黑洞社区

Industry figures have expressed concern at the fall in public investment forecast for 2012.

Under plans unveiled by Alistair Darling in the Budget on Wednesday, net investment in capital projects as a percentage of GDP will fall from 2.6% in 2008/09 to 1.25% by 2013/14. Extra funds, including proceeds from property disposals and efficiency savings, will partly offset this fall.

Simon Rawlinson, a partner in Davis Langdon, said: 鈥淚t means there鈥檚 no plan B should the economy not do a U or V-shaped recovery. For construction, it intensifies the risk of a double-dip recession because the private sector is all that鈥檚 going to stand between construction and a significant reduction in work.鈥�

He added that not all sectors would benefit from increased public spending before 2012. He said: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not in health or education, where does that leave you?鈥�

Graham Watts, the chief executive of the Construction Industry Council, said the figures placed the emphasis on improving the way the government buys construction services. He said: 鈥淭he biggest concern is the money wasted in public procurement; they have three years to do something about it. If they started making the right efficiency investment, they would get a lot more construction for 1.25% of GDP.鈥�

Andrew Crudgington, the head of policy at the Institution of Civil Engineering, said: 鈥淎t present it appears to be assuming that private demand will have recovered by 2012 and public investment can be reduced without damaging the sector. Ministers will need to pay close attention to construction performance so that any contraction of public spending in 2012 doesn鈥檛 damage the sector鈥檚 recovery.鈥�

Darling also pledged 拢500m to restart stalled housing projects; this was in addition to a 拢100m package of funding for councils to spend on energy-efficient housing.

And there was 拢405m of extra support for energy-efficient buildings. Darling said: 鈥淭his will give construction firms more certainty and help them meet housing demand more effectively.鈥�

The Budget package included 拢300m in 2009/10 to kick-start stalled schemes hit by problems with the 黑洞社区 Colleges for the Future programme.

Darling committed the government to spend 拢525m on offshore wind programmes, and said the government would extend its credit insurance scheme to help small businesses.