The use of a drone means Highways England can view progress in 3D quality across a much larger area. This approach reduces the amount of lane closures that teams carrying out upgrade work usually require, in turn reducing disruption to motorists.

Once footage is downloaded, specialists can use the imagery to see detailed progress on gantries, foundations and other structures. This information can then be used to inform decisions around planned closures and to help plan future work and equipment required.

The technology is currently in use on the multi-million pound upgrade of the M6 between junctions 2 and 4 near Coventry and has also been used on the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon upgrade taking place in the East of England.

Highways England Drone Footage

Highways England Smart Motorway sponsor Peter Smith said:

Safety is our top priority and we constantly pioneer ways of using new technology to keep people safe while we do this work.

The drone is a fantastic piece of kit that provides us with detailed insight into scheme progress across a large area of the works in a much quicker and efficient way.

It surveys up to 10km in a single day and then creates an accurate 3D model of the works in just one hour. Ordinarily, inspections by road workers require lane closures for safety reasons and can take up to several days. By using the drone we are able to reduce lane closures because we can scan a much larger area in a quicker period of time.

Teams working on the M6 upgrade are making good progress and have so far notched up more than 1.1 million hours.

A new concrete central reservation barrier is currently being installed that prevents traffic from crossing to the opposite side of the carriageway.

Once complete, the new-look stretch of the M6 will feature:

• three controlled motorway lanes, retaining the hard shoulder from junctions 3a to 4 where the motorway will tie into the existing controlled motorway 
• a four-lane smart motorway between junctions 2 to 3a with a hard shoulder next to the current ‘climbing lane’ travelling eastbound 
• installation of new electronic information signs and signals, radar detection and CCTV cameras – these will be used to vary speed limits which allow management of traffic flow and incidents 
• nine emergency areas to use in place of the hard shoulder 
• improved central reserve barrier made of concrete to improve safety 
• two new noise barriers at Potter’s Green and Goodyers End and low noise surfacing on the road

Elsewhere, Highways England has recently completed a £265 million project to add extra lanes and new technology to a 19-mile stretch of the motorway between Crewe and Knutsford – the most significant change since the M6 first opened in Cheshire in 1963.

A fourth lane has been introduced in each direction and a total of 258 electronic signs, 104 traffic sensors and 70 CCTV cameras will help tackle congestion and improve journey times for around 120,000 drivers every day.

The upgrade is the first of four smart motorway schemes to be finished that will increase the M6’s capacity by a third on 60 miles of the motorway between Coventry and Wigan.

And there’s also good news for motorists in North Tyneside with more than 80,000 drivers a day are experiencing safer and smoother journeys thanks to the opening of the North East’s first ever triple decker junction.

The £75 million Highways England Coast Road scheme has been opened on time and traffic is now able to use the new section of road. This means that drivers will no longer have to negotiate the roundabout and can continue straight on along the A19.

All pilots are CAA approved and operate with legal guidelines.

General enquiries

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

Media enquiries

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 Regulator of Social Housing’s Sector risk profile 2019 published today (15 October 2019) highlights that strategic and operational risks facing the social housing sector are on the rise.

This is the seventh year of the annual publication, which is designed to help registered providers, board members and others to understand the operating environment and to think strategically about how their organisation can manage its risks.

The most significant risks that boards must manage and mitigate include:

• health and safety compliance – all providers have an obligation to act to ensure the homes they provide are safe for tenants and they must also fulfil their legal duty of care to their staff

• stock condition and asset management – investment should be based on a good, evidenced understanding of the overall condition of stock underpinned by up-to-date data

• market sales exposure – the implications of the market cycle and a slowdown in some geographical areas on providers’ cash flow and development plans should be considered

• reputational risk – business decisions, performance and probity across all areas of operation and board and executive members’ conduct should have regard to the expectations of all stakeholders

• rents – strategies and business plans need to cope with changes in housing policy and related areas including welfare reform.

Fiona MacGregor, Chief Executive of RSH said:

Alongside some weakness in demand in the housing market and the need to respond to evolving building safety requirements, this year’s Sector risk profile highlights the importance of adequately investing in existing stock, as well as ensuring necessary scrutiny of the build quality of new stock. This includes satisfying statutory health and safety requirements and effectively managing all outsourcing arrangements, and demands high-quality data on the condition of properties. Failure in these areas not only puts tenants’ health and lives at risk but also has major reputational risks to both the provider and the sector as a whole.

