Government

The government has delayed several road projects, including the £8bn Lower Thames Crossing. The London infrastructure project was delayed by two years by transport secretary Mark Harper, who also slowed HS2’s phase 2a and the building of the high-speed rail project’s Euston station by two years. The decision will mean…

Multiple sections of HS2 are going to be delayed as the government grapples with the spiralling costs. Delays have been announced for phase 2a, which is between Birmingham and Crewe, as well as the construction of the HS2 Euston terminus. “Significant inflationary pressure and increased project costs” on phase 2a…

The government of Guernsey has paused all of its planned capital projects – which are worth a total of £460m. The move follows a failure to agree on tax plans last month to tackle a budget deficit. The States of Guernsey’s policy and resources committee has written to deputies to…

Several more industry bodies have sounded the alarm over possible “dire consequences” of post-Brexit legislation to scrap EU laws.  Under the Retained EU Law Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, around 3,700 pieces of EU law need to be reviewed by the end of this year. Some will be…

The government may have to row back on its pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 in the face of a pending black hole in public finances. According to the Financial Times, officials are poring over planned projects to determine which could potentially be shelved in the wake of…

The government is set to spend 25 per cent less than it had planned this year on “levelling-up” projects due to economic volatility and delivery delays. Capital spending on the schemes by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is now expected to be £2.4bn lower than had…

Smaller homebuilders have warned the government against increasing planning application fees after it proposed hiking them by up to a third. A current consultation by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is proposing to increase fees for major planning applications by 35 per cent, and for other applications…

Homebuilding risks being undermined by a lack of capacity to analyse environmental regulations in planning authorities, an influential group of peers has been told. Evidence to the House of Lords Built Environment Committee, which has launched an inquiry into the impact of environmental regulations on development, suggested that one of…

The estimated cost of a new health centre in Scotland has more than doubled – with the NHS concerned that the Scottish Government may be unable to stump up the extra cash. According to papers for an NHS Lothian board meeting this month, the estimated total cost of the proposed…

The government has set out proposals to speed up the delivery of national infrastructure projects, including the introduction of “fast-track” consent for certain schemes. In a policy paper published on Thursday (23 February), ministers said cross-departmental reform was needed to make the planning regime for major projects such as large…