The RAC Foundation ( The Royal Automobile Club Foundation for Motoring ) is a registered charity .
48-417: It is a transport policy and research organisation that explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their users. It publishes independent and authoritative research with which it promotes informed debate and advocates policy in the interests of the responsible motorist. It was established as the research arm of RAC Motoring Services Ltd in 1991, when Motoring Services
96-489: A 30-year timescale. The 2014 prize was announced on 3 September 2014 at an awards ceremony in London. The Winner was David Rudlin of URBED , assisted by Nicholas Falk (also URBED) and with input from Jon Rowland (John Rowland Urban Design), Joe Ravetz (Manchester University) and Peter Redman (managing director, policy and research at TradeRisks Ltd). His concept revolved around the expansion and "greening" of existing cities, in
144-787: A Command and Control system. The National Customer Service Awards' recognized the system with the 'Best Use of Technology in Customer Service' award in October 2004. Aviva acquired RAC plc for around £1.1 billion in March 2005. They sold some parts of the business for £500m, including RAC Auto Windscreens in December 2008, and BSM to a German company in January 2009. BSM was later sold to Acromas Holdings, which owns The Automobile Association . Aviva ceased providing loans under
192-420: A Community Trust for the long term. Local people would be offered unique opportunities to invest in the city, including through buying shares. • Wei Yang & Partners in collaboration with Buro Happold Consulting Engineers, led by Pat Willoughby. Wei Yang & Partners is a London-based practice with an international portfolio of master planning, town planning, urban design and architectural projects. Dr Yang
240-411: A board of six trustees including Neville Jackson who sits as its chair. The Public Policy Committee, also chaired by Neville Jackson, is an advisory body consisting of approximately a dozen members with relevant transport experience and interests, mainly drawn from academia, politics and business. The committee is consulted about research, strategy, major campaigns and future policy. Day-to-day activity
288-410: A contest that offered a £250,000 reward "for an individual to come up with a plan for how the euro could be safely dismantled." The deadline was set on 31 January 2012. Wolfson, at the launch, stated: There is now a real possibility that political or economic pressure may force one or more states to leave the euro. If this process is mismanaged it could threaten European savings , employment and
336-486: A day to assist. The office is based near Lyon, in Villeurbanne, France. RAC Vehicle Checks and Examinations conduct vehicle checks that show if a car has been stolen, written off, has outstanding finance or previous plates, is at risk of being sold illegally, and that its number plate and chassis number correspond. RAC Vehicle Checks are conducted by Experian, while RAC Examinations Inspectors make physical checks on
384-498: A distance-based charge collected by insurers might eventually replace fuel duty and VED as revenue falls with the greening of the vehicle fleet. In June 2018 it was announced that The RAC Foundation was to receive £480,000 of funding from the Department for Transport to support its Road Collision Investigation Project with the aim of trialling "an innovative new approach to road casualty investigation, looking more closely at what
432-603: A former director of Colin Buchanan and Partners. For 12 years he was a main board member of Sainsbury's , first as logistics director and latterly as joint managing director. In July 2013, Quarmby was replaced as chair by Joe Greenwell CBE, the former chair of Ford UK. Greenwell had previously been: Vice President, Government Affairs, Premier Automotive Group and Ford of Europe; Chairman and CEO of Jaguar and Land Rover; and Vice President, Marketing and Operations, Ford Motor Company. The current chair Is Neville Jackson who took up
480-589: A new garden city on the Hoo Peninsula (Medway, Kent) commencing with a settlement of up to 48,000 people (about the size of Welwyn Garden City) at Stoke Harbour as part of a larger cluster of settlements eventually totaling 150,000 people.) The entry proposes a model designed to attract massive private investment into the provision of high quality homes, jobs, services and infrastructure. The delivery model prioritises speed and volume over profit margins, aims to acquire land at low cost and transfer valuable assets to
528-559: A number of wins, including winning the BTCC Independent Drivers Championship with Colin Turkington in 2007 , 2008 and 2009 . Turkington was also able to clinch the outright win in the 2009 BTCC Drivers Championship for Team RAC. For 2010 , RAC reduced their level of sponsorship with the team. Wolfson Economics Prize The Wolfson Economics Prize is a £250,000 economics prize,
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#1732772590466576-409: A private club owned by its members until sold in 1999, eventually acquired in 2014 and 2015 by GIC Private Limited and CVC Capital Partners . The RAC's main competitors are The AA and Green Flag . The Royal Automobile Club was formed in 1897 by Frederick Richard Simms , which set up an "associate section" to provide members roadside assistance and motoring services. The club incorporated
