Failure to go further, faster over the next five years on plans for infrastructure delivery could constrain economic growth and threaten climate targets, according to the government’s official infrastructure advisers.
Noting the UK has faced several years of disruption from Covid and the cost-of-living crisis, the National Infrastructure Commission’s annual review charts a mixed picture of progress towards key infrastructure goals.
It found although the share of electricity generated from renewable sources has grown to a record 47% in 2023 and there have been welcome moves to accelerate the rollout of transmission infrastructure to get electricity where it is needed, but changes to the planning system for onshore wind developments are not sufficient for this source to meet its potential.
Updated National Policy Statements for energy, national networks and water resources should ensure faster decision making on major projects, but opportunities remain to go further by expanding community benefits for hosting infrastructure and reducing duplicative environmental assessments.
The Commission’s Infrastructure Progress Review 2024 calls for a concerted catch up programme accelerating policy implementation and delivery to ensure the country’s infrastructure is fit for the future.
In its recent National Infrastructure Assessment, the Commission calculated public investment in infrastructure will need to reach around £30bn a year over the coming decades (from around £20 bn a year in the past decade), alongside an uplift in private investment to around £50bn a year.
Writing in the report’s foreword, Commission chair Sir John Armitt bills the next five years as a “a critical period for making decisions on things that are of immediate concern to the public – the three Ps of prices, potholes and pollution”.
He said: “A window remains to ensure that practical delivery plans are in place, backed up by the necessary public and private funding, to help achieve economic and environmental goals that will improve life for British households.
“But the window is closing, at least if we don’t want to delay those benefits and compound the disruption of recent years.”