Spatial planning and the new infrastructure strategy
The government is committed to investing in the UK’s physical and social infrastructure as a key element of their ‘mission-led’ approach. As part of this, the Treasury, which now leads on overall infrastructure policy, published a 10-year infrastructure strategy.
There are some good signs in the strategy, with a greater emphasis on spatial planning, and maintenance and renewals as the priority for spending. But there’s also less interest in what rural areas need, who’ll instead likely be facing the bulk of new transport, water and energy developments.
We’ve put together a short analysis below on what this new strategy means for how the government will approach policy and spending on infrastructure.
There’s going to be lots and lots of new infrastructure.
£725bn will be spent over the next decade aiming to unlock economic growth and deliver the transition to a net zero economy and society.
While the focus is on the next 10 years, for net zero this will also mean massive infrastructure investment into the 2040s, as sectors of the economy like transport, heating and industry need to switch from fossil fuels to electric power or e-fuels.
Cities are seen as the engines of economic growth and the focus for investment, not towns or rural areas
The strategy mentions cities over 200 times compared to just a handful of mentions of towns, two mentions of villages and just one on rural areas.
It also says that transport infrastructure is needed to help those living in towns and villages get to work in cities. Rural areas will also face the impact of energy and transport infrastructure rather than being a priority for investment in themselves. Rural areas have their own needs and the Government must ensure infrastructure works for the countryside as well as cities.
The Treasury has rediscovered spatial planning
The Treasury hasn’t always been the biggest fan of spatial planning but it now sees the need for a coordinated approach at a national, regional and local level. The graph below shows this new approach based around the Treasury (through their National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority) providing national direction, then spatial plans for key infrastructure sectors (eg the strategic spatial energy plan or the roads investment strategy) and then the new Spatial Development Strategies at a regional/sub-regional level.
This doesn’t seem fully worked out yet. For instance, Defra’s Land Use Framework (which we’ve been supportive of) risks being outgunned by the Treasury/NISTA new national infrastructure spatial tool which will be a “single digital platform bringing together strategies, data and tools, including AI, to identify local infrastructure needs and constraints…for housing, industrial growth and land use scenarios”. From what we’ve seem of Defra’s land use framework, it should improve decision-making and involve the public more in land issues so it needs to avoid being relegated by a rival Treasury version.
And it’s also worth noting that the Government’s idea of good spatial planning isn’t necessarily one that we’d recognise – the strategy gives the government’s standard method for calculating housing need as a good example of spatial planning. We’d definitely not agree with this given it’s leading to housing targets that are far higher than needed and adds to pressure to develop greenfield sites unnecessarily.
The strategy could herald a better approach to infrastructure
Despite all the talk of airport expansion, mega energy projects and the benefits of the lower Thames road crossing , the 10 year strategy also hints at a better way to approach infrastructure, one in which rural England can be better protected. This includes the role of green infrastructure and, on roads, more focus on maintenance and renewals rather than new schemes. The final chapter on the environment also says infrastructure design should be guided by a hierarchy:
- First, maintain and optimise existing assets.
- Then, consider green and nature-based solutions where they are effective.
- New “grey” solutions should only be deployed if other solutions are not viable, with impacts mitigated in a strategic way.
This hierarchy needs to be at the heart of all decisions by every department, whether Treasury, Department for Transport, MHCLG or DESNZ and not just a line in a strategy.
Getting the Planning and Infrastructure Bill right is even more important now
The 10 year infrastructure strategy shows the scale of infrastructure coming down the line. Even more reason why the Planning and Infrastructure Bill needs to be done right.
We’ll continue to call on the government to amend the Bill so it truly delivers for people, nature and the countryside. We’ll be asking supporters to e-mail MPs about the Bill and we’re continuing to work with the Better Planning Coalition and Wildlife and Countryside Link to amend the Bill.