Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has published a report to set out 28 policy recommendations it believes will help boost the quality of UK infrastructure projects and support investment.

In the report, PIC argued that the UK had underinvested in housing and infrastructure, and it had now reached a ‘critical point’, and that the UK was not providing enough investment-ready projects for major institutional investors.

It warned that the viability gap, whereby the cost of delivering a project exceeded the expected return, was a huge concern and had become a real challenge.

To help address these concerns, PIC said the UK should limit the ability of single-issue pressure groups and activists to block infrastructure projects by imposing a fee to object to planning consent.

Other recommendations included giving developers the ability to offer financial and other incentives to encourage stronger community support for developments, and establishing a fast-track regulatory process that uses the judgement of global regulators to support UK counterparts for the faster approval of goods and services.

PIC also called for the creation of a pipeline fund to support project development; the increased use of government guarantees; for regulatory processes, plans, and targets to be aligned; and a review of planning regulations to strip out rules that are delaying development.

“PIC has invested more than £14bn in UK housing and infrastructure, and this wealth of experience is the driving force behind these 28 recommendations,” commented PIC chief investment officer, Rob Groves.

“Institutional investors, like PIC, want to invest more in UK infrastructure and have plenty of available funding to do so. The challenge is that we are not presented with enough viable, investable projects domestically.

“We believe this can be addressed through the policy reforms outlined in this report.

“Our industry should invest hundreds of billions of pounds in UK housing and infrastructure over the next decade. This is a historic opportunity to address decades of underinvestment and start to turn things around this year and for decades to come.”

Infrastructure APPG chair and Labour MP, Mike Reader, added: “Economic growth depends on our ability to deliver modern infrastructure at pace. That means government and industry working together.

“It’s welcome to see PIC bringing forward ideas to help get Britain building again and I would strongly encourage the wider private sector to do the same. We all have a part to play.”

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