Number 10 says government committed to innovative local infrastructure schemes

The government insisted today that it is committed to enabling innovative local infrastructure solutions, following the publication of the UK’s first-ever national infrastructure plan.

Speaking at a CBI conference in London, the Prime Minister claimed the national plan would unlock some £200bn worth of public and private sector investment over the next five years.

David Cameron said the investment programme – developed by Infrastructure UK – would help rebalance the economy and give industries the right conditions in which to grow.

In his speech the Prime Minister pointed to the £40bn committed to infrastructure projects in the Spending Review. Key elements of the new infrastructure plan include investing in a low carbon economy, providing the best superfast broadband in Europe by 2015, investing £30bn in transport, and ensuring that the UK remains a world leader in science and research

The government said it was implementing a range of measures to boost local infrastructure. These include:

• The Regional Growth Fund, which is intended to boost employment and growth in locations that are currently most reliant on the public sector. The fund has been extended to three years and from £1bn to £1.4bn after consultation
• A White Paper on local growth, which will set out the government’s strategy for ensuring that all places benefit from sustainable economic growth.  “A central part of this will be ensuring that growth is driven by local businesses and communities, as well as providing the means and incentives to allow local communities to benefit directly from economic development in their area.” Local enterprise partnerships will provide strategic leadership and set out local economic priorities. The White Paper will be published before the end of 2010
• Tax increment financing. “These new powers will allow local authorities to borrow against predicted growth in their locally raised business rates to fund key infrastructure projects, which will further support locally driven economic development and growth”

The plan also revealed that £1.5bn will be provided for local authority major transport schemes between now and 2014/15. However, committed schemes will receive more than £600m of this funding.

Other measures promoting localism it highlighted include the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, which provides £560m for local authorities outside London, and a “radical reform and simplification of local transport funding” by moving from 26 grant streams to four.

Key milestones in the national plan include: publishing details of the revised process for major infrastructure planning (end 2010); publishing publishing an updated timetable for the publication of national policy statements for remaining major infrastructure sectors (end 2010); bringing forward the Localism Bill (November 2010); publishing the full government response to the Penfold Review on non-planning consents (November 2010).

The economic affairs committee of the Cabinet, chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and supported by Infrastructure UK, has also been handed a new role coordinating infrastructure planning, prioritisation and policy development across government.

Lord Sassoon, Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, said the plan represented a broad vision of the infrastructure investment needed to underpin the UK’s growth and retain our competitiveness.

“For the economy to flourish, people, goods and information must move freely,” he said. “Reliable infrastructure: energy, water, transport, digital communications and waste disposal networks and facilities, are essential to achieve this. Ensuring these networks are integrated and resilient is vital.

“We recognise the scale of the challenge and the need to encourage new sources of private sector capital. We are targeting government’s own investment at a series of bold and critical projects that go to the heart of this vision and support a private sector led recovery.”

Paul Skinner, Chairman of Infrastructure UK, said: “This initial phase of Infrastructure UK’s work has validated the proposition that infrastructure development can be an important driver of the UK’s future growth and competitiveness and that there is real value in taking an integrated, cross-sector approach“.