Ahead of the Autumn Statement this week, the Construction Products Association is urging the Chancellor to shift from current to capital spending in order to inject funding into repair, maintenance and infrastructure, as outlined in the Association’s submission to Treasury last month.
Commenting, Chief Executive of the Construction Products Association, Diana Montgomery said: “Government has grasped the importance and the need for improved infrastructure as part of the solution for growth. It is vital that the Chancellor focuses on capital investment in ‘shovel ready’ repair and maintenance projects that are quick to get off the ground with framework contracts and planning already in place.
“Current spending, such as spending on welfare and pensions, is set to rise from £629 billion to £674 billion by 2013/14, yet government is cutting capital investment, by 21% over the same period, even though independent economic research shows that for every £1 invested in construction, the economy benefits by £3.”
The Association has also called for government to play a crucial role in providing householders with incentives to invest in measures that will save energy.
“We welcome the government’s Green Deal initiative but would like to see more being done to encourage its take up. If the Green Deal were to provide only 10% of what the Energy Minister stated it would do, this would generate an additional £4 billion for the economy as a whole. Furthermore, this activity would benefit SMEs and boost employment, throughout the country and not just in the South-East.
“Despite Treasury being more vocal on infrastructure investment in recent months, most schemes have struggled to get off the ground. We hope that any announcements made in the Autumn Statement this week do not share a similar fate.”
