The National Planning Policy Framework was published on Tuesday last week. The framework however does not contain specific polices for nationally significant infrastructure projects. These will be continued to be determined in accordance with the decision making framework set out in the Planning Act 2008 and relevant national policy statements for major infrastructure. The framework does not contain specific waste policies either since national waste planning policy will be published as part of the National Waste Management Plan for England.

But it does provide guidance to local authorities on planning for local infrastructure, transport and energy schemes.

Central to the framework is a “presumption in favour of sustainable development”. In terms of plan making that means that local authorities have to positively seek opportunities to locals development needs and that local plans should meet objectively assessed needs. in terms of decision making this means approving proposals that accord with the development plan without delay or, where there is no plan, approving proposals unless there are significant adverse impacts when weighed up against the policies in the new framework.

The framework sets out three principles to sustainable development which it expects local authorise to plan against: economic, social and environmental. L.A.s should actively seek opportunities to ensure that these needs are planned for and delivered to local people. This includes infrastructure at a local level.

In its principles of sustainable development, the plan delivers policy guidelines on planning and approving transport and communications infrastructure. It also provides advice on meeting the challenge of climate change, flooding and coastal change. Development needs in rail, road, port and airport must all be considered.

Reading through the policy framework, it’s clear that the pipeline for civil engineering projects at a local level could be shortened as a result of this. That means quicker starts and job creation sooner than the existing system would allow. Nationally significant projects however will still remain on the slow lane, being tied into the previous decision making process; Government National Policy Statements could seek to accelerate this process further.

The Local Authorities have a year to put their plans in place and, from then, projects should start coming through the local system with less red tape.

sean@mcginley.co.uk

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“We’re replacing 1000 pages of guidance with just 50 pages.” That’s what George Osborne said in his budget yesterday as he referred to the forthcoming changes in planning regulations.

Next Tuesday a new National Planning Policy Framework is being published, which is the Government’s attempt to simplify the planning system. It’s a result of the process started in 2010 when a report on the cost of infrastructure blamed planning delays in part and It supports the objectives set out in the National Infrastructure Plan 2011 where a number of proposed planning concepts were described. Critically it’s also seen as a hurdle that needs to be cleared if many major projects are to be brought forward to help boost growth in construction jobs and GDP.

We await the specifics next week but there’s no doubt that there are a number of planning related stakeholders in the UK. Many will feel that the system has been changed for the worst and others will welcome the stripping away of red tape. It should be possible though to make efficiencies in time in many cases without compromising on the quality of consultation.

It’s often been said that we take longer in the UK than our European neighbours to get major projects off the ground and these delays seem to be firmly laid at the door of the planning system. To get big jobs started and get people into work in a challenging market requires effort across a number of fronts. Speeding up of the process is essential and is one such objective which must be achieved.

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David Cameron glided through the civil engineering market in his speech at the Institute of Civil Engineering this week. Everything got a mention including airports, rail, roads, water, energy and telecoms.

The media focused on roads though, principally due to the costly sounding headlines that can be drawn from potential toll and road pricing schemes. What was said in fact is that only new roads could be financed with tolls. Existing strategic roads are subject to a review that will be undertaken by the Department for Transport and The Treasury. This will consider new ownership and financing methods for roads but will not report until the autumn, so there’ll be nothing new in the budget this week on this subject.

A clue to what may happen in the road network may come from studies that have been undertaken by the DfT. In Alan Cook’s report, A fresh start for the strategic road network, last November, he considers toll roads as an option, looks at the need for a new agency based on other regulated infrastructure asset managers and suggests that the government moves on with new finance models. Most likely will be new variants of PFI arrangements, perhaps ‘shadow tolling’ where private firms get a share of the vehicle excise duty.

However the private sector ends up integrating with the strategic road network, there will be a boost in spending as a result. The Government simply cannot afford the upfront money required to make all the improvements that it would like, but engaging sooner rather than later with private companies on the road network will allow the Coalition to continue with its policy of using infrastructure investment as a way of boosting jobs and aiding economic recovery.

