CPA report criticises delays in essential social and infrastructure programmes

Delays in government construction programmes is causing a huge backlog of building works.

The government is failing to meet growth targets for affordable homes and new roads, and is behind schedule on essential repair work in hospitals and schools, according to a Construction Products Association report.

In its appraisal of the government’s £37bn building programme the CPA said that the UK was close to the bottom of the European league for capital investment despite a 27% increase since 2000.
The CPA report, to be revealed on Wednesday, says that the backlog of hospital repairs had grown 19% since 1999 to £3.7bn, while the school building repairs backlog stood at £8bn.

The report says that the government is way behind in its promise to build 75,000 new homes in the next three years having built only 18,000 in the first year of the programme.

And during a ten-year roads programme the CPA said that only 16 of 70 planned local bypasses and 29 of 130 major local road schemes had been completed or were under construction halfway through the programme.