CPA Bulletin

32 CPA Bulletin > August 2024 www.cpa.uk.net POLICY POLICY Priorities for the next government - investment, decarbonisation and stability? As I write this, we are in the last day of campaigning ahead of the General Election. By the time you read it, unless the polls are massively mistaken, for the first time in 14 years, the construction industry will be working with a Labour Government. The question that the industry will be asking is, what does this mean in terms of future policy and how construction can remain at the forefront of government policy making? The CPA recently published its core priorities for the next government, and following the election, we will be taking each of these issues up in turn with the appropriate minister and secretary of state in order to reinforce our messages and look to highlight the role the plant-hire sector plays, in both construction, but the wider economy. The CPA’s priorities are: Reinforce business investment and future house building programmes • Establish a credible timetable for the extension of the Full Expensing Allowance to every aspect of the construction plant-hire industry. When ‘fiscal conditions allow’ is too vague and undermines confidence in business investment decisions. • Reforms to the planning system must be realistic and proportionate. Learning from past failures at both central and local levels are important if we are to build the future homes we need. Decarbonisation of construction plant • Have one single government department responsible for decarbonisation of construction plant. Current policies and roles are split between at least three government departments. • Temporarily reintroduce the rebate for Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) to the construction industry for at least the next two years. • Develop a trial scrappage scheme for NRMM (Non-Road Mobile Machinery) businesses operating in Freeport zones, with a view to widening the scheme on a national basis. • Publish the Low Carbon Fuels Strategy as soon as possible and develop a road map for the decarbonisation of NRMM. Supporting the construction industry • The position of construction minister must be solely dedicated to the sector and not split amongst a range of different ministerial responsibilities across different industrial sectors. • The current approach by the police on abnormal loads and embargo times are having an adverse effect on the efficient movement of construction plant - especially mobile cranes. Some companies are facing an existential threat. The next government must get the Home Office and Department for Transport to work with the industry and police chief constables to outline concerns and ensure the current lack of flexibility amongst police forces, is addressed. • Build on current work with the construction industry to grow the domestic skills base, improving both apprenticeship funding and retention rates amongst apprentices, while also making the industry an attractive career option for people already in the workforce. Realism is needed in recruiting from overseas, with the Migration Advisory Committee working with the construction sector in addressing current skills gaps. The creation of Great British Railways must be a key legislative part of the King’s Speech, helping provide certainty for planning and business investment in the rail plant sector. • The legislative impasse on the creation of Great British Railways (GBR) must be resolved as soon as possible. A growing rail plant and rail maintenance industry is at the heart of a successful rail sector. The current delays have undermined progress, with the supply of future work bank visibility fragile. Above all else, the business community and construction especially, needs stability and an emphasis on the conditions needed for secure and consistent, business investment. It is not particularly groundbreaking as a policy, but it remains true because it is. Without business confidence and consistency in economic and infrastructure policy, construction and wider productivity in the economy, will be undermined. Labour have cited the need for economic growth to raise living standards and pay for its policy agenda. While laudable, whoever forms the next government must learn from the mistakes of the last one and ensure construction is at the forefront of its thinking in driving economic growth. Examples such as HS2 should act as a lesson for whoever is in power. It remains a classic and all too recent example of what happens when policy implementation gets muddled and short-term thinking overrides wider, long-term infrastructure needs. The construction industry will be watching and waiting.