Chancellor George Osborne has been urged by leading transportation groups ahead of today’s Budget announcement to deliver greater certainty of funding for local road networks and an increase in capital spending for publically owned infrastructure.

CIHT director of policy and technical affairs Andrew Hugill said he would like to see the certainty of capital and revenue funding for the strategic road network extended to the local road network. “Infrastructure will be a strong part of the Budget but whether the Chancellor is going to go as far as local expenditure is less certain,” he said.

“Certainty is important so the sector can plan for future investment both in staff and in capacity. That will then lead to a far more effective delivery of services,” he added.

In a submission to the Chancellor, the Confederation of British Industry's director general John Cridland said that the private sector should be encouraged to invest more in infrastructure. This, he argued, would require Government capital spending to be stepped up, or at a minimum maintained at its current share of GDP, to improve the capacity and efficiency of publically owned infrastructure.

Civil Engineering Contractors' Association director of external affairs Alasdair Reisner said he hoped the Government would continue to champion the case for highways maintenance following recent bad weather.

Mr Reisner added he also wanted the Higgins Report on High Speed 2 to be reflected in the Budget. (see ‘High speed trains to arrive at Crewe six years earlier than planned’ in this edition of Weekly News).

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