Sean Keyes, Managing Director of Structural and Civil Engineering firm Sutcliffe, has offered his thoughts on the Chancellor’s Autumn budget 2021.
“The £1.8bn pledged towards brownfield housing developments is closest to our hearts as engineers and will make a real impact in making the UK more sustainable, as it’ll not only stop us from using Greenfield sites, but also help us clean up brownfield land.
“The digitisation of the planning system is also something I’ve personally spoken to a lot of local planners about in the past and the general consensus is that most people are struggling to meet planning times at the moment, which means projects then start at a slower timescale, which then halts the economy. Investment in speeding up the planning system is well received across the construction and property sector and something that has been a long time coming.
“The levelling up agenda needs to continue and needs to be pushed hard by the Conservative party – with levelling up all about creating equal job opportunities, higher life expectancies and a better way of life across the country and not just in the South, today’s budget will again go some way towards that, especially with the significant investment in transport links and stations in Liverpool, Runcorn and St Helens. “As a company who has a long reputation for supporting the future generation, the £3bn pledge in post-16 education to fund the skills revolution will be a fantastic boost to the economy too. Every business needs to support those at the bottom rung of the ladder in order to nurture, inspire and up-skill, to ensure that those coming out of education at 16+ can flourish and build our future economies. This investment in the youth may not have an immediate impact, but if we don’t at least invest what our competitor nations are, then we will fall behind and I am delighted that programmes such as the Kickstart scheme are giving young people a chance to shine.”
