Historically the UK has failed to prioritise investment in infrastructure projects that will achieve the greatest benefits across the whole economy. For the first time, the Government has taken a critical, cross-sectoral view of the UK's infrastructure as a system. Chapter 3 of this document presents extensive analysis of the UK's infrastructure over time and in comparison with other countries.
The analysis shows that on some measures the UK's infrastructure performance is beginning to improve (for instance in broadband speeds and coverage, and road safety), but that in many areas costs have risen faster than performance. It finds that the UK performs well compared to other OECD countries in some areas (such as the coverage and cost of telecommunications and the reliability and security of supply of electricity and gas services), but that the age of some networks and the dense pattern of urban development in the UK combine to pose challenges. Many power stations are ageing, road congestion is a growing concern, train punctuality in the UK is worse than in other parts of Europe and in the longer term there will be an airport capacity challenge in the South East of England.
Based on this analysis, the Government has identified a set of ambitions for improving infrastructure performance. The full ambitions are set out in Chapter 3 and include detailed commitments in the following areas:
• improving the performance, capacity, connectivity and environmental impacts of the UK's transport networks including maintaining the status of the UK as an international hub for aviation;
• achieving a secure, diverse and reliable energy supply for the UK while reducing the carbon intensity of electricity generation at least cost to consumers;
• increasing superfast broadband and mobile coverage, and ensuring adequate spectrum availability to support a thriving communications industry;
• maintaining the security and performance of the water and sewerage system while reducing its environmental impacts;
• mitigating the impacts of flooding and coastal erosion as part of a well-managed, coordinated and affordable risk management system; and
• reducing waste sent to landfill, increasing recycling rates and moving towards a zero-waste economy.
The Government has identified a substantial pipeline of planned investment in UK infrastructure over the next decade and beyond that will help meet these ambitions. To provide greater transparency and certainty, which will help businesses plan and give investors confidence, the Government has published detailed data on the infrastructure pipeline online, along with data on all Government construction projects. Both of these will be refreshed regularly. The infrastructure pipeline includes over 500 projects and programmes and is worth over £250 billion. Most of the investment is contained within major programmes – for example highways, rail, nuclear, offshore wind and broadband – but there are also individual projects within sectors that stand out because of their size, complexity or importance to the UK economy. Almost two thirds of the expected investment between 2011 and 2015 will be privately funded and the remainder will be either partially or fully publicly funded.
A period of high investment could create upward pressure on taxpayers and consumers. The Government is taking measures (such as Electricity Market Reform, Energy Company Obligation and the Green Deal) to manage the impact on energy bills of the transition to a low carbon energy system. The Government will target support on those who need it most and has also announced measures to reduce the costs of electricity for the most electricity intensive industries.