Roads: Forever second rate?
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THE BRITISH Road Federation has produced a report, Forever Second Rate? — an analysis of long-term trends and needs in public expenditure — in reply to the Government's Green Paper The Next 10 Years.
At a press conference, the BRF author of the paper, economist Andrew Street, said that it is an easier political expediency to cut current rather than capital expenditure.
It does not make sense to do this by an ever-decreasing rate of capital expenditure, and the Green Paper lacks the honesty to face up to this.
The Next 10 Years report is disappointing, he said; it is rather threadbare and not being followed up, and in the run-up to the Budget there is talk of more cut-backs. The most disturbing conclusion is that "finance must determine expenditure and not expenditure finance".
In terms of capital expenditure, he said, 10 years is not that far ahead; a major road project can take 15 years to completion. Too little attention is paid to long-term needs within the expenditure budget.
A public investment reappraisal should be carried out by the Government, he said.
The recommendations in Forever Second Rate? would provide no problems with inflationary pressures — that is the message to the Government, he said. It does not suggest an increase in borrowing but a decrease in the rate of reducing it.
• See also page 36