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Who decides national infrastructure in a devolved UK?

Plans to devolve more powers to England, Wales and Northern Ireland following the Scottish referendum no vote are likely to impact heavily on decisions of national strategic infrastructure, says Jackie Whitelaw.

A flash of lightening, a crack of thunder; to sound effects from Macbeth over London, the results from the Scottish referendum started rolling in.

And once awake in the early hours it was impossible for many to go back to sleep as the results came in council by council.

This has been a huge event not just for the 3,619,915M people in Scotland who voted 55% to 45% to stay in the Union, but because the discussion over Scottish independence has woken demands from Wales, Northern Ireland and particularly England for more self determination over tax and spend.

Plans announced by Prime Minister David Cameron for new devolved powers for England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as Scotland by January will have a short and long term impact on strategic infrastructure planning and investment. 

"The question is when will action take over from talk? Where in all that discussion will the National Infrastructure Plan sit? Who will be responsible for deciding what is the best investment to benefit the United Kingdom as a whole? How much money will there even be to invest on big national projects?"

For the next few months decisions and forward planning were going to be in short supply anyway as the political parties gear up for a General Election.

For all the talk about the vote prompting a new era of infrastucture investment across Scotland and the new united UK, in reality there is a risk that that hiatus could now continue long after an election as broader devolution plays out and cities and regions assess what money they can raise for themselves and what their priorities will be. 

"Just as the people of Scotland will have more power over their affairs, so it follows that the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland must have a bigger say over theirs," Cameron said.

"So, just as Scotland will vote separately in the Scottish Parliament on their issues of tax, spending and welfare so too England, as well as Wales and Northern Ireland, should be able to vote on these issues and all this must take place in tandem with, and at the same pace as, the settlement for Scotland."

The question is when will action take over from talk? Where in all that discussion will the National Infrastructure Plan sit? Who will be responsible for deciding what is the best investment to benefit the United Kingdom as a whole rather than one particular area or nation? How much money will there even be to invest on big national projects?

There is also huge risk over who runs whatever schemes are planned. American megaproject specialist Professor Ed Merrow was talking in Manchester last week – more on him later this week  - about what makes multi billion pound investments go right and more importantly, go wrong.

"The prospect of a gaggle of warring politicians holding the reins is unlikely to be a good solution or fill any private sector funders with confidence."

He has analysed 300 megaprojects, 65% of which failed to meet their business objectives. The key issues for success or failure were willingness by the governments or companies spending billions on the projects to recognise that they had to take ownership of them and couldn’t pass the risk on to the supply chain.  And before they dug a spade in the ground, their schemes had to have been thoroughly scoped, often involving years of effort 

If the UK is moving to a more federal arrangement, who in which level government will own cross border and cross regional boundary schemes like high speed rail? And who will take broad responsibility for one-site projects like nuclear power stations that supply resource for the whole nation? 

The prospect of a gaggle of warring politicians holding the reins is unlikely to be a good solution or fill any private sector funders with confidence.

So as William Hague draws up plans at the request of the Prime Minister for a new style UK, the infrastructure sector has to lobby hard for continuation of the vision of the last few years of the benefit of national investment in infrastructure.  

And for a clear system to make sure that more devolved regional and national planning considers not just what is good locally but what works for the spaces in between to keep the United Kingdom united.

 

If you would like to contact Jackie Whitelaw about this, or any other story, please email jackie.whitelaw@infrastructure-intelligence.com.