National Infrastructure Plan 2013 December 2013 National Infrastructure Plan 2013 December 2013 © Crown copyright 2013 You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or email [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected]. You can download this publication from www.gov.uk ISBN 978-1-909790-57-5 PU1576 Contents Page Executive summary 3 Chapter 1 The case for infrastructure investment 13 Chapter 2 UK infrastructure in 2013 23 Chapter 3 Policy framework and key investments 33 Chapter 4 Local infrastructure and the Devolved Administrations 69 Chapter 5 Planning and prioritisation 77 Chapter 6 Infrastructure financing 83 Chapter 7 Creating the right environment for delivery 91 Annex A Priority investments – delivery update 105 Annex B Infrastructure performance 135 1 Executive summary The quality of a nation’s infrastructure is one of the foundations of its rate of growth and the living standards of its people. That is why the government has put long-term investment in roads, railways, energy, telecommunications and flood defences at the heart of its growth plan. Successive governments have failed to invest sufficiently in the UK’s infrastructure. In making a long-term commitment to infrastructure investment, the government’s ambition is to reverse the effects of this historic underinvestment and equip the UK with world-class infrastructure, which rivals that of all its Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) counterparts in every sector and ensures the country can compete in the global race. The government recognises that meeting the UK’s infrastructure ambitions requires a long-term sustainable plan, which means taking a cross-cutting and strategic approach to infrastructure planning, funding, financing and delivery. That is why it published the first ever National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) in 2010, with subsequent updates in 2011 and 2012, which enabled it to take a holistic view of the challenges facing UK infrastructure and its approach to meeting them. The National Infrastructure Plan 2013 takes this further and sets out the government’s plan for the next decade and beyond. The government believes in targeting public investment and intervention in infrastructure where it is most needed, while harnessing the efficiencies created by a competitive market and commercial incentives where it can. This ensures that it is well equipped to deliver the infrastructure the country needs in a way that provides value for money for taxpayers and is sustainable for consumers. Throughout this parliament, the government has consistently made tough decisions on day-to- day spending that have enabled it to prioritise vital capital investment. In June 2013 it built on this approach by setting out a further commitment to invest in over £100 billion of capital in specific projects in the next parliament, including providing long-term funding settlements in key infrastructure sectors. As a share of GDP, public investment will be higher on average over this whole decade than under the whole period of the last government. The government has also taken radical action to unlock and stimulate private sector investment, which is expected to make up the majority of UK infrastructure investment between now and the end of the decade. This has included setting out a plan to generate a wave of new investment in our energy infrastructure through the biggest change to the electricity market since privatisation, and the provision of up to £40 billion of support for critical infrastructure projects through the UK Guarantees Scheme. The government will also continue to drive efficiency and value for money in infrastructure delivery. It will ensure that the conditions are right for private sector delivery, improve the capacity of government to deliver where it has a central role to play, and drive down costs across the board in comparison with comparable developed economies. Delivering to meet the UK’s infrastructure needs In addition to the programme of capital spending set out at the start of this parliament, at the 2011 and 2012 Autumn Statements the government prioritised and brought forward capital investment on a total of 27 road, rail and flood defence schemes. 99 per cent of these schemes are on track according to the timetables set at the time of announcement. 2 of these schemes, and a further 11 individual projects, have completed as planned and a further 38 individual projects are in construction. 3 More broadly since 2010, there has been major progress delivering infrastructure funded through a combination of public and private investment: • the Highways Agency and Local Authorities have completed 36 transport projects worth over £1.7 billion including: • 9 Highways Agency major projects covering 360 lane kilometres and improvements to the UK’s most congested routes such as the M62 (J25 to J30) in the North West, A1 Dishforth to Leeming in North Yorkshire and M1 (J10 to J13) in the South East • 27 Local Authority major projects around the country including the Greater Bristol bus network, Poole Bridge and the Blackpool tram upgrade • the Environment Agency and Local Authorities have completed 353 flood and coastal erosion schemes, improving the standard of protection to over 112,700 homes, including major projects in Redcar, North Lincolnshire, Nottingham Trent (Left Bank), Essex Canvey Barriers, Deptford and Cockermouth • government has funded the roll out of superfast broadband which has reached over 140,000 premises so far, with 10,000 additional premises being passed per week • Network Rail has completed major station upgrades including King’s Cross station which will unlock 2,000 new homes, 3.4 million square feet of workspace and 500,000 square feet of retail, as well as improvements to Derby, Kettering, Aylesbury and Chester, as part of the Control Period 4 programme of investment which has already delivered upgrades to 150 different stations across the UK • working in partnership with universities and industry, the government has invested in large research facility projects worth nearly £500 million including Diamond Phase II, the Royal Research Ship Discovery replacement, Halley VI Research Station, a laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge as well as major investments in existing research facilities such as a £10 million investment in the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus • Transport for London has completed major upgrades to the London Underground including completion of the Jubilee line signalling and Victoria line upgrades (now one of the highest frequency lines in the UK allowing the Victoria line to carry 10,000 more passengers an hour), Farringdon ticket hall, new investment in hydrogen hybrid buses and installation of 1,300 electrical vehicle charging points The government has also supported significant private sector investment, providing the policy framework and creating the right delivery environment to enable: • completion of the London Gateway port and logistics park upgrade providing 2,700 metres of quay, six deep-water berths, 24 giant quay cranes and an annual capacity of 3.5 million TEU1 • 80 different electricity generation schemes owned by major generators have completed since 2010, providing over 13,500MW of electricity, enough to power over 14 million homes annually; this includes 6 Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) schemes, 11 offshore wind schemes including phase one of the London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, 60 onshore wind schemes, 1 hydroelectric scheme and 2 energy from waste schemes 1 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit – a measure of container handling capacity. 4 • two new electricity transmission projects are complete, increasing transfer capacity in rural areas of Northern Scotland and two gas storage projects in North Yorkshire and Cheshire have been completed • there have been upgrades at Heathrow and Gatwick, which are both currently undertaking significant investment programmes, worth £5.5 billion and £900 million respectively, as well as Manchester International Airport and Birmingham Airport, which is extending the runway by 350 metres connecting the West Midlands to even more international routes The government also confirms in the National Infrastructure Plan 2013 the following progress on the UK Guarantees Scheme: • a new cooperation agreement with Hitachi and Horizon with the aim of being able to agree an in-principle guarantee by the end of 2016 to support the financing of a new nuclear power plant at Wylfa, subject to final due diligence and ministerial approval • the approval of a guarantee to support up to £1billion of borrowing by the Greater London Authority for the Northern Line Extension • the approval of a guarantee for £8.8 million to help provide finance for the installation of energy saving lighting equipment across a portfolio of car parks • 40 projects worth £33 billion are now prequalified for the scheme At Autumn Statement 2012, the Chancellor announced a support package for the Northern Line extension (NLE) to Battersea Power Station. This included the approval of up to £1 billion borrowing by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to finance the construction of the NLE, the creation of an Enterprise Zone at identified sites in Wandsworth and Lambeth, and an associated UK Guarantee facility to support the loan repayment. This package was conditional on the GLA and TfL reaching - by the end of 2013 - a binding commercial agreement with the Battersea developer for the redevelopment of the power station. A satisfactory commercial agreement has now been reached between the Greater London Authority, Transport for London and the Battersea developers. The government will therefore implement its support package to enable the construction of the Northern Line extension to Battersea Power Station (subject to a satisfactory Transport and Works Act Order).