses currently compete with each other.

After completing its initial Phase 1 investigation, the CMA found that the 2 businesses compete closely in photography and football magazines and technology websites. Future owns titles such as the market leading FourFourTwo and Digital Camera, as well as technology websites such as Techradar.com and T3.com. TI Media owns popular titles such as WorldSoccer and Amateur Photographer, and also owns the technology website, Trustedreviews.com. The 2 businesses would, together, hold a very strong position in these markets after the merger, with few alternatives for customers and advertisers.

The CMA is therefore concerned that customers who read football or photography magazines, or who use or advertise on technology websites, could face higher prices or lower quality products.

Colin Raftery, CMA Senior Director of Mergers, said:

“Online content is having a major impact on the publishing industry, but specialist magazines still sell millions of copies each year and are highly valued by their readers because of the breadth and quality of their content.

“If Future were to hold all of these titles, there’s a real risk that these readers of football and photography magazines could end up paying more for lower quality products because of the lack of choice in the market.”

Future and TI Media must now address the CMA’s concerns within 5 working days. If they’re unable to do so, the merger will be referred for an in-depth (Phase 2) investigation.

For more information, visit the Future Plc / TI Media Limited merger inquiry web page.

For media enquiries, contact the CMA press office on 020 3738 6460 or press@cma.gov.uk.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is working to provide options to minimise disruption to survey and inspection that could be caused by the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

While work will continue, the survey and inspection team will have to consider whether travel of surveyors due to carry out surveys internationally should still happen. Customers with surveys due in the forthcoming weeks should keep in touch with their Customer Service Manager. Allowances are already in place to delegate surveys to Class Societies.

Full information can be found at MIN 611 (M+F) Guidance and information to follow in the event of COVID-19 outbreak impacting UK seafarer services

Two contracts collectively worth ~£5m have been awarded to HORIBA MIRA and QinetiQ to produce a number of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and enabling autonomous systems as part of advancing Ministry of Defence (MOD) Transformation Fund commitments for the British Army.

Project Theseus, the development and operational field experimentation of autonomous logistic resupply systems, was announced by Secretary of State (SofS) for Defence, following the progress made by the Innovative Autonomous ‘Last Mile’ Challenge led by Dstl.

The contracts form part of early de-risking work to increase the MOD’s understanding of the capabilities and limitations of these systems in areas such as mobility, vulnerabilities and safety; enabling the Army to take the project to the next stage, pending a further significant competition for Project Theseus to be launched by DE&S later this year.

Dstl’s Autonomy Lead, Peter Stockel said:

“These contracts are a demonstration of the continued commitment to progressing autonomous systems as innovative approaches for developing future Land force logistic capability. Under the Autonomous Last Mile Challenge, we have conducted a number of in-depth trials both in the UK and with our partners in the US. These UGV systems will be used to undertake a series of technical evaluations and user utility assessments with the British Army and other users to rapidly advance MOD’s understanding under the ‘Prototype Warfare’ agenda.”

Brigadier Darrell Amison, Head of Capability for Combat Service Support said:

“Robotic and Autonomous Systems will provide commanders with more options to support a Land force operating at greater reach, dispersal and higher tempo. We look forward to ongoing collaboration with Dstl, wider Defence, and our strategic and commercial partners as we drive forward this ground-breaking and exciting project.”

Summer 2020 will see the arrival of three all-terrain VIKING 6×6 Unmanned Ground Vehicles, supplied by HORIBA MIRA, which are capable of carrying up to 750kg of supplies to frontline troops using advanced AI-based autonomy with GPS-denied navigation. Two TITAN Unmanned Ground Systems will then arrive through autumn 2020; comprising a tracked system based around a modular mission system software architecture. Experimentation and testing of these differing systems will inform further understanding of the capabilities that these autonomous systems can provide and implications for their integration with the wider defence logistics system.

Dstl acquires first fleet of autonomous ground vehicle systems

The vehicles will be used by Dstl to conduct scientific and user trials in collaboration with the Combat Service Support Training and Development Unit (CSS TDU) based in Aldershot, and other British Army units. The work will seek to increase understanding of system potential and limitations to reduce the risks specific to acquisition of the Joint Tactical Autonomous Resupply and Replenishment (JTARR) capability, but will also develop deeper knowledge for the Army’s future employment of more advanced autonomous system capabilities.

Robert Mohacsi, Senior Commercial Manager for Defence Systems at HORIBA MIRA, said:

“Autonomous systems present the British Army with game changing capabilities, redefining how we will conduct future operations. Building on more than a decade of experience in deploying autonomous technology into military applications, HORIBA MIRA has applied an agile and fast track approach that will enable the army to field this equipment and meet its critical objectives. We are immensely proud that VIKING, with its market leading capability, has been selected to support this critical programme.”

Speaking on award of the contract, Mike Stewart, Director for Research Experimentation and Innovation for QinetiQ said:

“Working to the principles of “Prototype Warfare”, as adopted by the British Army, the Joint Tactical Autonomous Resupply and Replenishment (JTARR) risk-reduction contract is a prime example of how QinetiQ is taking an agile approach to delivering solutions into the hands of the military for evaluation whilst continuing spiralled capability development.”