UK 10-year infrastructure strategy ‘welcome attempt to address ongoing challenges’

Robbie Owen, infrastructure policy and planning expert at Pinsent Masons, was commenting following the publication of the government’s 10 year infrastructure strategy (106 pages/3.9 MB). Published by HM Treasury and the newly established National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), the strategy acknowledges that the UK has fallen behind international peers in infrastructure quality and productivity, citing the need for a more coherent and long term approach.

Owen said: “The challenges posed to UK infrastructure in recent years – from short termism in funding and political decision-making, to burdensome planning and consenting processes, and the skills shortage – have been well documented. The publication of a long term infrastructure strategy represents the government’s welcome attempt to move the dial and is the product of considerable thinking, planning and work – both in opposition and in office.”

The strategy is designed to drive investment in, and delivery of, economic, social and housing infrastructure in the UK. It is hoped that the strategy will provide a catalyst for growth, with the strategy containing various public funding commitments alongside other pledged actions. For instance, the government has promised £725 billion investment into infrastructure over the next decade applicable across a wide range of infrastructure projects, from transport, energy, health and education, to water and wastewater, digital, housing and prisons. 

Additionally, the strategy sets out plans for better integration of infrastructure policy, strategy and delivery. This involves a new approach to planning, seeking to incentivise private sector involvement in developing new infrastructure assets while working to address ongoing obstacles including skills shortages. 

In addition, the government is launching a new online dynamic infrastructure pipeline. This pipeline, expected to be set out next month, will list over 300 priority projects scheduled for development over the next decade. These range from major rail upgrades and green energy hubs to digital infrastructure and flood defences. 

Owen said: “A specific measure that industry will welcome is the prospect of a new infrastructure pipeline on a six-monthly update cycle, which promises to be more than just a list of projects. This will offer greater transparency on forthcoming projects and, in turn, give the construction industry and investors the confidence to invest in skills and supply chains as well as better enabling the delivery of new and modernised economic, social and housing infrastructure that the government is seeking, to drive growth.”

The strategy follows initiatives the government has been pursuing, such as delivering planning reform and setting long term funding commitments through its spending review. The government is also working to reform how UK institutions, such as agencies and regulators, support infrastructure planning and development. This includes the establishment of NISTA, which will play a leading role on infrastructure strategy and delivery, as well as emphasising and bringing to life the UK’s economic regulators’ existing growth duty. 

Owen said: “There will undoubtedly be challenges ahead – from finalising just how NISTA will operate in practice and how the strategy is followed through and implemented through decisions taken across the whole of government, government agencies, and regulators, as well as in achieving the aims of catalysing private capital to deliver the desired transformation in UK infrastructure. However, this strategy represents a serious attempt to tackle the very real challenges that have hampered infrastructure delivery in the UK for years and to embed it in the heart of day-to-day government life and architecture.”