New chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has pledged to accelerate a long list of infrastructure projects, including the Stonehenge road tunnel, and raised the prospect of planning and regulatory reform.
Industry leaders gave a cautious welcome to the announcement, made in a type of mini-budget, but warned that similar promises have been made before.
Mr Kwarteng’s Growth Plan 2022, published on Friday, provides a long list of infrastructure projects the Government intents to prioritise for acceleration across transport and infrastructure.
It also pledges ‘reforms to accelerate roads delivery, including by consenting more through the Highways Act 1980 and by considering options for changing the Judicial Review system to avoid claims which cause unnecessary delays to delivery’.
The Government has also said it will move to tackle the UK’s ‘slow’ and ‘fragmented’ planning system to unleash the growth potential of investment in high quality infrastructure.
Alasdair Reisner, chief executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, said: ‘Any efforts to accelerate infrastructure delivery should be applauded, as ultimately this will drive much-needed economic growth.
‘However, we have seen efforts to speed up delivery by past administrations, so we hope that the new Government will work with industry to ensure the measures announced today are genuinely transformative, and will enable the UK to harness infrastructure investment to deliver a high-growth economy in the months and years ahead.’
The document provides a list infrastructure projects, including highways, rail, and local transport, ‘which will be accelerated as fast as possible, aiming to get the vast majority starting construction by the end of 2023'.
It adds: ‘These projects may benefit from acceleration through planning reform, regulatory reform, improved processes or other options to speed up their development and construction, including through development consent processes.’
However, the document also warns: ‘Presence on this list does not guarantee, where applicable, funding, planning consent or approval for other regulatory or permitting processes and the list is non-exhaustive of all projects which may benefit from acceleration.’
The highways section lists 86 projects, including many in the current Road Investment Strategy, such as the A303 at Stonehenge, which does not currently have planning permission, and the A428 Black Cat scheme, which does have development consent but has already been significantly delayed.
It also includes local authority schemes at various degrees of funding approval under the Major Road Network, and Large Local Majors funding streams.
