The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 5 December included some positive news on infrastructure investment and progress on the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP), including many calls made by ICE over the past two years.
The statement announced a £5bn increase in capital spending targeting a host of road building, health and education, and science programmes, with a number of projects in the infrastructure pipeline getting the green light.
Within this, the devolved administrations will benefit from additional capital funding over the course of the current spending review. The Scottish Government will receive an additional £394m of capital funding, the Welsh Government an additional £227m, and the Northern Ireland Executive an additional £132m.
ICE has worked with Infrastructure UK and other government departments to provide expert advice on the NIP, arguing the economic and social case for investment in infrastructure, and the areas of priority. The State of the Nation provided a clear assessment of the needs in all sectors of UK infrastructure, and the impact of not investing in these areas. ICE has also led the debate on infrastructure investment, and the need to create vehicles to attract private investment from financial institutions and funds.
Key calls have now been answered on:
- Additional funding for repair and maintenance of highways
- A commitment to use the infrastructure pipeline to grow skills and capability in key sectors
- Updated project list and performance measures
- The announcement of the new PF2 funding model
ICE continues to work with Infrastructure UK and Treasury to identify the blockers to delivery of the NIP, to ensure transport, energy, water and waste infrastructure programmes can be financed, planned and delivered to meet the UK’s future needs.
Highlights of the Autumn Statement included:
- Additional £1.5bn funding to enhance and improve the road network and reduce congestion. This includes new road projects such as upgrades to the A1, M25 and A30, and extra funding for repairs and maintenance to the road network
- Commitment to use the project pipeline to grow skills and capability in key civil engineering sectors
- Additional £120million funding for flood defences
ICE responded to the Statement with a media comment from Director General Nick Baveystock:
“Clearly government has heeded the advice of many across the industry to increase capital expenditure on infrastructure and get ‘shovel ready’ road schemes moving – demonstrating to investors that the National Infrastructure Plan is leading to visible activity. The danger however, as with the £5bn capital boost announced this time last year, is that this will fail to materialise and breed further scepticism. The Highways Agency will have a crucial role to play here, accelerating the delivery of the schemes while still ensuring they deliver value for money.
“Progressing short term projects to stimulate jobs and growth is vital, but it is important to remember that the NIP was intended as a long term plan, with 70% of investment to come from the private sector. We’ve seen a raft of potentially useful initiatives to help facilitate that - around pensions, planning, guarantees, ownership and funding arrangements and we also now have a pipeline of future projects. We in the industry need to keep a close eye on how these initiatives are progressing and be ready to work with government to propose new ideas if they aren’t working.
“I’m therefore pleased that Paul Deighton’s first duty as a Treasury Minister will be to be produce an assessment of Whitehall’s ability to deliver infrastructure and look forward to contributing to this review.”