624-414: A rebalancing of the economy away from reliance on net exports would be in the interests of the whole of the current membership of the eurozone, as well as countries outside it". The short list of finalists was: On 5 July 2012, Policy Exchange announced that the winning entry was submitted by the team led by Roger Bootle from macroeconomics research consultancy firm Capital Economics , titled Leaving
672-460: A transaction valuing the RAC at £1.4 billion. The RAC has around 2,000 patrols that attend 2.8 million breakdowns each year, this includes overseas breakdowns with RAC Europe. The RAC covers eight million roadside assistance customers, with 2.2 million individual members and 4.5 million corporate customers. Their breakdown assistance centres operate 24/7 , and deal with approximately four millions calls
720-463: A way which did not disturb their existing centres or green spaces. The UK Government responded quickly. Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis , stated "we are committed to protecting the green belt from development as an important protection against urban sprawl – today’s proposal from Lord Wolfson’s competition is not government policy and will not be taken up". On 18 October 2011, British businessman and Conservative life peer Simon Wolfson launched
768-539: A year. They have introduced, for trial, two hybrid vehicles , to cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions. In May 2009, a survey by J.D. Power ranked the RAC highest in "satisfying roadside assistance customers" for the fourth consecutive year. RAC Europe is breakdown cover for customers from the United Kingdom that travel to Europe. RAC Europe covers forty seven European countries, and provides English speaking Incident Managers, available twenty four hours
816-519: Is Steve Gooding CB who took up the post in May 2015, taking over from Stephen Glaister who was in the role from April 2008 before leaving to take up a non-executive directorship at the Office of Rail and Road, where he subsequently became chair. Gooding had previously been director general of roads, traffic and local group at the Department for Transport and led the work that resulted in the transformation of
864-565: Is a development professional with over 30 years' experience and has entered in a personal capacity with the support of Golding Homes. His entry argues that a garden city should accommodate between 30,000 and 40,000 people (about the size of Letchworth) and that its delivery should be led by Garden City Development Corporations. • David Rudlin of URBED , with Nicholas Falk (also URBED) and input from Jon Rowland (John Rowland Urban Design), Joe Ravetz (Manchester University) and Peter Redman (managing director, policy and research at TradeRisks Ltd). URBED
912-625: Is also advising the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on its urbanization programme. Their entry argues that an 'arc' beyond the London Green Belt (stretching from Portsmouth to Oxford to Cambridge to Felixstowe) is the best location for the development of new garden cities; and that the Government should publish a New Garden Cities Strategy identifying broad 'areas of search' for suitable locations, with
960-454: Is an urban design and research practice. David's entry argues for the near-doubling of an existing large town in line with garden city principles, to provide new housing for 150,000 people (about the size of Oxford or Canterbury). The entry offers a proof of this 'urban extension' concept based on a fictional town called Uxcester. • Shelter, the leading housing and homelessness charity, led by their Head of Policy Toby Lloyd. This entry proposes
1008-401: Is chief executive of clothing retailer Next . He is the son of former Next chairman David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale , also a Conservative life peer . The organisers determined that submissions should focus on: The panel of judges who would decide on the award was as follows: Some of the world's top economists were among the participants with a total of 425 entries. Among
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#17327725904661056-474: Is fair to road users and good for the economy and the environment?” The organisers determined that submissions should focus on: The panel of judges who decided the award is as follows: Gergely Raccuja of Highways England won the prize with the input of the RAC Foundation On 14 November 2013, Simon Wolfson announced that he intended to offer a new £250,000 Prize to the entrant who best answers
1104-599: Is managed by the director and various permanent staff. The foundation's research falls into four main categories: economics, environment, mobility and safety. All of the research is available on the RAC Foundation website including interactive and automatically updated data charts relating to such things as fuel prices and the take up of ultra-low emission vehicles. Some research is carried out in-house. The foundation also commissions experts in their field to investigate key areas of transport policy. In 2010 and 2011
1152-456: Is really causing road collisions." Key publications and research include: RAC plc RAC Limited ( The RAC ) is a British automotive services company headquartered in Walsall , West Midlands . Its principal services are roadside assistance and general insurance, and its subsidiaries include RAC Motoring Services Ltd, RAC Financial Services Ltd and RAC Insurance Limited. It was