The Sector risk profile outlines key risks for boards to consider when stress testing their organisations. It also emphasises the importance of robust, data-based stress testing to underpin effective risk and mitigation strategies.

The regulator’s annual Sector risk profiles are available on the SRP collections page.

Further information

For press office contact details, see our Media enquiries page. For general queries, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.

Notes to editors

1. For more information, please see the regulatory standards and Quarterly survey webpages.
2. RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants. For more information about RSH, visit the RSH website.

The United Kingdom aligns itself with the statement delivered by the European Union. Allow me to make some further remarks in a national capacity.

Mr Chair

2019 has been an important year for disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. It marks the centenary of multilateral disarmament diplomacy under the auspices first of the League of Nations, and latterly of the United Nations. It is also 40 years since two key elements of the multilateral disarmament machinery – the Conference on Disarmament and the UN Disarmament Commission – began their work, following the landmark decision of the First Special Session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament in 1978.

We also celebrate 20 years since the entry into force of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and look forward to an important Review Conference in Oslo next month. Next year, as we all know, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the entry into force of the cornerstone of the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The UK has played a central, constructive and active role in this multilateral architecture from the very beginning, and continues to do so today.

This year, in particular, as President of the Conference on Disarmament, the UK tabled a draft Decision that would have taken forward the important work of the 2018 Subsidiary Bodies and helped move the Conference on Disarmament closer to developing negotiating mandates on its four core agenda items. The Decision had strong support from across the membership but was blocked by a small number of States. We will continue our efforts to get the Conference on Disarmament back to work in 2020.

We will continue to work with any and all other interested States to find ways of strengthening the multilateral disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation machinery we have so painstakingly built together over the last century, so that it remains an essential part of the international rules based system for the next generations.

As an important element of this, consistent with its role as a champion of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, the UK also remains committed to promoting the meaningful representation of women in disarmament and arms control processes, at all stages in the process, and particularly in leadership roles.

Mr Chair

This architecture can only really fulfil its function, though, if it is fully, effectively, transparently and verifiably implemented. Full compliance with all obligations is essential to build trust and confidence and to allow further meaningful steps to be taken. Unfortunately, that central tenet of multilateral diplomacy is under attack.

Russia’s responsibility for the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty demonstrates its disregard for arms control agreements and its increasingly dangerous and destabilising activity around Europe. The missiles Russia has secretly developed and deployed in violation of the INF are mobile and hard to detect. They can reach European cities with little or no warning and thus reduce the threshold for nuclear use. Russia’s repeated denials and attempts to distort the facts through a concerted disinformation campaign on this and other issues are a threat to diplomacy and one we must stand firmly against.

The Syrian regime has used chemical weapons in direct contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention, representing a clear threat to global peace and security. We cannot leave these direct assaults on international norms unchallenged. This is why the UK supports the work of the Investigation and Identification Team established by the OPCW to identify the perpetrators who use chemical weapons. This is an important step to ensure accountability, deter future attacks and thereby prevent further weakening of the norm. It builds upon the Decision reached in The Hague in June last year and demonstrates the international community’s commitment to reinforcing chemical weapons controls.

The DPRK have illegally developed a nuclear weapons programme and proliferated arms globally. The UK welcomes discussions between the US and the DPRK but maintains the view that sanctions need to remain strictly implemented until concrete steps toward complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation are taken. We are willing to lend our expertise to aid in the denuclearisation process.

We continue to support the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and call on Iran to fully implement its commitments. We are deeply concerned by Iran’s reductions in compliance and urge them to recommit to the deal. The system of IAEA inspections which underpins Iran’s commitment to enhanced verification and inspections is one of the most extensive and robust in the history of international nuclear accords, and Iran must continue to facilitate all Agency access and information requests. We fully support the Agency’s crucial independent, technical monitoring and reporting activities.

We also register our concern about Iran’s wider missile programmes, which pose a threat to European security and are destabilising for the region, and call upon Iran to adhere to the restrictions on missile development and proliferation in UNSCRs 2231 and 2216.

Mr Chair

Let me say a few words now about the UK’s main priorities for our work in the coming weeks.

First, we will continue to support the strengthening of the nuclear non-proliferation framework and to prepare for a successful outcome of the NPT Review Conference in 2020. The UK reiterates its strong support for the NPT and the step-by-step approach towards nuclear disarmament. We will look to remind the international community that the NPT continues to be an effective and vital part of the international security architecture; and to highlight the UK’s own strong track record promoting disarmament, non-proliferation, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, as a responsible Nuclear Weapon State.