Sean@mcginley.co.uk

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The road to a re-establishing nuclear power as one of the cornerstones of UK energy policy has been a difficult one. There are so many stakeholders – Governments, pressure groups, industry, the public – trying to move forward in a way that keeps all parties on side is a challenge.

Incremental steps have to be taken continuously and today we saw a major one play out in Paris. The French clearly have an important part to play in the UK’s further development of Nuclear Power. France has been reliant on nuclear energy to a much greater extent than the UK over recent decades and carries more experience and skills in this area. Its commercial organisations have much to offer in deploying and maintaining energy plants of this nature and,via EDF, the French already have a big stake in owning and managing UK energy infrastructure.

Today David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy met in Paris to reaffirm their enthusiasm for Nuclear Power. Downing St issued a joint declaration that “signals a shared commitment to the future of civil nuclear power, setting out a shared long term vision of safe, secure, sustainable and affordable energy, that supports growth and helps to deliver UK emission reductions targets”. This amounts to a joint Franco-British industry that will not only seek to fulfil new infrastructure needs in the UK but also further afield internationally.

After the disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan last year, both countries are mindful of the public concern regarding nuclear power. Despite the positive reassurance contained in the report into those events by the Chief Nuclear Inspector, Mike Weightman, the public will demand more as the projects get closer to fruition. That’s why it was an important part of the summit, to both leaders, that they reach an agreement on forming a “joint nuclear emergency framework”. This means that France and Britain will respond immediately to, and help with, nuclear incidents in either country, sharing skills, experience and resources at critical times.

Both governments know that building nuclear power stations will be an enormous boost to their mutual economies with jobs in energy, and this deal helps ensure that many of those jobs stay within UK companies. Behind the handshakes of the political leaders, commercial organisations also attended the summit and this is where the UK jobs are being created. More than £500m worth of commercial agreements were made at the summit creating 1500 shorter term UK energy jobs. Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change went further as he described future job creation of 30,000 based on today.

We’ve been talking about nuclear jobs for quite some time but the hurdles are now being jumped and contract start dates are close. EDF expect to begin work in the ground on their first UK plant in the next few months so we’ll soon be right on it. Our enquiries are growing with significant interest in nuclear related engineering jobs but there is recognition of a shortage in the whole nuclear skills arena. The supply chain will require help to fulfil their skills needs from a number of fronts as these projects begin to develop, I’ll try and keep you up to date on the major job related issues moving forward.

sean@mcginley.co.uk

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Over the weekend the public had a rare opportunity to tread the base of a famous working lock -without getting wet. The great Bingley Five Rise Lock on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was closed and drained for essential maintenance work as several giant pairs of oak lock gates were replaced. British Waterways took the opportunity to open the drained locks to the public allowing access the base of the canal as it steps down 60 feet in a staircase of locks in close succession. I spent a week on this Canal a couple of years ago and it’s quite a sight to see the Bingley Five in operation up close.

It’s hard to imagine that these canals were the precursor to our enormous network of road and rail connections and, as many canals are away from today’s well traveled routes, they are often not easily seen and easily forgotten.

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal itself is around 127 miles in length and has nearly 100 locks along its length as it winds down from the Pennines to the coast. It’s quite a feat of engineering as an eighteenth century bit of infrastructure and was built to get goods out to the coast. Like today funding for infrastructure would have been an issue and in this case private money was used for the majority of the canal’s construction cost as it brought significant transport advantages to the industrial businesses along the route.

I was impressed by the standard at which the canal and the locks were maintained as I traveled along and I learned then the amount of voluntary work that is needed to supplement the current public spending on Canal maintenance. It’s worth noting that British Waterways, the organisation responsible for maintaining inland canals and waterways, is transforming its status to a charitable trust this year and will be in even greater need of increasing public awareness and fund raising opportunities.

So if you’ve been busy deploying your skills on today’s transport infrastructure, bear in mind that its predecessor, the UK canal network, is alive and kicking and may need your help one day.

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We continue to hear announcements about major projects coming our way, recently we had HS2 updates with a new £500m tunnel proposed under the Chiltern Hills. Last week David Cameron suggested that a Thames Estuary airport would be considered. The source of funding for future projects has never been well defined with a mixture of public and private investment expected by the Coalition.

Now we have an insight into one line of the Government’s thinking. George Osborne visited China last week seeking investment in British transport, energy and utility projects. Last November Lou Jiwei, chairman of the China Investment Corporation said that China could help the West with its infrastructure and highlighted Britain as having one of the most open economies in the world – the visit was designed to build on this potential.

It seems that some confidence in future Chinese investment would not be misplaced. At the end of the week it was revealed that the China Investment Corporation has bought an 8.7% stake in the holding company of Thames Water. This represents their first investment in the UK and demonstrates the seriousness of potential future arrangements.

Given China’s proven track record in infrastructure elsewhere in the world, not least the African continent, the prospect of Chinese stakes in more European assets will not be that far away. This will provide part of the answer to that recurring question of ‘where’s the money going to come from?’

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There was confusion at the weekend over the outcome in Durban as the live news of the agreement reached our screens at the same time that the newspapers were reporting failed negotiations. No such confusion now about the prospects for long term careers in renewable energy.

Whilst the agreement reached in Durban does not kick in until 2020 it means there is now a future road map in place and the whole world has set a path towards a low carbon economy. Returning to Europe, we are already committed and working towards significant cuts in emissions by 2020. Now there’s continuity, and it’s on a wider scale.

Companies that supply goods and services to or for use in the renewable energy industry can look forward to a long term marketplace with potential global customers. That will increase confidence and bring forward vacancies. For the individual, with climate change scepticism and the failure of the Copenhagen conference, you could be forgiven for avoiding the industry as a career path. Durban helps to put jobs in renewable energy back on the agenda.

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After the 2010 spending review committed to prioritise public capital investment towards infrastructure, the recent Autumn Statement promises more funding for major projects. At the same time the Government have issued their National Infrastructure Plan which sets out the strategy towards meeting the needs of the economy.

The plan has three objectives. First of all it explains how medium term objectives will be met across all sectors of infrastructure, from road and rail through energy to communications. It seeks to address those areas where the UK lags behind other parts of the world. Secondly it covers finance, an area that needs to be reinforced if many of these projects are to see the light of day. Apart from public investment funded from further cuts in spending, more private finance will be facilitated. This will include introducing more investors into the market, allowing new forms of revenue such as tolling and potentially offering guarantees to the market to offset specific risks. Thirdly, and here it’s a departure from the past, they describe how an active role will be taken by Government in ensuring that projects are delivered on time and prioritised in favour of those that deliver an economic benefit. Part of this involvement will be to reform the planning system which has been the much publicised source of delay and increased cost for many infrastructure projects in recent years.

This is all medium and long term of course as there are no quick fixes where infrastructure projects are concerned (due to their complexity), but it’s the first time that there’s been a long term plan published which ignores election cycles and concentrates on the needs of the UK.

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The DECC gave the go-ahead today for two new power stations in Yorkshire. It’s estimated that the move will create 1000 infrastructure jobs. A biomass plant in Wakefield and a gas turbine plant in North Doncaster will generate enough energy to power two million homes. The Minister of State for Energy, Charles Hendry used this as an example of the Government’s determination to clear the backlog of planning applications and stimulate growth.

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Chris Huhne has just presented to Parliament the final report by the Chief Nuclear Inspector, Mike Weightman, into the events in Japan this year. The Government, pressure groups and the public were all understandably concerned about the building of new nuclear facilities in the light of the disaster in Japan. This had threatened to slow down or even stop the development of the new plants programmed in the UK.

The report concluded that there is no reason to curtail the operation of UK sites and no need to change present siting strategies for new nuclear power stations in the UK. With the report’s support it looks like there’ll be no change to the plans for new facilities now being implemented.

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