The government will “very shortly” launch a consultation with private firms on its 10-year infrastructure strategy, a senior minister has announced.
Speaking at a launch event for the Labour Infrastructure Forum yesterday (11 September), chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones trailed a consultation route for investors and businesses.
Jones said the government will “very shortly” consult on the strategy, which he said was a bid to bring back stability after seeing the last government “chop and change every couple of years”.
Construction News understands that the major infrastructure strategy announcement is due to be made before the Budget on 30 October.
Jones also promised a “very clear view from us with public financing”, pledging to settle long-term infrastructure budgets in the October Budget and a spending review in the spring.
He said: “From my perspective as chief secretary to the Treasury, [the infrastructure strategy] will be aligned with our spending decisions.
“So it’s not going to be a strategy that pops out in a way that’s disconnected from spending and therefore doesn’t really deliver.”
The newly formed Labour Infrastructure Forum is directed by Mace chief of staff David Hendy and two consultants from public affairs firm Bradshaw Advisory.
It aims to bring the Labour Party and infrastructure sector together in discussion and develop policy recommendations to support the party’s manifesto promises.
Labour MP and former Mace director Mike Reader, former shadow roads minister Bill Esterson and Arup associate director Paul Addison are among those on the forum’s advisory council.
Jones also highlighted Labour’s proposed merging of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) and the Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) into one body, to be called the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA).
“Let’s be frank, the government wasn’t really listening or taking [the NIC] seriously. It produced great reports, but it wasn’t informing decisions.”
He added that the IPA had become “a bit of a compliance option” and needed to be more about speeding up delivery.
To coincide with the launch, policy consultancy Bradshaw Advisory released polling that reported that one in three people think Britain is bad at delivering infrastructure projects.
Around 40 per cent of the 3,100 polled said Britain’s ability to deliver large construction projects had got worse over the past decade.
