Tim Worstall

British Engineering

So why don’t we build grand projects as we used to? Why this timidity about the railways, the Severn estuary barrage?

We are governed by professional politicians for whom long-term means the week after next.

Yes, that’s part of it.

Our business culture is straitjacketed by demands for early and healthy returns.

No, not sure about that at all. If you look at the planning horizons of, say, Shell and BP, you’ll see that they are 25 years at minimum. You can raise market money for long term projects.

And our planning system appears designed to throw a fire-blanket over
any creative spark; its primary function appears to be the fiscal
gratification of lawyers.

Certainly: as mentioned, the planning process for Terminal 5 at Heathrow took longer than the 5 years in which Brunel built the entire Great Western railway.

So, the problem is politicians and the planning process. Hang one lot and change the second as a solution perhaps?

In

5 responses

  1. S-E Avatar
    S-E

    You left out “and kill all the lawyers” from the last sentence. Any particular reason?

    Reply
  2. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    if it were left to the free market, Heathrow T5 would certainly never have been built at all, unless you’ve decided you’re in favour of compulsory purchase orders these days.

    Reply
  3. james C Avatar
    james C

    I agree with much of the above, but your point about BP and Shell does not ring true. Both companies are huge, self-financing and have lead times which are far beyond most investors’ time horizons. As a result, the shareholders don’t have much say in capital spending, and trust the management.

    Reply
  4. Mark Wadsworth Avatar
    Mark Wadsworth

    Local LVT is the answer, but it’s a bit complicated to explain why.

    Reply
  5. Simon Hedges Avatar
    Simon Hedges

    Yeah, sure, blame the politicians. But the politicians are expected to reflect the views and desires of the people. Most people don’t want their taxes to rise to pay for high speed rail links to Scotland; many people don’t want Heathrow to expand; many people don’t want to alter sea levels in the Server Estuary permanent at the risk of wildlife. Maybe the main aim of the politicians isn’t to support grand engineering projects, but to provide services to the people. But anyway, some Grand Projects of the past decade or two (and the next): the Channel Tunnel and the CTRL; The Eden Project; The M74 widening; The British Library; The Olympics; the Jubilee Line Extension; And let’s not forget the Dome! So, the real reasons are: Popular Opposition and the Billions in public finance. The most recent ‘Grand Projects’ the Government has been pursuing has been rebuilding hundreds of Schools and Hospitals, and I can’t say I’m unhappy about those choices.

    Reply

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