In response to the announcement the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Director General, Nick Baveystock, said:
“The severe infrastructure investment cuts made in the 2010 spending review have begun to bite and are undermining the sector’s ability to stimulate growth or job creation, so we are encouraged to see a review with actual infrastructure investment at its heart. The increase in capital expenditure and funding certainty for key programmes appears to be positive news and could provide a platform for the industry to deliver on national needs more effectively.
“It is however, not all good news for infrastructure. Departmental cuts will inevitably place further pressure on local authority budgets, with road maintenance likely to suffer the brunt. The poor condition of many local roads is a drag on the economy and the reactive “quick fix” approach to maintenance is costly. Local authorities must increase efficiency and make the transition to cost efficient, planned maintenance going forwards. But first and foremost, we need a focussed, joint central and local government programme to finally clear the backlog.”
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