The UK Government have published their long awaited Infrastructure Strategy for the next decade, backed by £725 billion in long-term funding for maintenance and major projects.
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The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, published today (19 June 2025), outlines the UK government’s comprehensive approach to infrastructure investment across all sectors.
The UK Government announced funding of at least £725 billion for infrastructure over the next decade, pledging that infrastructure capital funding will continue to grow at least in line with inflation after the current Spending Review period.
This funding commitment follows recommendations from the National Audit Office on the need for long-term, sustainable maintenance funding.
Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive, CIHT said:
CIHT welcomes today’s publication of UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy, this is an important milestone for the highways, transport and infrastructure sector. The strategy acknowledges the vital role that transport plays in supporting and facilitating wider industrial growth.
We (CIHT) have consistently called for greater certainty for our sector and we hope that the details outlined in this strategy will go some way to providing the consistency to approach that highways and transportation has needed for many years. The commitment to deliver long-term funding for the maintenance of our highway infrastructure (and the wider built environment) is one we have called for over recent years.
CIHT is looking forward to working with stakeholders including the newly established NISTA to support the delivery of the detail outlined in this strategy.
The funding in the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy includes:
£1 billion to carry out maintenance on key transport infrastructure, including bridges, flyovers and crossing.
£590 million to start work on the Lower Thames Crossing.
£16 billion of new public investment will contribute to building over 500,000 new homes, and contribute towards the potential unlocking of over £53bn of private investment.
CIHT welcomes the Treasury's commitment to a long-term, UK-wide infrastructure strategy. CIHT has long called for a vision-led approach that establishes clear priorities for infrastructure to support the economy and society, aligned with the government's broader missions.
CIHT submitted evidence as part of the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy working paper.
Many of our recommendations around planning and network maintenance have been considered as part of the strategy including:
Prioritisation of funding for maintenance and renewals of the existing transport infrastructure.
Specifically addressing the backlog in transport maintenance that is critical to ensure resilience and reliability.
Integrated planning for new infrastructure: The necessity of considering from the outset how other systems, particularly transport, will support and connect to developments.
Transport planning should be an integral part of housing strategies to ensure cohesive and sustainable outcomes.
Consideration of the interdependencies between infrastructure systems, such as transport, telecoms, and water management. Climate change and increasingly frequent extreme weather events highlight how failures in one system (e.g. water management) can cascade across others, causing widespread disruption.
CIHT looks forward to continuing to work with the Department for Transport and HM Treasury on the delivery of a decade of national infrastructure renewal.
HM Treasury is introducing ‘place-based’ business cases, to bring together the different projects that are needed to achieve the objectives of a particular place and make sure that central government properly considers complementarities between different projects such as housing and transport and making reforms to the Green Book.
The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) has been established to integrate infrastructure policy, strategy and delivery in the centre of government. NISTA is reforming wider processes to ensure delivery is more effective and to develop stronger partnerships with the private sector. It will also help in recommending infrastructure projects with the greatest growth impact.
CIHT welcomes this ‘place-based’ focus. We support this more strategic approach to economic and plan making by strengthening collaboration between different sectors. For more information regarding CIHT’s stance on planning reform, please see our response to the National Policy Planning Framework consultation.
We support reforms to the Green Book and call for the government to adopt a holistic approach when evaluating schemes, considering factors such as health and environmental impacts.
CIHT welcomes the establishment of NISTA to integrate infrastructure policy, strategy and delivery in the centre of government. We look forward to offering our support in the future.
Fixing the basics through long-term investment in road and rail maintenance: addressing backlogs, fixing potholes and ensuring existing networks are resilient to long-term challenges. £24 billion of capital funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30 has been allocated to National Highways and local authorities to maintain and improve motorways and local roads across the country. This includes investing £1 billion to enhance the road network and create a new Structures Fund that will repair major structures like bridges, flyovers and collapsed roads.
CIHT welcomes the government’s commitment to road and rail maintenance, having previously called for HM Treasury to prioritise funding for maintenance and renewal of the existing transport infrastructure before committing to new projects in our submission to the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy working paper, our policy briefing on long term funding and 2024 report: Delivering a resilient transport network.
We have previously highlighted the human cost associated with potholes and other surface faults in our exclusive members-only article Potholes and Poorly Maintained Footways: The Cost to the NHS.
Record investment in urban transport infrastructure to support our city regions: £15.6 billion investment for public transport systems through the Transport for City Regions settlements, which will include enabling construction to start on West Yorkshire’s Mass Transit system – a more than double real-terms increase in capital spending on local transport in city regions by 2029-30 compared to 2024-25.
Connecting the towns and cities of the North and Midlands: better connecting the major northern English towns and cities – and increasing agglomeration, fostering sectoral clusters alongside key infrastructure investment, and encouraging greater university collaboration and inward investment.
Delivering East West Rail to enable the Oxford to Cambridge Corridor: £2.5 billion funding provided at the Spending Review 2025 to support delivery of East West Rail, enabling the delivery of new homes and boosting the local economy by £6.7 billion a year by 2050.
Progressing High Speed 2 (HS2): Continuing delivery of the high-speed line from Euston to Birmingham and maximising economic development around key stations along the route at Old Oak Common, Euston, Interchange Station (Solihull) and Birmingham Curzon Street.
Driving forward work on the Lower Thames Crossing: An initial £590 million for 2026-27, provided at Spending Review 2025 to deliver this project. Further work, including on a Regulated Asset Base model, is being undertaken in parallel to design and agree a funding model which delivers value for money for the taxpayer and users.
Supporting a third runway at Heathrow: inviting proposals to enhance connectivity, reduce travel costs and minimise delays at one of the busiest global airports, whilst meeting legal, environmental and climate obligations.
CIHT supports the government’s commitment to improving connectivity across England, recognising the importance of the transport sector for unlocking economic growth. As outlined in our 2024 manifesto, an effective highways and transportation network plays a key role in stimulating the UK economy and increasing employment opportunities, as well as promoting wider benefits in terms of climate change and public health.
CIHT welcomes the government’s commitment to UK economic growth. Investment in transport infrastructure must form an intrinsic part of any growth agenda. As outlined in our response to the 2025 Spending Review, CIHT believes that this growth must be sustainably delivered.
Strengthening resilience standards: mapping existing standards across critical national infrastructure, identifying gaps and strengthening or introducing additional standards where necessary and effective to do so.
Committing to our flood defence pipeline: a £7.9 billion 10-year pipeline of capital investment to maintain existing and invest in new flood defences, nature-based solutions and property level resilience measures. This investment will benefit 840,000 properties by 2035-36.
CIHT welcomes these commitments and has previously called for adaptation and resilience to be made an immediate policy priority and investment, as featured in Delivering a resilient transport network.
Decarbonising transport: providing £2.6 billion capital investment to decarbonise transport from 2026-27 to 2029-30 to continue to support the rollout of electric vehicles and the required charging infrastructure, as well as encouraging innovation in hard to abate sectors like maritime and aviation.
The government is supporting the continued rapid expansion of national charging infrastructure and will allocate £1.4 billion to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) to fund projects supporting the transition to zero emission vehicles and £400 million to support further rollout of charging infrastructure.
CIHT welcomes this announcement and is looking forward to working with industry to support the delivery of the EV charging infrastructure and decarbonise the sector, having outlined our recommendations in this report, summarising our recent CLIMATES initiative.
Read the full 10-year infrastructure strategy here.
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