1200-620: Is the UK's largest independent planning led town-planning and design consultancy. Barton Willmore's entry sets out a ten-point plan for the delivery of a new garden city, arguing for the development of a cross-party consensus and the production of a National Spatial Plan to identify suitable locations for new garden cities. Garden City Mayors, heading up Garden City Commissions, would be appointed to champion garden cities and find specific locations for development. • Chris Blundell FRICS FCIH , Director of Development & Regeneration at Golding Homes. Chris
1248-529: The Memorial University of Newfoundland , Canada, proposed a return to the gold standard . In his Daily Telegraph column, business journalist Jeremy Warner suggested that "there is no need for an award", since he has a "very simple plan": In any country that decided to leave the Eurozone, each euro would be swapped for one "new euro" plus units in the country's new currency in proportion to
1296-432: The 2014 Prize was Monday 3 March 2014. Entrants were asked to submit an essay on the topic of up to 10,000 words (plus a 1,000 word non-technical summary). The panel of judges who would decide on the award is as follows: On 14 April, Simon Wolfson announced that there had been 279 entries to the 2014 competition. The finalists were announced on 4 June 2014 and were: • Barton Willmore , led by James Gross. Barton Willmore
1344-554: The 2017 Wolfson Economics Prize was "How can we pay for better, safer, more reliable roads in a way that is fair to road users and good for the economy and the environment?” It was won by Gergely Raccuja, a graduate transport planner at Amey . For the 2021 edition, the Prize question is "How would you design and plan new hospitals to radically improve patient experiences, clinical outcomes, staff wellbeing and integration with wider health and social care?" The 2021 Wolfson Economics Prize
1392-712: The Euro: A Practical Guide . The proposal recommended that member-states who want to exit should introduce a new currency and default on a large part of their debts. The net effect, the proposal claimed, would be "positive for growth and prosperity". It called for keeping the euro for small transactions and for a short period of time after the exit from the Eurozone , along with a strict regime of inflation-targeting and tough fiscal rules monitored by "independent experts". The Roger Bootle/Capital Economics plan also suggested that "key officials" should meet "in secret" one month before
1440-842: The Highways Agency into Highways England. He started with the Civil Service in 1983 and moved into the central transport department in 1988 where he worked until joining the foundation except for periods spent in the Cabinet Office, the Government Office for London and the Office of the Rail Regulator. The foundation's first director was Edmund King . He later left to become president of the Automobile Association. The first chair of
1488-543: The RAC brand name in January 2008, and dissolved its partnership with The Co-operative Bank . Aviva sold the RAC to The Carlyle Group in June 2011. Although Carlyle had planned a stock market flotation for the RAC, in September 2014 Carlyle agreed to sell almost half its stake to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Limited . In December 2015, Carlyle agreed to sell its remaining stake to CVC Capital Partners , in
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1536-411: The associate section as R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in 1978. In 1987, the organisation introduced an "Advanced Computer Aided Rescue System". In 1991, it established the RAC Foundation as its research arm. The RAC Foundation was later turned into a charity, and received a legacy from Royal Automobile Club members when R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. was sold in 1999. British School of Motoring (BSM)
1584-592: The car to make sure it is mechanically and structurally sound. The RAC also provides travel and traffic services including online route planners, in car navigation and help with travel documents. In 2006 , RAC teamed up with WSR (West Surrey Racing) to form Team RAC and to race in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) with two MG ZS cars and from 2007 onwards, two (and sometimes three) BMW E90 320si cars. The racing cars were liveried in RAC's corporate orange and have achieved
1632-539: The country's share of eurozone GDP. For instance, if Greece were to leave, the euro would be split 97.5 percent "new euro" and 2.5 percent "new drachmas". Capital Economics, in their entry, stated that a country contemplating leaving the euro would have to "keep its plans secret until the last minute," introduce capital controls , start "printing" a new currency only after formal exit, seek a large depreciation , default on its debts, recapitalise busted banks and seek close co-operation with remaining eurozone members. "Such
1680-566: The entrants was 11-year-old Jurre Hermans from the Netherlands who, notably, likened Greek debt to a pizza . Hermans' plan suggested that Greeks should be incentivised to return euros for debt repayment and, if they did not, should be fined at least the equivalent of what they held back. Returned euros would form, according to Hermans, what he described as "a giant pizza of money, slices of which would be handed back to creditors". Antal E. Fekete , Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at
1728-444: The exit is publicly announced, and that Eurozone partners and international organisations should be informed "three days before". Roger Bootle said, after the announcement, "if executed correctly, the pain of exit would relatively soon be replaced by a return to growth," something that would encourage other distressed states still in the currency zone to exit as well, adding "The biggest danger of contagion will be if Greece makes
