Sue Percy, Chief Executive, CIHT said:
“We congratulate the new Conservative Government on its election victory and look forward to working closely with them to develop future initiatives. Our profession consists of the very people who can provide the solutions to many of our big public policy challenges including economic growth, reducing inequality, and the challenges around health and climate change.”
“CIHT has consistently called for the introduction of a national transport strategy and the clear benefits that this can provide the UK. We welcome the Government’s commitment to investing in infrastructure, mitigating against climate change and investing in skills and further and technical education.”
CIHT recently has published a
series of calls for the new government including:
- The introduction of a national Integrated Transport Strategy
- Ensuring the highways and transportation profession is adequately supported and resourced to address climate change
- Greater certainty of funding and investment for all transport infrastructure
- And a need for improvements to the local highway network
CIHT will be looking to work with the new government to take forward these key objectives.
Key legislation outlined in the Queen’s Speech includes:
Infrastructure
National Infrastructure Strategy
The Strategy will be published alongside the first Budget and will set out further details of the Government’s plan to invest £100bn to transform the UK’s infrastructure.
The Strategy will set out the Government’s long- term ambitions across all areas of economic infrastructure including transport, local growth, decarbonisation, digital infrastructure, infrastructure finance and delivery.
The Strategy will have two key aims:
- To unleash Britain’s potential by levelling up and connecting every part of the country
- To address the critical challenges posed by climate change and build on the UK’s world-leading commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050
The Strategy will also provide the Government’s formal response to the National Infrastructure Commission’s 2018 National Infrastructure Assessment.
Rail reform
The Government will publish a White Paper informed by the recommendations of the Williams Review. This aims to address the complicated franchising model to create a simpler, more effective system.
The Government has committed to a number of major investments in the railway, including:
- Midlands Rail Hub, to improve services around Birmingham and throughout the West and East Midlands
- Northern Powerhouse Rail
- Reopening a number of the lines and stations closed under the Beeching cuts in the 1960s
- Significant upgrades to urban commuter and regional services outside London
- High Speed Rail 2 (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill
- Provide powers to compulsorily acquire land needed to construct and operate the railway
- Provide planning permission to deliver the scheme. The details of planning will be developed on a site-by-site basis with the local planning authority.
Set out how railway regulation will apply to HS2
- Allow for the modification, or disapplication, of existing legislation that would apply to construction of the scheme, reflecting the fact that the scheme will have been approved by Parliament
Education
A renewed focus on further and technical education, providing £400 million for 16-19 year-old education.
Investment provided for T levels, supported by continued preparation for these courses starting September 2020.
An extra £3billion invested in a ‘National Skills Fund’ over the course of Parliament.
Establish 20 Institutes of Technology offering higher technical education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
Environment Bill
Establish a new environmental governance framework with legally binding targets, a long- term plan and the new Office for Environmental Protection.
Set a legally binding target to reduce fine particulate matter (PM2.5), increases local authorities’ powers to tackle air pollution sources and gives the Government the power to recall vehicles which don’t meet emissions standards. It will mandate ‘biodiversity net gain’ in the planning system, introduce Local Nature Recovery Strategies and give communities greater say over tree protections.
Climate change
The first budget will prioritise the environment, with investment in carbon capture, offshore wind, nuclear energy, electric vehicle infrastructure, energy investment, and the £1billion Ayrton Fund for clean energy in developing countries.
The UN Climate Change Summit (COP26) will be hosted in Glasgow in 2020.
Tree-planting will be increased, a £60m Nature for Climate fund created, a £500m Blue Planet Fund created, diplomatic efforts to protect.
£4billion will be invested in flood defences and £9.2billion in home, school and hospital energy investment.
Housing
A renewal of the Affordable Homes Programme that will look to build hundreds of thousands of news homes in a range of different places.
A commitment to build at least a million more homes over the Parliamentary period and the release of a Planning White Paper in the coming months.
A £10 billion Single Housing Infrastructure fund to provide the roads, schools and GP surgeries to support these new homes.
Building Safety Bill
Introduce an enhanced safety framework for high rise residential buildings, taking forward all recommendations from the Hackitt Review of building safety and in some cases going further.
Legislate to require that developers of new build homes must belong to a New Homes Ombudsman.
Science, space and research
Set out plans to significantly boost public R&D funding.
Back a new approach to funding high-risk, high- payoff research in emerging fields of research and technology. The Government will work with industry and academics to finalise this proposal.
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