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The Institution of Engineering and Technology comment on Budget proposals for a green investment bank and high speed rail.
The IET welcomes announcements on a green investment bank, but has some concerns about its delivery. Professor Steve Evans, chair of the IET Manufacturing Policy Panel, says: "There is an enormous opportunity for the UK to take a global leadership role in low-carbon manufacturing and low-carbon technology. We have got great universities and a long tradition in innovation and engineering. In order to achieve a low-carbon economy, however, government has to create the right environment for investment into the low-carbon industrial sectors of the future."
Ian McDonald, technical chair of the IET Electric Vehicle Charging Interoperability Group, points out that legislation and regulations have to keep pace with new and emerging technologies. A systematic review of the implications of new technologies has to be performed at a government level in order to maximise the benefits and minimise potential financial and safety risks. Professor Phil Blythe, chair of the Transport Policy Panel, adds: "Electric vehicles only address one of the key issues with road transport – at some time in the near future fiscal measures will be required to deal with road congestion, as the cost to the UK per annum is many billions of pounds in associated costs."
The IET welcomes the announcement from the white paper on high-speed rail. It will provide additional infrastructure for rail journeys within the UK as rail usage rises year on year. It will remove intercity rail traffic from the traditional routes, freeing up paths for additional local, inter-urban and freight paths and increase the capacity of the overall network.
Professor Roderick Smith, chairman of the Future Rail Research Centre at Imperial College London, said at a recent IET event on Systems Modelling in Railways: "Transport is the biggest stimulus of the exchange of people and materials that the economy needs. High-speed rail can bridge the north-south divide. The money that is invested in such a project is recovered from economic growth. London-Birmingham will start the ball rolling and will cost less than a quarter of the sum we have spent bailing out Northern Rock.
"The major transport infrastructure builds in the past have been turnpike roads, canals, railways, urban trams, trunk roads and motorways. Transport demand will increase with increased GDP and if we are to reduce carbon emissions, the equivalent of the motorway system for the railways is the only way to go."
Yvonne Hübner, principal policy advisor at the IET, agrees: "High-speed rail will provide employment and stimulation to the design, equipment supply and construction industry in the UK."
Professor Blythe adds: "Politicians must not forget, however, that high-speed rail is only as green as the electricity used to power those trains. High-speed rail will coincide with the electrification of road transport. We therefore need to start investing heavily into renewable energy and nuclear power."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd