EEF NW comment on infrastructure announcement

Commenting on today’s announcement on Infrastructure Spending, David Ost, North West Region Director of EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, said: “Today’s announcement is another step forward in getting investment in key areas of infrastructure going. The government has set out much greater clarity on its priorities. And its extension of Infrastructure Guarantees and greater use of commercial expertise should give industry more confidence that these plans will get delivered.

“But, the government needs to address the political uncertainty that has long dogged infrastructure decisions and find ways to generate cross-party agreement on our infrastructure priorities. And, with progress on Infrastructure Guarantees still slow, breaking the log jam on private funding needs urgent attention.”

“Roads are the backbone of the economy. The commitment to tackling the key blackspots, the focus on new projects and the backlog of maintenance are the right priorities. However, the funding allocated today is overdue and only a start, with £2billion a year when the current backlog is £20billion.

“With the cost of HS2 mushrooming, the government must ensure that this delivers real benefits to industry by freeing up freight capacity and that British industry has the best possible chance to win the orders this investment will generate. It also must ensure that its rising costs don’t crowd out vital road investment.”