Infrastructure industry has to get into politics says deputy London mayor

Jackie Whitelaw
13 November 2015

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Selling the message that investment leads to public good is critical for infrastructure’s future according to London's deputy mayor for transport Isabel Dedring.

The infrastructure sector has to become more politically intelligent and understand what motivates politicians and the public if it wants support for future investment, deputy mayor of London Isobel Dedring said this week.

She was speaking at the ACE’s European CEO Awards celebration in London.

“We need to move to a dramatically different funding mechanism. The days to going to the Treasury for direct grant are over” 

“Infrastructure is a hot topic,” she said. “Everyone in this room thinks it is a good thing – it creates jobs for instance.” But even with government currently supporting infrastructure, politically - out on the streets - it is not always seen as a good thing, she said.

The expansion of London and the new developments and infrastructure that is needed to cope with a city 10M people by 2050 are not necessarily welcomed by the existing population, Dedring explained.

“So we need to collectively describe the good that will accrue to people,” she said. “For instance new, big developments can lead to cleaner air. But we don’t have the right people to deliver the narrative.

“We are spending billions but engineers want to explain the detail of the engineering which to locals can be meaningless. In the transport space for instance, how do we communicate that we are doing something meaningful for the public good?” We need people who can persuade the public that infrastructure is a good thing, she added.

Dedring also called on her audience to step up to the plate on the issue of infrastructure funding. “We need to move to a dramatically different funding mechanism. The days to going to the Treasury for direct grant are over,” she said.

“We need to move to a dramatically different funding mechanism. The days to going to the Treasury for direct grant are over,”

“Crossrail 2 will be almost entirely non-grant funded and on the Bakerloo Line extension we are looking at how the route is driven by land value,” she said highlighting that using the uplift in land from the Tube extension was critical to funding the project. This kind of investment, she added, required a totally different way of thinking about transport projects – and projects would not happen unless they are assessed  them in that kind of way, she said.

“But the public sector has no capability to do that. Transport for London has one person who is a deal maker and has corporate finance ability," she warned. "So do we hire more people or form new partnerships with industry?”

Her final point was to warn her audience never to expect gratitude for their efforts. Dedring has been in charge of the £1bn, ten year plan to build segregated cycle ways across London. The investment came as a response to outrage over cyclists deaths in 2011. 

“That was the moment they became politically unacceptable," she said. “But now we have a ‘bikelash’ and people are complaining that congestion is appalling and cyclists don’t need segregated lanes! 

She added: “You need to expect in this industry that as soon as you tackle one issue, the next thing arises. There is no moment for anyone to say that is brilliant.”