It would be ācatastropheā to axe major projects, warns infrastructure commissioner
Itās ābusiness as usualā for major infrastructure projects like HS2, a leading member of the governmentās infrastructure commission has said.
Architect Sadie Morgan said she has āevery confidenceā projects will go ahead because infrastructure spending is critical to lifting the country out of the Brexit crisis.
āAs far as the NIC is concerned, itās business as usual,ā she said at a House of Commons reception for the construction industry hosted by ŠŌ°ÉµēĢØ and the All Party Parliamentary Goup on Construction & Urban Development.
āIf anything is going to get us out of this hole itās infrastructure,ā she said.
āIt would be a catastrophe to stop that now. I have every confidence that the projects will go ahead.ā
Morgan, a director at dRMM and who said she is making a good recovery after recent surgery for breast cancer, is chair of the HS2 design panel and a member of Lord Adonisā National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) which is next due to next Tuesday.
A meeting held on Friday on location to discuss the proposed Oxford-to-Cambridge railway link had to be abandoned because so many of the people involved were called back to Westminster to deal with the fallout from the referendum result.
The NIC was set up last autumn and given three initial areas of focus by the government: northern connectivity, Londonās transport system and energy. Its other members include former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine.
In his autumn spending review, chancellor George Osborne pledged £100bn of infrastructure spending over the next five years.
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