Sir John Armitt’s vision to bolster the UK’s longterm infrastructure planning with an independent National Infrastructure Commission moved closer towards reality this week with publication of a draft Bill and a proposed implementation timetable for consultation.

Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged the party’s support for the Bill should it be returned to power next May. 

“The proposed legislation is about providing a lot more certainty around political decision making for nationally important infrastructure,” said Armitt. “It is about finding political consensus over what is needed and the specifics of what is achievable so that you don’t get the political flip-flopping of policy whenever there is a change of government or minister.”

“There is wide agreement with my view that this absence of clear objectives, around which cross-party support can be built, continues to be an Achilles heel for the country.”

He predicted that if the Commission was established promptly after the next Election then a thorough assessment of the UK’s infrastructure needs over the next 25-30 years could be completed mid-way through the 2015-2020 Parliament.

”The Labour party has confirmed that this is something that they would press forward with should they win the next election,” he said. “But getting greater cross party support is key and so I will see what can be done over the next few months to bring that about.”

Armitt proposed the idea of an independent commission in his review of long term infrastructure planning in the UK carried out for the Labour party last year. Since then he has been working with a small team of advisors to create a draft White Paper and Bill in preparation for potential legislation to be adopted should Labour win the next election.

He set out the current difficulties for infrastructure delivery in the UK in a letter to shadow chancellor Ed Balls ’s last week.

“Whilst the UK has proven its ability to deliver successful projects such as the Olympics and High Speed 1, there remains no device to provide an evidence-based assessment of the infrastructure that we will require over the next 25-30 years to maintain our economic growth and international competitiveness,” he said. “There is wide agreement with my view that this absence of clear objectives, around which cross-party support can be built, continues to be an Achilles heel for the country.”

“On housing we will wait until Sir Michael Lyons completes his review [into housing and planning policies and practice] in September. Clearly we do need to take into account the other work that is going on around housing and the results of the consultation before deciding whether or not to include it.”

The draft  Bill on how the structure and membership of the Commission and the Parliamentary framework within which it would operate could be established, is now available for consultation until 31 October. Armitt urged anyone who has views on the draft Bill to come forward with them.

His 2012 review for the Labour Party highlighted the critical importance of reducing the risk of political policy change – “political flip-flop” as he has called it - and called for a statutory 30 year view of the infrastructure needs of the country to be established under the control of the Commission.  

This would assess the national infrastructure priorities every 10 years, looking 25-30 years ahead and would prompt a Parliamentary vote to agree and fix these priorities, thus maintaining democratic scrutiny over decisions. 

National infrastructure means infrastructure of strategic significance in or relating to the following sectors

• energy generation, storage, distribution and supply, including renewable energy, fossil fuels and nuclear energy;
• flood defences
• hazardous waste;
• telecommunications;
• transport covering ports, transport networks (including railways and roads) and aviation; and
• water storage, transfer, supply and treatment, including wastewater.

Sector departments would then form detailed plans to deliver these priorities and report to Parliament annually on progress. 

Armitt said that a decision over whether or not to include large housing developments in the remit of the commission will be taken in light of responses to the consultation after hear ing the result of other on-going policy reveiws.

“In the first three years of the Commission’s existence we would expect it to present to Parliament the National Infrastructure Assessment which would then be passed to government departments to develop the sector plans.” Shadow minister for communities and local government Roberta Blackman Woods.

“On housing we will wait until Sir Michael Lyons completes his review [into housing and planning policies and practice] in September,” said Armitt. “Clearly we do need to take into account the other work that is going on around housing and the results of the consultation before deciding whether or not to include it.”

Miliband said Labour’s support for Armitt’s plans underline the party’s commitment to tackling the "chronic short-termism" that has prevented decisions over vitally important national infrastructure being taken. With the commission, he added, it would be much harder for future policy on energy, transport or housing to drift. 

Shadow minister for communities and local government Roberta Blackman Woods confirmed the party's support for Armitt and the need for change at this week’s National Infrastructure Planning Association annual conference.

“We are simply not delivering the infrastructure we need quickly enough or in a strategic way or consistent with long term climate change targets,” she said. 

“What Ed wants to do is set in place a new planning regime for infrastructure,” she added. “The Commission will deliver a National Infrastructure Assessment looking at all sectors at the strategic level in parallel. It will identify the priorities by type and scale of investment needed over five, 10, 20 years etc. In developing this, the Commission will be considering economic growth forecasts, population trends, technical innovations and the environment.”

Blackman Woods said that it was critical that there would be a statutory obligation to lay plans before Parliament and vote on them so that Parliament owned the whole process which would help develop cross party agreement.

She pointed out that once the commission was in place it would produce specific sector plans so as to provide investors with a forward view and confidence around future funding and timeframes.

“In the first three years of the Commission’s existence we would expect it to present to Parliament the National Infrastructure Assessment which would then be passed to government departments to develop the sector plans,” she said. “It is important to explain to the public on what basis the infrastructure is needed, comparing us to other countries and get a fresh conversation going with the public; a mature, evidence based discussion. It amazes me how far behind some of our competitors we are in terms of our infrastructure.”

“The single biggest challenge facing our country is its need to sustain economic growth in a fiercely competitive global economy in the coming decades." Richard Thelfall, KPMG.

She said that while work had been done to refine plans for the commission, it was unlikely 100% of the plans would be accepted by Parliament. 

“But if 70% is accepted on a cross party basis that would be a huge step forward, infrastructure development would be speeded up and critically this would generate the necessary investment.”

Plans for the commission have been embraced across the infrastructure sector as a coherent way to not only establish a pipeline of projects and priorities but also a means to bring them to reality.

Chair of the NIPA Council Steve Norris described the proposed legislation as valuable for two reasons:

“One, we have been very bad at answering the why question. There has been no previous understanding of what the national priorities are.,” he said. “Two, it will give investor confidence.”

Richard Threlfall, Partner and UK Head of Infrastructure, Building and Construction at KPMG also welcomed publication of the draft bill.

“The single biggest challenge facing our country is its need to sustain economic growth in a fiercely competitive global economy in the coming decades,” he said. 

“To do that we must invest continuously in our infrastructure – our energy, transport and water networks, in our cities, schools, hospitals and housing,” he said. “Importantly, to do this without wasting time and money, we need an investment plan focused on ensuring that every pound we spend drives the most economic growth for UK PLC. That is why the proposed Infrastructure Commission put forward by Sir John Armitt is so essential.”