National Infrastructure Plan 2 Must Be A Tightly Focussed Plan Of Action

The first National Infrastructure Plan (NIP), published in October 2010, acknowledged that a step change is needed in the level of investment in UK infrastructure, to secure our future energy supply, mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change and drive forward economic growth. The NIP came with a promise of a second, more detailed plan to be published this autumn, setting out how this could be achieved.

According to the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the second edition of the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP 2), must map out how to stimulate £200bn private investment in UK transport and energy networks if infrastructure is to deliver as a key strand in the strategy for growth.

ICE says some important steps have been made to encourage private investment, such as the creation of the Green Investment Bank and a fast track planning approval process for nationally significant infrastructure projects. But the leading engineering body says NIP 2 will be pivotal in showing Government’s commitment to infrastructure being a core economic driver and urges Government not to waste the opportunity.

ICE Director General, Tom Foulkes, said: “Government has rightly identified encouraging greater investment in infrastructure as a priority for the second phase of its growth review, but it is now time to put some weight behind that. NIP 2 must set out clear steps to attracting the huge volumes of investment required in infrastructure and map out how it will create a political, regulatory and commercial environment that is conducive to achieving that.