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Infrastructure Commission would be “rigid and bureaucratic” says Government

Government flatly rejected the concept of an independent National Infrastructure Commission to decide the country’s investment priorities during the debate on the Infrastructure Bill yesterday. Instead it announced it was looking to create a National Infrastructure Investment Strategy.

Stephen Williams

“We have serious reservations about the model proposed by the Labour party (as an amendment to the Bill).,” said local government minister Stephen Williams. “ The Armitt review was clearly a genuine effort, from a well-respected source, to find a solution to the long-term infrastructure challenges that our country faces. None the less, its recommendations appear to establish a rigid, process-driven and bureaucratic body. There is a danger that this type of bureaucracy would stifle the innovative process needed to resolve the challenges facing UK infrastructure.”

“It is up to Ministers, accountable to Parliament, to set out the infrastructure vision for the development of our country. It is not something we should subcontract to another body"

Williams continued: “It is up to Ministers, accountable to Parliament, to set out the infrastructure vision for the development of our country. It is not something we should subcontract to another body; it should be up to us. Our constituents should make representations to honourable members to inform our deliberations, rather than feeling they have to go to a non-elected body to make those important recommendations.”

“Establishing such a commission would also present significant complexities. For example, the commission’s assessment would be debated in the House and if the majority disagree with one aspect of the assessment and vote against it, the whole process, as we understand it, would have to start all over again. This kind of to-and-fro is clearly not what is intended by the proposals, and the uncertainty that would follow could be detrimental to the environment for infrastructure investment.”

He said Government had recognised that infrastructure development did not happen fast enough and since 2010, had started to turn this around and address the regulatory barriers that have held back delivery. It had introduced the National Infrastructure Plan and agreed long-term funding settlements for public infrastructure investment. But it also “recognised the need for one interconnected strategy for all our infrastructure networks”.

“The natural next step is to establish a long-term infrastructure investment strategy,” he said. “The Government have already begun this process: we have developed the road investment strategy, which will treble spending on our strategic roads, and established an ambitious new energy market strategy to incentivise additional electricity capacity and support low-carbon electricity generation.”

If you would like to contact Jackie Whitelaw about this, or any other story, please email jackie.whitelaw@infrastructure-intelligence.com.