Whoever forms the next government will assume responsibility for infrastructure at a crucial time for ensuring it delivers the outcomes the public and the country needs.
This includes cleaner energy and transport. Two thirds of UK emissions come from economic infrastructure. Infrastructure is also key to unlocking economic growth around the country, adapting to climate change and improving people’s day to day lives.
The outcomes achieved over the next UK parliament will determine whether the country can meet many of its longer term targets, including the 2050 net zero goal. The ICE believes that to ensure this, the priorities for the next government are:
- Prioritise public engagement and enable behaviour change to cut carbon emissions, improve people’s health and wellbeing and avoid relying on unproven technologies to achieve net zero
- Make the Adaptation Reporting Power of the UK Climate Change Act mandatory for all infrastructure owners and operators to ensure the most pressing climate risks are addressed first
- Develop a national transport strategy for England to clarify long term plans for transport and align investments with wider strategic goals
- Work with regional leaders to review rail projects in the North and Midlands to address gaps in capacity and connectivity left by the cancellation of the northern leg of High Speed 2.
Many of these issues are covered in the National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC’s) second National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA2), which should be the focus for planning infrastructure investment over the next parliament.
An updated NationalInfrastructure Strategy based on the recommendations in NIA2 will provide long term visibility and confidence to investors and the construction supply chain. It will also clarify the UK’s infrastructure ambitions.
There is growing evidence that when the NIC’s advice is followed, the UK makes progress on its long term goals
The infrastructure planning framework now in place is centred on independent and impartial advice from the NIC and is a good starting place. It provides a clear, well evidenced plan for decision makers to use. There is growing evidence that, when the NIC’s advice is followed, the UK makes progress on its long term goals and the public sees the benefits.
Making the NIC a statutory body would improve strategic infrastructure planning and increase accountability for ensuring infrastructure delivers needed outcomes. Greater accountability is key because in many areas progress is off-track. How infrastructure is planned, financed and delivered needs to be strengthened.
Last year’s decision to freeze capital budgets in cash terms from 2025/26, instead of increasing them in line with inflation, effectively means a cut in infrastructure spending. If investment does not cover the cost of inflation, it will be much harder for the UK to achieve its wider strategic goals.
Decisions about what infrastructure gets built should give more weight to the social, economic and environmental benefits projects will deliver over their lifetime – not just initial capital cost. While it is important that public money is used wisely, people support investing in infrastructure when they can see how it will improve their lives.
But building infrastructure in the UK does cost too much and take too long. The next government must work with the industry to continue improving the efficiency of infrastructure delivery. Many of the tools to deliver projects faster, cheaper and more sustainably already exist, such as the Construction Playbook. But they will only be effective if their use is standardised.
Meeting the UK’s strategic goals needs long term planning. Businesses and communities that rely on infrastructure services need certainty to maximise the wider societal benefits of investment. The next parliament is crucial.
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