www.nce.co.uk1 15.07.10 NEWCIVil ENGINEER3
CONTENTS 15.07.10
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www.nce.CO.uK New Civil EngineerlstFloor,GreaterLondonHouse HampsteadRoad,LondonNW17EJ EDITORIALENQUIRIES Tel:(020)77284544 (fax4666) Email: [email protected] EDITOR1Antony Oliver (020) 7728 4541antony.oliver DEPUTYEDiTOR1JackieWhitelaw (020) 7728 4542 jackie.whitelaw MANAGINGEDITOR1MarkHansford
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05
WATER
Jobmarketshrinks
29,000jobs havebeen shed from
the water industry since 200416
SUSTAINABLE CITIES Urbandreams
As citiesgrow,how are engineers meeting 21stcenturychallenges?
22
MOREFORLESS Roundtable
Industry experts give their views on the planned spending culs
Aisein thisissue
06 News 14
Hinkley Point reactor plans gather pace
08 News
Labour accuses coalition of curling Crossrail's score
10 News
P~blic back roads invest- ment over energy
Letters
Blowing hot and cold over wind power
Projed profile
Work on a new eco-city begins in China 26 ICENews
Don't stifle the aviation industry, experts warn 21
Comment
AntonyOliver
"The real concern is that this coalition government seems committed to seriai public consultation"
Professional advice counts more than the public voice
This week's survey by the ICE into public attitudes to infrastructure spending priori- ries proves one thing - asking the public what they want is a pointless exercise.
Faced with a choice between investment to alleviate the problems they see and feel every clay- road congestion - or in the services they
just takefor granted
-energysupply,waste,
water and sewerage - well surprise, surprise theyvoted for more investment in roads.Of course we know that the local road network has been catastrophically under- funded for decades leaving an huge backlog of maintenance in just about every local authority. And we know that the national road network needs investment to boost capacity and alleviate congestion hotspots.
But we also know that, in an environment of massive public spending culs, tackling the UK's impending energy crisis must surely be higher on the investment priority list if we are to ensure the nation emerges from the economic downturn in a fit state.
So while it's nice to know that the public wallIs better roads, and it provides a conve- nient device for local authority engineers to lobby against the inevitable culs, we must resist the urge to lobbywith such ill- informed, self-serving nonsense.
ln short, the ICE must rush forward more considere d, and more politically sensible, engineering solutions that will stand a chance of solving our economic woes.
The real concern is that this coalition government seems committed to seriaI public consultation. For some bizarre reason - and
it isn't democracyby the way
- it is intent on localised decision making to ensure that the public gels to influence every decision.We saw it this week with the radical changes to the National Health Service, pushing healthcare decisions and strategy clown to the doctors' surgery.
We saw it last week with the decision to scrap the centralised Building Schools for the Future programme ahead of the emer-
gence of a new populist agenda to allow parents to start their own schools.
And we saw it the week before that with the abolition of the Infrastructure Planning Commission as part of the new so-called
"open-sourced" planning agenda to rush decisions clown to local neighbourhoods.
Most worrying of aIl, given the response from the public to the ICE's survey, is that Chancellor George Osborne wallIs the public to tell him where spending culs should fall.
Yes,by aUmeans ask the views of profes- sionals who really understand the implications, but does the chancellor reaUyexpect to hear anything of genuine interest about investment priorities &om a locallevel? 1hope not.
So if the ICE really wallIs to influence this October's Comprehensive Spending Review 1 suggest that it stops wasting money asking the public what it wallIs. Now is the moment to start making noise about the collective views of ils more informed members.
