ICE responds to Queen’s speech
Commenting on the Queen’s speech delivered this morning, ICE director general Tom Foulkes called for Government to install confidence in industry by providing further clarity around the proposed Green Bank and new planning regime.
Commenting on the Queen’s speech delivered this morning, ICE director general Tom Foulkes called for Government to install confidence in industry by providing further clarity around the proposed Green Bank and new planning regime.
He said: “We will need extensive investment in the UK’s infrastructure in the next decade, estimated to be in the realm of £40-50 bn pa with a growing proportion needing to come from private investors, and at this stage ICE is yet to be convinced that the Government’s Green Bank is ambitious enough to meet the challenge. ICE has long campaigned for a secure funding institution to leverage private investment needed to meet the goals outlined in the Queen’s speech, notably, a secure, clean energy supply and improved capacity in our transport system.
“This must be backed up by an efficient planning system that installs confidence in industry by providing a fair and predictable fast-tracked route for key projects. Without having these key institutions in place – a secure mechanism for attracting private funding, an efficient planning system and a method for establishing future infrastructure priorities, currently the aim of the National Planning Statements - this Government will find it hard to attract the private investment necessary to deliver the projects that will underpin the UK’s economic growth and shift to a low carbon economy.”
To find out more about ICE’s respond on specific areas of the Queen’s speech, read the press release.