UK building projects face the scrapheap
MUCH-needed housing and transport projects are being delayed or scrapped despite Government promises to relax the hurdles in the way of development.
Following the Budget in July, chancellor George Osborne unveiled steps to encourage more house buildi ng across t he country including allowing developers to get automatic planning permission to build on disused industrial sites and that major housing projects could be fast-tracked.
However according to a series of detailed reports, building and infrastructure projects are still facing major problems.
A survey by Lloyds bank found a shortage of skilled workers, public opposition to developments and a slow planning process are still the major hurdles for the housing sector. New research has also revealed that more than a quarter of the Government’s pipeline of projects have ‘disappeared’.
According to analysis by KPMG, there has been a decrease of 886 or 28pc of government-funded construction and infrastructure projects since the end of 2014.
Richard threlfall, KPMG’s UK head of infrastructure, building and construction said: ‘It is clear that more needs to be done to improve the consistency and accuracy of the Government’s construction pipeline.’
A Cabinet office spokesman said the decisions on a number of potential projects were deferred so they could be reviewed by the new government and some of the shortfall was due to projects completing in the period. However threlfall said the current system is not reliable enough f or construction companies to predict future demand.
He added: ‘Instead we have a pipeline whose data is so incomplete, and which fluctuates so wildly and erratically that the industry can place no detailed reliance on it.’
the Government’s spending review due on November 25 will set out £20bn worth of departmental budget cuts over the next five years.
threlfall said: ‘the huge drop in t he number of projects included suggests some government departments are putting projects on hold in the expectation that they will be culled.’
Separately a third report is calling for the Government to intervene in the housing crisis by bringing the housing sector under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) which covers large scale developments for energy, transport, water or waste.
the report, commissioned by law firm Bond Dickinson and planning consultants Quod, argued a shake-up of the system was needed to ensure the much- needed homes are actually built
A government spokeswoman said the Housing Bill will allow large infrastructure projects that are partly housing to use the NSIP but added: ‘It is not our intention to allow schemes which are solely for housing to use this route.’
Research predicts 240,000 new homes are needed each year to address the housing crisis while just 117,720 homes were completed last year.
the past six years have seen the lowest housebuilding since the Second World War.