The nation’s leading winter service conference and exhibition, Cold Comfort, will be completely free of charge for the public sector in 2023.
Local or national highway authorities attending Cold Comfort Harrogate and Cold Comfort Scotland will pay nothing for the premium content at both events, including the latest research, innovation, case studies and resilience exercises.
This is the first time the conference has ever provided free attendance and reflects a desire from event organisers at Transport Network's sister publication, Highways magazine, to save councils money during the cost of living crisis and to support this vital work during the climate crisis.
Cold Comfort next year will also see the launch of Weather Games – thought to be the first national highways resilience exercise – which is also free to the public sector and comes at no extra charge to private sector delegates.
The news follows heavy snowfall across the UK, which has reminded the country once again how vital winter resilience services are, with local authorities rolling out the gritters to ensure key route networks supporting essential services are made passable.
Lisa Bentley, head of the transport division at Highways publisher the Hemming Group, said: ‘We are very grateful to the amazing support of both councils, national authorities and industry over the many years that we have run Cold Comfort.
‘We know that many organisations will face a challenge in their budgets right now due to inflation and we wanted to give back to this sector, which means so much to our team. That is why we have decided to make our leading event Cold Comfort free to councils and other public sector bodies. It also reflects just how crucial this work is.
‘As the climate crisis places ever greater strain on our networks and communities, we want to make sure that every council and public sector body can attend to learn best practice and network with colleagues as we ensure our country is prepared for what lies ahead.
‘Anyone registering this year will also be able to take part in our world exclusive Weather Games, sponsored by Norse Highways and delivered by Foresight Solutions, this professional resilience exercise will see the nation’s highway authorities brought together for the first time to put their resilience to the test.’
Cold Comfort 2023 takes place at the Harrogate Convention Centre on 24 and 25 May 2023
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