Second, we will also play an active part in discussions on Outer Space. Across space systems, it is necessary to consider how communications, intent and behaviour can support a safe space environment. We encourage nations to work with us to develop a new concept that addresses the challenges in space as it is today, rather than the outdated notions of thirty years ago.

The UK will make more detailed statements on these and the other important issues on the Committee’s agenda during the thematic debate.

Mr Chair, the erosion of norms against the use of weapons of mass destruction, and the proliferation of WMD and their means of delivery, threatens every member of the international community. Each and every one of us needs to step up to address the threat. It will take collective engagement to uphold the counter-proliferation and disarmament architecture. We must persevere in the face of today’s challenges to safeguard global peace and security.

Date: Thursday 24 October 2019

Venue: Estádio do Dragão, Porto

Kick off time: 5:55pm (local time)

As well as this advice, check out our travel advice for Portugal

Passports and visas

• you don’t need a visa to travel to Portugal, but your passport should be valid for the period of your stay
• you must show some form of identification if asked by the police or judicial authorities; in most cases, it should be sufficient to carry a photocopy of the data page of your passport, but you can be asked to produce the original document
• if you lose your passport, you can apply for an emergency travel document online; you will have to collect the document from the Consulate in Lisbon or Portimão; travel from Porto to Lisbon takes at least 4 hours and to Portimão at least 8, so remember to factor this in to your travel arrangements
• remember to bring your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) but also take out travel insurance even if you’re only going for a short period, it could save you a lot of money if you get into difficulties

Getting to the stadium

• the nearest airport to the stadium is Porto
• if you’re arriving at another airport, there are trains and buses to Porto; the main railway station in Porto is Campanhã and the bus station is at Praça de Batalha; domestic flights to Porto from Lisbon and Faro are operated by TAP Air Portugal and Ryanair
• you can reach the city centre from the airport by underground (Metro); to get into the city, take the purple line to Trindade, then the yellow line to Aliados or São Bento; or stay on the purple line to Bolhão or Campo 24 de Agosto
• the stadium has a Metro station (Estádio do Dragão); four lines (green, red, purple and blue) terminate at the stadium; you can buy ticket cards from vending machines in the entrance hall; add as many fares to the card as you think you may need, or just add as you go along; swipe the card before getting on the train to validate your journey; buy one card per person; see Porto Metro’s website for more information
• for information generally on Porto’s public transport system, see Porto’s tourism website
• taxis are beige-coloured or black and green; they’re available at the airport and at taxi ranks around the city; you can flag down taxis in Portugal
• if you’re driving, you should carry your passport, valid UK driving licence, car logbook or rental contract and insurance; the police can fine you on-the-spot if you don’t have these documents
• there are tolls on Portuguese motorways; you can get a fine if you don’t pay toll fees so remember to carry enough cash with you; don’t use the green lanes (VV – Via Verde) at toll pay points; these are for motorists who subscribe to the automatic pay system; some roads in the north of Portugal and in the Algarve have electronic tolls (SCUTs); check how to pay these before you travel

At the match

• Rangers fans will be seated in the upper tier at the north end of the East Stand of the stadium in Sector 47, 48, 49 and 50; (entry by Gates 19 and 20); and Sector 19 (entry by Gate 17)
• access to the stadium can be slow – there will be ticket checks and searches carried out by stewards and/or police on entry to the stadium; to avoid last minute queues get to the stadium in good time
• no alcohol, sharp objects (including umbrellas), air horns or loudspeakers, fireworks or flares, bottles or cans, drums or video cameras in the stadium
• the authorities have the right to breathalyse on entry to the stadium and anyone they consider too drunk may be refused entry
• children under the age of 3 will not be admitted to the stadium
• visiting supporters may be kept behind

Tips

• as in any other city beware of pickpockets and bag snatchers at airports, railway stations, around the town centres and when using public transport; only carry what you need and leave spare cash and valuables in hotel safety deposit box or split it up and carry it in different places
• there’s no time difference between the UK and Portugal

British Embassy Lisbon
Rua de São Bernardo, 33
1249-082
Lisbon

Telephone: +351 21 392 4000 (also for out of hours emergencies)

Office hours: Monday to Friday: 9am to 4.30pm

For more information, please visit British Embassy Lisbon website

Emergency services numbers: 112

Further information

Published 15 October 2019