Weekly round-up 30 July 2014

Fracking planning guidelines, new deputy MD for Taylor Woodrow and infrastructure pipeline rises to £383bn.

Jackie Whitelaw
30 July 2014

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1. New planning guidance on shale gas exploration has been published as the government launched the 14th onshore oil and gas licensing round. National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and World Heritage Sites are given more protection by the guidance but environmental groups expressed concern that the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles will have final planning approval.

2. Mayor of London Boris Johnson is planning to introduce a new charge on diesel engine vehicles driving into the city in order to reduce air pollution. He is also set to lobby government to increase road tax on diesel vehicles with cities around the UK struggling to meet EU air quality requirements.

3. Planned infrastructure investment in the UK has now increased to £383 billion up to 2020 and beyond. The government’s National Infrastructure Pipeline 2014 has increased from more than £375 billion when it was last updated in December. More here
   

4. The Property industry is urging a rethink over plans for new affordable flood insurance scheme. The British Property Federation has urged Government to rethink the scope of Flood Re after ministers confirmed that millions of homeowners could be left out of the new scheme designed to provide households with affordable flood insurance for their home.

5. Office buildings are increasingly being converted into residential space in the south of the UK finds the latest RICS UK Commercial Market Survey for Q2 2014. The Nationwide availability of commercial  property declined at fastest rate since series began in 1998 and the lack of stock is pushing investors away from prime location and into ‘B’ grade commercial investments. Report here

6. Julian Gatwood has been appointed deputy managing director of Taylor Woodrow, the civil engineering division of Vinci Construction.Taylor Woodrow managing director Graham Stanley is due to retire in December. Gatwood was managing director of Vinci company, piling contractor Roger Bullivant from 2012 and prior to that was with Bachy.

7. Amey in joint venture with Carillion has won an additional three contracts with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), with a minimum value of £955.3million and that could be worth up to £2.8 billion including additional services and possible extensions. These contracts take the joint venture contract wins to five and have a combined value of up to £4.5 billion. 

8. Former Transport Secretary, Lord Andrew Adonis, is to spearhead a probe of the £300million tri-borough councils in west London which could influence thinking on other shared services models across the UK. Lord Adonis will chair the Critical Friends Board alongside Professor Tony Travers, London School of Economics local government specialist, and Deb Lincoln, Senior Vice President at Warner Bros. 

9. Gatwick airport has revealed additional investment plans to increase the benefits of its £7.8bn second runway plan. In its document Connecting Britain to the Future Faster it highlights new measures to boost local jobs and infrastructure.

    

10. ACE has appointed Julian Francis as its new director of policy and external affairs. Before joining ACE, he was head of government affairs at the London Taxi Company  where he had direct responsibility for the development of the organisation’s policy positions, and led on communicating this to ministers, policy makers, MPs and the media.