Long term challenges for the UK’s infrastructure are too serious to be left to short term politics, CIHT has told the Independent Infrastructure Review set up by the Labour party and led by former Olympic boss Sir John Armitt. And the Institution says that private sector funding will have to be part of any long term strategy for the UK’s transport infrastructure.

“Government should commit to a long term investment programme but the Institution recognises the need to attract additional funding from the private sector to support the maintenance and improvement of the UK’s transport infrastructure,” CIHT said.

The Institution strongly supports the ambitions of the review which are to consider how long term infrastructure decision making, planning, delivery and finance can be radically improved. The Armitt review will also be drawing up plans for a “commission or process, independent of Government that can assess and make proposals …..and help build consensus”.

CIHT’s own ‘manifesto’ launched last year stated the need for long term visions and called for the establishment of a cross party group to develop and commit to a 20 year strategy for the UK’s transport infrastructure.

There should be a 20 or 30 year planning horizon for any independent commission, according to the Institution, which is long enough to take account of whole life value considerations but is a time frame in which future infrastructure needs can be reasonably anticipated. The commission also needs to address strategic issues, ie the networks needed to best serve the national interest, and not be diverted by the detail of individual project evaluation.

CIHT has highlighted current difficulties with infrastructure funding including: investment decisions taken for political reasons; lack of gap funding for stalled schemes; a failure of political will to implement road user charging;  and stop-start project investment which adds to costs and sees projects designed several times before being built.

Problems of previous special regimes for infrastructure delivery include: failure to make best practice initiatives mandatory across Government departments; an unwillingness by public clients to use standardised approaches to projects; and too many infrastructure clients with too little delivery capability, CIHT said.

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