Weekly round-up - 3 August 2015

Stephen Hammond is new chair of infrastructure APPG, Tarmac relaunches, Tintagel bridge competition attracts 137 entries, UK leads world in tidal energy.

Jackie Whitelaw
02 August 2015

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1. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure has reformed, with new officers. Former Transport Minister and current member of the Treasury Select Committee, Stephen Hammond MP, is chair of the group. The newly formed APPGI is represented by all political parties, with Neil Carmichael MP (chair of the Education Select Committee), Alan Brown MP (a civil engineer), Mark Prisk MP, Dr Alan Whitehead MP, Kelvin Hopkins MP, Lord Berkeley and Lord Chidgey joining as officers. ICE and the British Tunnelling Society help run the group by providing administrative support and putting on events.

2. The rate of economic growth strengthened in the three months to July, with business and professional services the driving force, according to the latest CBI growth indicator. The survey of 736 businesses across the manufacturing, retail and service sectors showed a reading of +20% in the three months to July, compared with +14% in June. This rebound was largely due to a faster pace of growth in business and professional services with manufacturers and retailers reporting growth, albeit at a more moderate pace. Expectations remain robust, with firms anticipating that growth will strengthen a little further in the next three months.

3. The world’s first inland surf lagoon, situated in Dolgarrog, has been officially opened.

The £4.15M  development has created more than 100 jobs is expected to attract around 75,000 people every year.
 The surf facility has been constructed on the site of a derelict aluminium works once owned by global giant Alcoa and includes a separate fun activity pool, café bar, retail space and coffee shops, an indoor soft-play facility and camping pod accommodation. 
The surf park itself will use unique wave-generating engineering and technology to produce powerful and consistent waves of varying heights up to two metres, in a 300 metre long lagoon.

4. Plans by Vattenhall to build a 20 turbine wind farm on land owned by Sir James Dyson at Nocton Fen in Lincolnshire have been dropped. The turbines would hae been the tallest in England at 149.5m and local campaigners feared they would block views of Lincoln catherdral. Strength of local opposition convinced the developer to walk away now that planning rules have changed to give local communities the final say on whether schemes can go ahead.The turbines would have had a combined capacity of up to 68 megawatts – equalling the power of the biggest wind farm in England.

5. The competition for a new bridge at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall has attracted 137 submissions from 26 countries. The competition has been organised by MalcolmReading Consultants for English Heritage. Graham Morrison of Allies and Morrison is chairing a jury that will draw up a shortlist of six entries this month with a winner announced in early 2016.  The new bridge aims to follow the path of this original crossing but 28m higher and with a 72 metre span. The new £4M project is intended to open up views of
Tintagel, the surrounding coastline and the Atlantic seascape.
 Take a look at e-architect’s report here.

6. The Local Government Association has announced that Mark Lloyd, current chief executive at Cambridgeshire County Council, is its new chief executive. Lloyd will take over from Carolyn Downs, who is to move to become chief at Brent Council in the autumn. His appointment follows interviews with the LGA's political leadership.Lloyd has been chief executive of Cambridgeshire since 2008, where he helped oversee the county’s £500M City Deal. Prior to this, he was chief executive of Durham County Council.

7. A fresh All-Party Parliamentary Group for Housing and Planning has been formed to address the national housing emergency. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will take the lead role in supporting this new APPG. Chair is James Cartlidge, Conservative MP for South Suffolk supported by vice-chairs Mark Prisk (Conservative MP for Hertford and Stortford and former Housing Minister), Helen Hayes (Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood and former town planner), Lord Richard Best (Cross Bench MP and president of the Local Government Association) and Stephen Pound (Labour MP for Ealing North).

8. The UK is now the market Leader in the development of tidal energy, according to Frost & Sullivan. New analysis from the organisation Tidal Energy: Current Status and Future Outlook  has found that the United Kingdom is the front-runner in the development of newer tidal energy solutions buoyed by an ideal tidal pattern and a supportive regulatory scenario. Canada, China and South Korea are also showing steady progress. The United States is one of the top innovators.  “The success of smaller demonstration plants will propel the immediate adoption of tidal stream and tidal barrage technologies,” says technical insights research analyst Lekshmy Ravi. “The deployment of hybrid energy systems consisting of a combination of tidal and offshore wind energy seems probable in the long term.”

9. The government is consulting on plans to designate the 29-mile route between Peterborough and Ely - known as the Hereward line - as a community rail service. This would allow the community to design train services according to local needs, which in turn is claimed would help increase passenger numbers, improve connectivity to key destinations and ultimately boost the local economy. If the plans go ahead, the train companies will continue to operate the service – which also calls at Whittlesea, March and Manea – with the support of the Hereward Community Rail Partnership. Infrastructure such as track and signalling would remain under the authority of Network Rail.

10. The combined business of Tarmac and Blue Circle have relaunched as Tarmac, following the acquisition of Tarmac by materials giant CRH from Lafarge and Anglo American. The newly combined business can now say it is the market leader in aggregates, asphalt, contracting services, lime and powders and is a leading player nationwide in cement, concrete and other building products.