The UK needs a lot of new infrastructure. It needs it to replace old worn out facilities. It needs it to lift to modern standards and to accommodate modern technology. It needs it to catch up with the big surge in population this century. And yes I did speak out against excessive migration, warning of stresses on housing and infrastructure.
Here is a list of some what we need
1. the 9 new reservoirs in early stage planning to match water demand
2 10 new gas fired combined cycle power stations to balance and back up the big increase in unreliable renewables
3 New oil and gas exploration and development to cut imports and CO 2
4. Complete the trunk road network to at least dual carriageway standards
5. Install digital signals on all main rail lines
6 Complete upgrade and installation of broadband to all addresses
7 Put in new hospital bed capacity
8 Renovate, not close, old prisons
9. More data centres
1,2,3,6,9 are all private capital needing state permits and back up infrastructure. The others require state capital to be met from within the existing budget total. Spending on carbon capture and storage should be stopped, and so called investment spend on non operational property and net zero projects by councils banned.
August 17, 2026
This is not going to happen.
‘ The others require state capital to be met from within existing budget total.’
That will never happen. Problems are always met with a request for more funding and people employed. Throwing money at things and expecting it to do the trick is how it works. Nobody demands results or punishes poor performance.
August 17, 2026
You’re not kidding. A snapshot of power generation on a quiet Sunday evening.
CCGT 45% max available due to maintenance
Nuclear 15% full load
Wind 2.5%
Solar 2%
Imports 19.5%.
This was on a demand of 25.6gw. In winter this would typically be 47gw.
There’s nothing in the armoury when the wind doesn’t blow and thevsun isn’t shining.
This will bring the government crashing down.
August 17, 2026
As we see with HS2 and Woking. Not their money so what do they care.
Woking council declares bankruptcy with £1.2bn deficit
Previous Tory leadership embarked on risky “investment” spree involving hotels and skyscrapers.
August 17, 2026
Good morning.
7. Make Private Health Insurance a non-taxable benefit and encourage people to go private. This would release some pressure on the NHS.
8. No ! Sell off all old prisons and those in London to developers. Use the money to build new prisons elsewhere.
9. Before we should be building Data Centres we should be building power stations (2) first.
The problem however is legislation. There is a raft of legislation that gives powers to QUANGO’s, NGO’s, government funded charities and pressure groups to stop most if not all of the above.
So. First things first. Address the legislation that will prevent all that is mentioned from happening. Otherwise we will be building £100m bat caves and cooling for fish. 😉
August 17, 2026
The imports were a staggering £192 per mwh which gas can generate fot around £50 per mwh.
August 17, 2026
And the bill will come to…?
Pointless to discuss infrastructure proposals, however sensible, unless we know if they’re within the country’s means. The Climate Change Committee has come up with varying estimates over recent years of the cost of the Net Zero agenda. If we just take the carbon capture and storage subsidies the government has already earmarked, based on the CCC’s most recent Net Zero ‘budget’, that would save about £50 bn between now and 2030. Which would allow a very welcome relief for consumers who are mostly paying for it in their increased energy costs. But would they then be expected to pick up the tab for a big alternative programme of infrastructure improvement? If not, how would the infrastructure programme be financed? I’m not disagreeing with the need for it, just wondering how it would be financed.
August 17, 2026
I agree fully with that. But we alas have socialist, unscientific, doom loop, net zero morons in charge so it will clearly not happen.
There is a large waiting time for combined cycle natural gas turbine generators.
As to 3, yes this would indeed cut CO2 but that is not important anyway.
We also need another runway (at least) at Gatwick and at Heathrow and rather more houses or fewer people.
Also un-block the existing roads which have been blocked by bus lanes, bike lanes, islands, endless anti car red traffic lights, environmental areas, 20 mph speed limits …
August 17, 2026
Lord Woolley, the principal of Homerton College, Cambridge, has accused the media of subjecting former Cambridge professor Jason Arday to a “toxic, vicious witch hunt” and called for an investigation into the intense “media onslaught” following Arday’s death.
I cannot help but think that anyone who says something as stupid as this is not someone who should be in the Lords nor head of a Cambridge College. The blame lies if anything with the academics at Cambridge who absurdly appointed this ( recently sadly deceased man dd) when he ( faced many questions about his stated achievements ed).
People like Lord Woolley (elevated by the dire net zero Theresa May) are the problem. People who want Top Trump characteristics to overrule merit & ability. Does he really want incompetent surgeons, civil engineers, aircraft engineers, power station designers… chosen on the basis of DEI top Trump characteristics so as to hit race, gender, sexuality, disability “disparity” targets? Equality of outcome regardless of merit is an evil and destructive agenda.
