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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/02/flood-defences-social-housing-pre-election-spending-commitments-infrastructure-plan
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| £2.3bn for flood defences in pre-election spending commitments | £2.3bn for flood defences in pre-election spending commitments |
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| The coalition government’s pre-election infrastructure spending bonanza will continue on Tuesday with announcements on increased spending on social housing, flood defences and exploratory talks for the first lagoon power project. | |
| The plans, including an innovative scheme whereby the government could act as a direct commissioner of housing, are due to be announced in the 2014 national infrastructure plan prepared by Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury. | The plans, including an innovative scheme whereby the government could act as a direct commissioner of housing, are due to be announced in the 2014 national infrastructure plan prepared by Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury. |
| It follows announcements on Monday on how the government would guarantee £15bn of spending on a roads programme. | It follows announcements on Monday on how the government would guarantee £15bn of spending on a roads programme. |
| Alexander will announce details of a six-year flood defence programme including 1,400 projects providing better protection for 300,000 homes. The Treasury said the £2.3bn of capital investment would help prevent more than £30bn economic damage. | Alexander will announce details of a six-year flood defence programme including 1,400 projects providing better protection for 300,000 homes. The Treasury said the £2.3bn of capital investment would help prevent more than £30bn economic damage. |
| Labour said the money was an allocation of funds already announced, adding “the whole exercise reeks of pork barrel politics in which the Treasury promise to throw money in key marginal seats”. | Labour said the money was an allocation of funds already announced, adding “the whole exercise reeks of pork barrel politics in which the Treasury promise to throw money in key marginal seats”. |
| Projects that will benefit include £80m for the Humber estuary, more than £17m for Tonbridge, Yalding and the surrounding communities, £196m for the Thames estuary programme, £73m for the Boston barrier, £42m for the Oxford western conveyance, and £47m for Rossall coastal defence. | Projects that will benefit include £80m for the Humber estuary, more than £17m for Tonbridge, Yalding and the surrounding communities, £196m for the Thames estuary programme, £73m for the Boston barrier, £42m for the Oxford western conveyance, and £47m for Rossall coastal defence. |
| In addition, the government will commit to spend £15.5m in Somerset on flood defences over the next six years, benefiting 7,000 properties, including £4.2m on the Somerset Levels and moors, the epicentre of flooding last year. | |
| In potentially the most significant announcement, Ed Davey, the energy secretary, said he expected to start talks next month with Tidal Lagoon Power, the company that is aiming to build the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant in Swansea Bay, to see if the project is affordable and value for money for consumers. | |
| “Lagoon technology has the potential to provide predictable long-term green energy with an investment lasting over a century. We believe tidal lagoons have really significant potential in the UK, and could start contributing to UK energy needs as early as the end of the decade. The larger the number of sources of energy in the UK, the better for consumers since it will bring prices down if there is competition. The UK has a great indigenous tidal resource, the second biggest in the world, and we have the potential to become world leaders,” he said. | |
| The talks would focus on the costs of tidal lagoon powers and the level of subsidy that would initially be required as well as any planning permission issues. The project, unlike the Severn barrage, has strong local support including from Friends of the Earth and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. | The talks would focus on the costs of tidal lagoon powers and the level of subsidy that would initially be required as well as any planning permission issues. The project, unlike the Severn barrage, has strong local support including from Friends of the Earth and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. |
| The scheme would involve a six-mile (9.5km) wall around Swansea Bay, creating a lagoon in the Bristol channel with turbines to harness the incoming and outgoing tides and generate power 14 hours a day. | The scheme would involve a six-mile (9.5km) wall around Swansea Bay, creating a lagoon in the Bristol channel with turbines to harness the incoming and outgoing tides and generate power 14 hours a day. |
| It would provide renewable electricity for 120,000 homes for 120 years, saving 236,000 tonnes of carbon a year, with 1,850 construction jobs and 150 long-term jobs in operation and leisure facilities on the lagoon. Tidal lagoon projects have the potential to provide up to 8% of the UK’s energy, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change. | |
| Overall the National Infrastructure Plan sets out £460 billion worth of public and private investment to the end of the decade and beyond is planned across the key infrastructure sectors. Average annual investment is set to 15 % higher in this Parliament than it was in the previous Parliament, increasing from £41bn between 2005 and 2010 to £47bn between 2011 and 2014. | |
| Alexander is also expected to provide £100m for shovel-ready housing schemes, and also set out his thinking on how government could in the long term become a commissioner for housing, an idea he floated at the Liberal Democrat conference in the autumn. Alexander had previously said the country needs to be building as many as 250,000 homes a year to meet pent-up demand. | Alexander is also expected to provide £100m for shovel-ready housing schemes, and also set out his thinking on how government could in the long term become a commissioner for housing, an idea he floated at the Liberal Democrat conference in the autumn. Alexander had previously said the country needs to be building as many as 250,000 homes a year to meet pent-up demand. |
| He told the housing fringe at his party’s conference: “If we are to address both the cyclical nature of the market and the structural under-supply of housing, then I think we also need to consider whether the government should operate as a commissioner of housing. A truly radical approach would be for the government to also have a direct role in house building – not just affordable house building but in the private market also.” | He told the housing fringe at his party’s conference: “If we are to address both the cyclical nature of the market and the structural under-supply of housing, then I think we also need to consider whether the government should operate as a commissioner of housing. A truly radical approach would be for the government to also have a direct role in house building – not just affordable house building but in the private market also.” |
| Under Alexander’s plan, the government would suggest how many houses should be built in a given period. If fewer homes were built by the private sector, housing associations and local authorities combined, the government would step in. | Under Alexander’s plan, the government would suggest how many houses should be built in a given period. If fewer homes were built by the private sector, housing associations and local authorities combined, the government would step in. |
| Alexander said: “You would have a capacity for the government to step in, to place orders, to pay contractors, build houses, and work out, once they are built, how and when they need to be sold.” | Alexander said: “You would have a capacity for the government to step in, to place orders, to pay contractors, build houses, and work out, once they are built, how and when they need to be sold.” |
| • This article was amended on 2 December 2014. It originally stated in the introduction that the first lagoon power project had the potential to provide 8% of the UK’s energy. This figure applies to all lagoon power plants, not just the one planned for Swansea Bay. This has been corrected. |