Yesterday at the Labour Party Conference, in his keynote speech, Sir Kier Starmer announced his vision for a future Labour government.
Starmer restated his plans to 'get Britain Building again,'. This resonates with calls for clarity and consistency of pipeline by ACE members. In his pitch he promised to increase housing stock by building 1.5m new homes, located in new towns across the country – again, a cautiously welcome move. However, we would press that these places must be in areas of greatest need, underpinned by world-class infrastructure and transport links.
Also, on the topic of house building and development, Starmer outlined his ambition to preserve Green Belts while removing barriers to development in areas of the 'grey belt' of underdeveloped or overlooked areas. EIC members are well placed to support and offer their expertise in land remediation and brownfield development to maximise the sensitive growth of new towns in places across the UK.
Hearing a focus on net zero commitments and green energy was reassuring. The outline of a Green and renewable 'Great British energy' is promising, but we need further details on delivery at scale.
The skills needed to deliver these plans are crucial. While not going as far as the Prime Minister's post-16 education reform plans, the opposition's ambition for 'Technical Excellence' sounds encouraging. However, my prior experience with previous rebrands of technical education has shown that proposals must have adequate funding and project pipeline consistency to ensure they attract world-class expertise and have cutting-edge facilities to foster innovation.
With at the most just over a year to go to a General Election, we have had both major parties outline their vision for the country's future. What is clear is that regardless of the promises made at a conference podium, what is needed is a long-term commitment to Infrastructure and project delivery across all parts of the UK. Through the noise of an election campaign, we’ll be pressing for a clear pipeline that is adhered to backed by meaningful investment that can secure and safeguard project completion.
Whatever the vision for the future, our industry is central in delivering it – Read our priorities for the next government.
