The common complain we all hear is that it takes too long to build stuff in the UK. We saw China build a hospital in a few weeks to prepare for the pandemic only for the government to create a series of temporary hospitals in the UK for similar reasons.
We obviously can do it if required but get stopped because of red tape and regulations. Good idea then that the government is thinking of fast forwarding certain types of infrastructure projects to avoid years of planning delays.
Apparently it wants to fast-track major infrastructure projects such as new transport links, offshore wind farms and waste water management facilities.
I hope this works but I can see problems here.
Transport links means roads and railways. These tend to require compulsory purchase orders of land to build on and take ages to negotiate and agree whether the proposals are feasible or not. Initially I thought that off shore wind farms would make sense to fast forward - but even here there are considerations of biodiversity and environmental impact assessments that have until now been carried out.
This plan sounds great in theory but the more I think about it the more I wonder whether it will work.