Weekly round-up - 27 July 2015

Fehmarn Belt construction to start in January, Bakerloo to Croydon, small business commissioner proposed, renewable energy and Green Deal lose cash.

Jackie Whitelaw
27 July 2015

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1. The 19km undersea road and rail Fehmarn Belt link between Denmark and Germany has won EU approval.  The EU will contribute Euro 589M towards the Euro £8.7bn project. Construction will start in January, and it should open in 2024.

2. Transport for London  is to look at extending the Bakerloo Line to Croydon instead of Bromley in Kent, the Croydon Guardian reported. TfL launched a public consultation last year on plans to extend to line, which currently terminates at Elephant and Castle, to Lewisham and Bromley.  Matt Yates, TfL’s Head of Planning Projects, said: "We are currently reviewing the results of the public consultation and the many route options suggested in the responses.  The suggestion to extend the line to Croydon will be considered as part of this review."

3. Chancellor George Osborne has launched his spending review with a call for £20bn cuts to Whitehall budgets. Each unprotected department has been asked to come up with savings plans of 25% and 40% of their budget. Departments have also been asked to help meet a target of 150,000 new homes on public sector land by 2020. The NHS and per-pupil schools budgets will be protected in the review, which will be published on 25 November.

4. The government has launched a £20M competitive fund for collaborative research and development into driverless vehicles, along with a code of practice for testing. The measures announced by Business Secretary Sajid Javid and Transport Minister Andrew Jones are intended to put the UK at the forefront of the intelligent mobility market, expected to be worth £900bn by 2025. The government wants bidders to put forward proposals in areas such as safety, reliability, how vehicles can communicate with each other and the environment around them and how driverless vehicles can help give an ageing population greater independence. Successful bidders will match fund projects with their own money.

5. Osborne has posted its financial results for 2014/2015, which show profit before tax increasing to £5.8M up from £5.2M in 2014. This was achieved on a slightly reduced turnover of £311M (2014 - £325m).  The contracor’s secured order book for 12 months (as at April 2015) has risen 22% to £242M from £199M in 2014. Osborne also announced that it is the only contractor to be shortlisted in the Customer Focus category for the 2015 Lloyds Bank National Business Awards.

6. Tidal Lagoon Power has appointed Eneco Wind UK project director Mike Unsworth as delivery director for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.  

7. Government is looking to cut renewable energy subsidies to reduce the price of the bills the public pays for its power. This includes removing the guaranteed level of subsidy for biomass conversions and co-firing projects for the duration of the Renewable Obligation and launching a consultation on controlling subsidies for solar PV of 5MW and below under the Renewables Obligation. “Long-term policy certainty is a key enabler in our transition to a low carbon economy and meeting our legal obligations under the Climate Change Act. This moving of the goalposts could well hamper investment in renewables, and has the potential to inadvertently increase the cost of clean energy,” said Engineering Industries Commission deputy public affairs director Sam Ibbott.

8. Government is seeking view from business on the idea of appointing a small business commissioner to handle disputes over late payment and other supply chain practices that hit SMEs especially hard. The commissioner would help small firms access advice, support, mediation and conciliation services, and have the power to look into complaints and report on its findings.

9. Two gas-fired power plants have been approved for construction. They are being developed by Progress Power in Eye, Suffolk, and by Hirwaun Power, near Aberdare in South Wales. Both will supply electricity when there is a surge in demand, or where there is a sudden drop in power being generated from other power plants. Construction is due to start in 2017 for completion in 2019.

10. Government is stopping funding for the Green Deal Finance Company due to “low take-up and concerns about industry standards.” Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd said she will now “work with the building industry and consumer groups on a new value-for-money approach.”