CONTENTS 23.09.10
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New CivilEngineer
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New Civil Engineer
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www.nce.co.uk 1 23.09.10 NEWCIVILENGINEER
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NEWS Transport
Design coststargeted in rail review
08
NEWS Energy
BP weIl is sealed for good in disaster-struck Gulf of Mexico
16
COVER STORY
Kosovohighway
A new road in conne et Kosovo with Albania and Serbia
Alsoin this issue
06 News
Tf1 gets caught up in union dispute
10 News
Dounreay's iconic dome is to be demolished
12
14 Letters
Transport, ICE, dis asters
28 Highways special
The Victorian Blackwall Tunnel's makeover
BJ:IAwards
This week:the Building Award
32 ICENews
The civil engineer's role as arbiter of disputes
Comment
AntonyOliver
"The coalition now recognises that public infrastrudure is key to our economicrecovery
IlCouId Cleggbreathelifebackintothe municipalengineer?
Not so long ago, the county surveyorwas a powerful figure in local government, respon- .sible for roads, transport, water, sewers and
aIl clements of development controi.
Today, decades of centralisation and privatisation have altered the pecking aIder.
But are things about to change? Are we on the verge of the renaissance of the municipal engineer?
Nick Clegg's announcement this week that local authorities will scan be allowed to benefit from business tax increases gener-
ated by new infrastructure and development prompted a flurry of excitement across the civilengineering industry.
The introduction of so-called Tax Incre- ment Funding (TIF) could represent a vital new mechanism for attracting investment into future infrastructure developments.
Of course it is in reality only a small step towards leveraging private seCreTcash to replace the public funding that will scan be lopped from budgets. Local authorities
are unlikely to be seen suddenly rushing willy-nilly to borrow billions on the back of regeneration schemes across the UK.
There bas, as always, to be the right risk profiles and the right returns on the investment. Given that it might leave local authorities carrying the caTIshould the deal net deliver as expected, the development risks have all to be assessed and mitigated.
And it should aise be emphasised that for aIl the local democratic freedoms this deci- sion represents, the Treasury will inevitably retain a strong guiding band to ensure that aIl TIF developments are properly audited.
So lots of detail to corne on the exact work- ings of the scheme, but it is nevertheless a good start. And it shows that the coalition now recognises that public infrastructure is key to economic recovery.
"We will net let capital spending - invest-
ment in new buildings, infrastructure and
repairs
-be sweptawayas it bas in the past,"
said Clegg in bis speech at the Liberal Demo-
crats conference this week.
"This may net make the pulses race," he added. "But l assure yeu it is the first step to breathing life back into our greatest cities."
The plan is based around the coalition government's desire to rush more power and decision making clown to the regional and neighbourhood level and, as Clegg says "put local government back in charge".
And it is not new. The previous admin- istration launched a series of pilots with fnoM of seed cash and in Scotland similar pilots have been rolled out in Edinburgh, Glasgow and North Lanarkshire.
What is clear is that iflocal authorities are to embrace this new world of autonomy and local decision making around the provision and funding of infrastructure they will have to bolster their ill-bouse expertise.
Expertise that will inevitably best corne from our profession. The municipal engineer could yet be set for a comeback.
