This quarter has seen the fruits of our efforts during the summer in the run up to the Comprehensive Spending Review, where the media focus for ICE was to ensure government recognised the economic and environmental value of continued investment in infrastructure, while positioning ourselves as an organisation that was realistic about the need to reduce the huge budget deficit.
While the CSR lacked clarity in some areas such as the upscaling of renewable energy and low carbon technologies, the scope of the proposed Green Investment Bank and the depth of the transport cuts, overall we feel infrastructure got a relatively fair hearing. Government acknowledged infrastructure as a key ingredient in achieving a more prosperous and green UK economy, and committed to investing in vital projects such as Crossrail and Carbon Capture and Storage. Our media response reflected these sentiments and our comments were picked up in the Daily Telegraph, sitting alongside those of the British Chamber of Commerce.
The cuts in public funding for flood defences, however, drew a stronger reaction from ICE and concerns were raised that the level of funding does not reflect the scale of the problem in the UK and could hinder the implementation of the Floods and Water Management Act. These concerns gained considerable traction across national, regional and trade media including the Observer and key trade publications such as NCE and Planning magazine.
The water crisis in Northern Ireland during December also understandably caused a stir in the media with many homes and essential public services left without water. ICE Northern Ireland stepped up and using ICE’s State of the Nation Infrastructure 2010 report was able to provide independent analysis of the failings that occurred, and open up the discussion to wider considerations - such as the historic underinvestment in the water network, the importance of resilient infrastructure and the need to secure future funding of NI Water to ensure infrastructure improvements can be made. Many national and regional broadcast channels referenced ICE’s comments and the State of the Nation report and this is a great example of our State of the Nation reports really coming into play. In the next quarter’s media coverage report, we will see how ICE’s next State of the Nation report on waste and resource management is received in the media.
Download the full ICE quarterly media coverage report - Q4 (October - December 2010)