A couple of weeks ago the National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC) published their latest Infrastructure Progress Review and they have identified that the UK is “moving too slowly” on projects set to push forward economic and climate targets. Their document can be obtained from here which is their website. The piece was promoted on the website of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and that can be obtained from here. The ET sets out that “UK making ‘negligible advances’ on infrastructure initiatives, advisers say” and they go on to state that “The government is not focusing enough on infrastructure projects which would secure economic growth and a lower carbon economy, a new report by independent advisers has said.” So we clearly need our MPs that are not part of the Government to observe this and to raise this with the Government when Parliament reopens. The piece goes on to state

The country’s official independent infrastructure adviser has warned the government is at risk of failing to deliver the aims of its National Infrastructure Strategy unless it picks up the pace with detailed policy design and implementation. The NIC stressed that the UK is “off track to meet its targets and ambitions” across a range of measures such as planning, funding and delivery of many of its infrastructure targets. In particular, advisers criticised the government over its “negligible advances in improving the energy efficiency of UK homes, the installation of low-carbon heating solutions or securing a sustainable balance of water supply and demand”. Although the government has set an ambition for at least 600,000 heat pumps to be installed each year by 2028, only 55,000 were fitted in 2021. Similarly, only 37,000 public charge points are currently installed, out of the 300,000 that were promised to be put in place by 2030. The review added that, in the course of the last year, progress towards “major infrastructure objectives” had stuttered even further at a time when “the need for acceleration has heightened”.