5. Stakeholder and Communications

5. Stakeholder and Communications

We are working towards becoming an increasingly customer-focused transport service.

We are seeking to enhance the service provided to our stakeholders by improving our understanding of their priorities.

Who are our Customers and Stakeholders?

The trunk road network has a wide variety of customers including drivers, communities which the trunk road passes through, transport industry bodies and utility companies.

We have several stakeholders, including Scottish Ministers, neighbouring roads authorities and our supply chain. It is our responsibility to ensure that relationships are constructive and all parties collaborate in achieving the asset management objectives.

Understanding our Customers

Transport Scotland has been engaging with our customers through a series of road user perception surveys for over a decade now. These surveys have provided us with a broad range of views and opinions to inform the management of the trunk road network, and identified current road user priorities and satisfaction levels. This enables us to ensure our business aims, objectives and targets continue to align with your priorities and expectations.

Communicating with our Customers

Effective communication is crucial to ensure that customers understand our priorities and are aware of any potential impacts on their use of the trunk road network. This needs to be done in a clear, consistent and constructive way which is relevant to a range of customers with a number of different requirements. We have built up an extensive network of contacts who have interests in the trunk road network, such as transport groups, local authorities and community councils, and use this to ensure that our messages reach the required audience.

Our Plans for the Future

We know that effective engagement is key to us achieving our asset management objectives. We already use a wide range of methods – including social media, press releases and community engagement events, to communicate with our customers and stakeholders. We are developing a Customer Strategy which will set out how and when we engage with our stakeholders. This will ensure that customers receive information that is appropriate to their needs and at a time which gives sufficient notice to respond accordingly. It will also help our customers to understand how best to contact us.