Weekly news round-up 17 September 2014

CH2MHill to cut 1200 jobs, Network Rail hires Tube boss and smart meters don't save enough money for consumers.

Jackie Whitelaw
17 September 2014

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1. Engineering consultant CH2M Hill has unveiled plans to cut 1,200 jobs from its 26,000 workforce to deliver annual savings of around £60M. The firm took over Halcrow in 2011. It said the ‘right-sizing’ of its overhead structure would impact on all global operating units.

2. Installing smart meters in every house in the UK will save consumers "only 2%" on their annual bills, the Public Accounts Committee has warned. On average, consumers will save just £26 a year and the technology could be out of date by the time the roll out is complete, the committee said. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has said smart meters will lower bills and make switching easier.

3. The number of licensed vehicles on the roads has passed the 35M mark for the first time. Government figures show that by the end of 2013 there were 35.03M licensed vehicles in Britain. This included 29.14M cars, 3.35M light goods vehicles, and nearly 1.22M motorcycles. There were only 25.23M vehicles on the roads in 1994.

4. Two new rail appointments to report: Network Rail has hired Phil Hufton, London Underground’s chief operating officer, to take over from Robin Gisby as managing director of network operations. Gisby has decided to leave next year. And former Olympic Delivery Authority deputy director of transport Sue Kershaw is CH2MHill’s new director of rail for Europe.

5. London Mayoral candidate and transport expert Christian Wolmar has suggested banning traffic from Oxford Street. Cutting out cars and buses would double the number of people who flock to London’s most famous shopping street each day. Wolmar says even cycles may have to be banned if the West End landmark is to be saved from a slow decline over coming years.

6. Government has announced £2.8M funding to prepare Somerset’s roads and railways for construction of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Most of the money will go towards fixing potholes and general road maintenance to avoid disruption to traffic while the plant is being built.

7. Consultant WYG has bought Alliance Planning for £3.2M to create one of the country’s largest planning businesses with around 100 planning specialists.

8. Lord Rogers of Riverside has attacked proposals to build up to 40 new garden cities on the greenbelt as "a ridiculous concept" and has called instead for the developments to be stitched into existing cities using derelict sites. He spoke out after the £250,000 Wolfson Economics Prize was last week awarded to a proposal to take “a confident bite out of the greenbelt” and build 150,000-resident urban extensions to towns and cities across the country.

9. House price momentum slowed to the same level it was a year ago and new buyer enquiries fell for the second consecutive month, according to the August RICS Residential Market Survey. Concern over potential rise in interest rates could be contributing to the fall in buyer interest it said.

10. Nick Clegg is calling for decentralisation and devolution for the North of England and inviting ideas through the Northern Futures project. The speech follows the launch of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Northern Futures project in July – a call for ideas on ways to create an economic hub in the north of England. To have your say go here.