Armitt urges government to look beyond HS2 in infrastructure ambitions

The government should look beyond HS2 and accelerate investments in water networks as well as other infrastructure projects according to chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, Sir John Armitt.

Speaking to MPs and Peers, Armitt (pictured) pointedly noted the “583 days since the Commission published the UK’s first ever National Infrastructure” and added: “After more than 18 months of delay, we hope the stage is now set for a truly transformative strategy that will prove worth the wait”.

He said the government’s National Infrastructure Strategy – due to be published alongside the Budget next month – was “a golden moment of opportunity for government to chart an ambitious but deliverable plan.”

He warned the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Infrastructure that ministers must not approve plans that are “not properly costed and designed sensitively around a clear business case,” at the same time asserting: “Levelling up cannot happen without some digging up.”