This is entry number 274, published on 12 September 2011, of a blog on the Planning Act 2008 infrastructure planning and authorisation regime. Click here for a link to the whole blog. If you would like to be notified when the blog is updated, with links sent by email, click here.
Today's entry reports on a report issued by the CBI and a new group it has set up.
CBI/KPMG report
The Confederation of British Industry (the CBI) - the 'voice of business'- has published the results of a survey conducted by KPMG (Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, while we are expanding abbreviations) of business perceptions of infrastructure. At the same time it has created an Infrastructure Board of leading industry representatives.
The survey report can be found here. Essentially, those interviewed said on balance that:
- infrastructure is critical to investment;
- infrastructure in the UK (apart from telecoms infrastructure) has deteriorated since 2006;
- the UK is worse than its EU competitors but better than emerging economies;
- energy costs and security of supply were a major worry; and
- 'the jury is out', i.e. there are about the same for and against, as to whether the government's policies will improve matters.
The report says that the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranks the UK 33rd in the world for its infrastructure - well, there is some good news (as acknowledged in the report's press release), since this year's WEF report has just come out and the UK has gone up to 28th. Hurrah!
A whopping 98% of those interviewed said that the planning system was a barrier to the delivery of infrastructure. Businesses therefore seem to be taking the side of the government in the 'battle of the myth busters' rather than the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
As an aside, the RTPI recently sought to dispel some planning 'myths' (sample: Planning is a drag on economic growth), and the government swiftly put out its own version (sample: Planning isn't the problem).
Of course it is right that planning should at least be a hurdle to development (albeit not an impenetrable barrier) otherwise economic, social and environmental factors will not be weighed against each other and the sustainability of the development will not be tested - it is a question of degree.
CBI Infrastructure Board
The CBI has also set up an Infrastructure Board with sixteen members, chaired by Mark Elborne of GE. The other members are:
- Paul Abberley, Aviva Investors London
- Nick Chism, KPMG
- Andy Clarke, ASDA
- John Cridland, CBI
- Wayne Edmunds, Invensys
- David Gledhill, Hutchinson Ports UK
- Terry Hill, ARUP
- Steve Holliday, National Grid
- Jean-Dominique Mallet, Veolia Environmental Service (UK)
- Derek McManus, Telefónica
- Cindy Miller, UPS
- Heidi Mottram, Northumbrian Water
- Stephen Paine, UBS Investment Bank
- John Stanion, Vinci
- Dorothy Thompson, Drax Group
- Stewart Wingate, Gatwick Airport
The board is charged with producing a 'compelling new framework for the speedy delivery of resilient, smarter infrastructure'. This should prove interesting and could be significant - although arguably the best chance to improve the regime for planning and authorising major infrastructure in the next few years will run out in a month or so. That is because the Localism Bill, which is already amending the Planning Act regime but perhaps does not go far enough, is nearing the end of its passage through Parliament.
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