Last week, the UK Government published its 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy Working Paper, providing more detail on what will be contained in its ambitious 10-year Infrastructure Strategy.
Investing in infrastructure is key to the government achieving its missions: boosting growth, building homes, going green with clean energy, reaching net zero, and improving public services. The government wants to cut down on previous uncertainty over infrastructure policy by putting together a long-term plan for social, economic, and housing infrastructure. Here's a closer look at the key elements of the strategy and its potential impact.
Core Objectives
The strategy focuses on three main objectives:
- Enabling Growth: Investing in infrastructure aims to enhance city accessibility, reduce housing pressure, and increase the availability of school places, which supports workforce expansion in various areas. Additionally, there is an emphasis on investing in digital infrastructure to improve productivity.
- Clean Energy: Establishing sufficient infrastructure to ensure the delivery of clean power by 2030 and support net-zero emissions targets by 2050.
- Supporting Public Services: Maintaining and replacing social infrastructure to support public services, focusing on hospitals, educational facilities, and the prison estate.
To help achieve these objectives, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) will be established which will oversee the implementation of the strategy.
Strategic Principles
The paper outlined that the strategy will adhere to four guiding principles:
- Mission-Oriented: The strategy will focus on achieving the government's missions, starting with economic growth.
- Long-Term Planning: The strategy aims to provide long-term confidence by outlining the government's plans over 10 years. It will be supported by stable institutional arrangements, including five-year capital budgets that will be updated at spending reviews every two years.
- Addressing Crosscutting Challenges: The strategy will work across sectors to deliver a coherent and comprehensive package of measures.
- Deliverability and Affordability: The strategy will be affordable for taxpayers and billpayers, considering fiscal constraints, industry capacity, and government capability.
Tackling Barriers to Infrastructure
The paper also examined the obstacles to meeting the United Kingdom's infrastructure requirements and outlined the approach the strategy intends to take to address these challenges.
1. Private Investment and Regulation: it will clarify the government's approach to private investment and regulation, offering investors and the supply chain clear priorities.
2. Public Institutions: it will detail support from institutions like NISTA and the National Wealth Fund for delivering UK infrastructure in line with government missions.
3. Enhancing Delivery: it will include measures to improve the delivery of social, economic, and housing infrastructure, addressing supply chain issues, planning reforms, and bolstering public sector capability.
Next Steps
Infrastructure Pipeline: to give the industry a clear view of long-term priorities, the government has commissioned the National Infrastructure Commission to consider the key features of an effective infrastructure pipeline, reviewing international approaches and setting clear objectives.
Stakeholder Engagement: the government is seeking stakeholder views on the right areas and principles to prioritise. The strategy will be developed in parallel with the spending review and is expected to be published in June.
Stay tuned for further updates as the government releases more details on this plan.
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