Clegg pledges coalition鈥檚 commitment to infrastructure investment
Nick Clegg has outlined the coalition鈥檚 commitment to infrastructure in a speech at the LSE, promising 鈥渁 gear shift in government to unblock the system and get the money out the door鈥�.
The deputy prime minister said on Wednesday that the government will focus on 鈥渋nvestments that transform growth potential鈥�, citing transport, energy, and digital communications as key sectors.
Pledging to start 鈥渞amping up our sales pitch鈥� to get investment, Clegg said the government would prioritise 40 key projects including Crossrail and improvements to the M1 and M25 motorways.
He admitted that no further public funding would be forthcoming, but 黑洞社区 understands that money allocated to future years may be brought forward to fund projects on a case-by-case basis.
鈥淲e鈥檙e targeting the Middle East, Latin America and China, where there are investors with five-year plans of over 拢150bn each,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be more proactive with institutional investors at home too.鈥�
The Regional Growth Fund, chaired by Michael Heseltine, has been ordered to prioritise infrastructure when reviewing bids for its second round of funding.
Local communities could also get more control over their long-term infrastructure investment.
The government is also drawing up plans that would let councils borrow against future growth from locally raised business rates.
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