1776-533: The foundation was Sir Christopher Foster (Cantab), an academic at the University of Oxford and MIT, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics, a consultant at Coopers & Lybrand, and then PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a temporary civil servant. He was a special adviser to Barbara Castle , Dick Marsh, Tony Crosland and Peter Shore . Foster was followed in 2003 by David Holmes CB who
1824-605: The foundation was one of the sponsors of the RAC Brighton to London Future Car Challenge . The foundation analysed the data collected from the low carbon cars that completed the run and published its conclusions in Shades of Green (2010) and The Green Charge (2011). In 2017 the foundation contributed to Gergely Raccuja's winning entry in the Wolfson Economics Prize . The work - Miles Bette r - explored how
1872-679: The position in April 2020. Between 2010 and 2019 Jackson was the chief technology and innovation officer at the engineering and environmental consultancy firm Ricardo PLC. A visiting professor at the University of Brighton, Jackson is also a non-executive director of the UK Advanced Propulsion Centre. Trained as a mechanical engineer at Imperial College, London, he is a previous chair of the UK Low Carbon Vehicles Partnership. The foundation has
1920-588: The potential impact on the international banking system. The contest was organised by Policy Exchange , the London-based British think tank . Policy Exchange has been described as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the Right ". Policy Exchange describes itself as "an independent, non-partisan educational charity seeking free market and localist solutions to public policy questions." Simon Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Aspley Guise ,
1968-499: The question "How would you deliver a new Garden City which is visionary, economically viable, and popular?" He had previously expressed an interest in this topic in an article in The Times on 4 December 2012, and garden cities had in 2012 been cited as credible responses to the UK's housing shortage by both David Cameron and Nick Clegg , the UK's Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister respectively. The deadline for submissions to
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2016-441: The second largest economics prize in the world after Nobel. The Wolfson Prize is sponsored by The Baron Wolfson of Aspley Guise , CEO of retailer Next plc , and run in partnership with the think tank Policy Exchange . The Prize invites new thinking to address major economic policy issues that aren't already subject to significant public discourse. The Prize has been run on four occasions in 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2021. The 2012 Prize
2064-453: The stability of the international banking system . This prize aims to ensure that high quality economic thought is given to how the euro might be restructured into more stable currencies. Consideration will need to be given to what a post-euro eurozone would look like, how transition could be achieved and how the interests of employment, savers, and debtors would be balanced. Importantly, careful consideration must also be given to managing
2112-468: Was a contest for proposals on how the Eurozone could be safely dismantled. The contest ended on 5 July 2012, when the Capital Economics team, led by Roger Bootle , won the prize. The 2014 Prize asked the question "How would you deliver a new Garden City which is visionary, economically viable, and popular?” It was won by David Rudlin of urban design consultancy, URBED. The question for
2160-460: Was formerly director of government and industry affairs at British Airways and prior to that held several senior positions in the Department for Transport, including deputy secretary with responsibility for roads and traffic. Holmes was succeeded in July 2009 by David Quarmby, a consultant in transport, planning, economics and tourism. He was previously a non-executive director of NedRailways (UK) and
2208-401: Was launched on 25 February 2021, and looks at hospital planning and design. Six judges will review entries to determine the finalists and the eventual winner of the £250,000 Prize. These are as follows: The 2017 Wolfson Economics Prize was launched on 13 October 2016 and looked at the future of roads. The full question was "How can we pay for better, safer, more reliable roads in a way that
2256-570: Was owned by the Royal Automobile Club . In 1999, when Motoring Services was sold by the club, the foundation became an independent organisation. It later gained charitable status. The foundation was formed in 1991. It became independent of RAC Motoring Services in 1999 and received a legacy from the members of the Royal Automobile who had sold RAC Motoring Services. It subsequently became a charity. The current director
2304-750: Was purchased by R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in December 1998. The RAC moved into a bespoke control centre at the M4 / M5 interchange in Almondsbury in 1994, designed by Grimshaw Architects . In 1999, R.A.C. Motoring Services was sold by the members of the Royal Automobile Club to Lex Service for £437m, with each of the 12,000 members receiving £34,000, and each of the 4,000 RAC Motoring Services staff receiving £1,000. Lex Service renamed themselves RAC plc in 2002. In October 2000, RAC purchased Intergraph 's Computer Aided Dispatch System (I/CAD),
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