He was “chair” of the UK Government Race Disparity Unit advisory group between January 2018 and July 2020. He seems determined to drive the reputation of my old university even lower. Do not think the more sensible science, maths, engineering, physics, history, law, architecture, medicine types of subjects are immune – they certainly are not my experience.
August 17, 2026
More data centres…why?
It just means more surveillance, more state control, less liberty.
Reply It means more social media , more entertainment, more business success, more productivity, more freedom . Do you want to be rationed over how many emails you can send, photos you can take, film you can download?
August 17, 2026
Yes John, all of that plus reprioritise food production and agriculture. Take back control of our national waters and recover our fishing industry and rights from the EU.
When those basic/fundamental features of National survival/security is rebuilt, we will also need a military capable of defending it. Rebuild the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force fit and of scale to engage any enemy.
Reindustrialisation, to enable military capability, plus increasing food production using modern methods and technologies, would transform our economic outlook. It could be achieved….. certainly the foundations of that reshaped economy could be achieved in a single Parliament.
WE, just have to get on and do it.
August 17, 2026
Infrastructure or benefits?
Reform may be a little hopeful with their £50 billion in savings but at least they are asking the right question.
August 17, 2026
1, 2, 3, No chance . This country is run by ‘climate change’ obsessed Green loonies, many wearing a Red rossette.
4, This will happen only if they can toll them.
5, I thought this program was underway?
6, ditto
7, Governments constantly throw money at the NHS. But never control who is using it. Stop foreigners coming here and stealing our NHS service. Make all immigrants wait until they have paid tax for ten years, before getting ‘free’ treatment. Make health insurance for incomers, compuslory. Stop illegal immigration.
8, and build more prisons.
9, Really?
August 17, 2026
Not so much when as where?
Far too much development in the south of England already. Here the need is to restore temperate rainforest to improve the local climate. Development would be better put in Scotland and revitalising the ghost towns. England is already water scarce and can’t bear any more development whereas Scotland has plenty of fresh water.
August 17, 2026
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team: “The BBC intentionally defamed President Donald J Trump, and now the BBC is seeking to harass him, his family and supporters by abusing the deposition process.”
THIS seems right to me – about time the BBC settled and stopped wasting licence fee payers money on lawyers digging an ever deeper hole for licence free payers. Tho only real argument is as to the appropriate size of the damages.
August 17, 2026
Once Lawyers are involved it costs everyone a fortune, those with the deepest pockets are often the winners in the end, hence “justice if you can afford it” wins again.
August 17, 2026
A good legal system for users of it (and for real justice) would be predictable, quick, cheap and with few court levels. A good system to enrich lawyers is the complete reverse, expensive, very slow, arbitrary, unpredictable, many levels of appeal, one that encourages endless litigation … but lawyers and politicians in effect mold & design the system so we get the latter.
In effect, yet another tax by the unproductive on the productive by essentially the state sector.
August 17, 2026
Lord John Redwood,
Many of the requirements you list would fade away if we stopped importing the world’s strays.
I would prefer the Small Modular Nuclear Reactors to the gas fired power stations.
I agree that the need for water storage resources are an essential piece of infrastructure needed now.
I know you were an advocate for grey water, and perhaps a government should explore that again.
There is no point increasing hospital bed capacity if we don’t have enough skilled staff to operate them.
Unless and until we sort out power and water supply, we can’t build data centers. Personally I feel the Gangster State’s push to force everything online is risky, especially given government’s past record of technology.
Reply We need new nuclear and new gas. All but one of our present nuclear stations are due to close this decade.
August 17, 2026
Same ole, same ole, someone in Parliament threatens to ‘do’ something! As far as I am aware none of them know the first thing about building, yet the can promise to ‘build’ – Its laughable.
The UK Parliament, its Government can only create the framework for others, they cant physically do! ‘The Market’ can actually do, build, achieve when it is allowed to do so.
All the major UK Housebuilders, because it is their job have what is termed a ‘land-bank’. Generally that means a store to give them 10 years of building opportunity, in front of them already to go. What doesn’t happen is a house builder that is after all a business breaks ground, start building unless there is ‘certainty’ of a ‘sale’. Spending money on manpower & materials that then sits there, is a loss.
As with all things if there is an earning economy, things get done. If the UK Parliament, its Government, takes money from peoples pockets, the economy, then there is nothing available to spend. It is that simple.
Building homes to house the invading criminals, is also the UK Parliament and its Government invading the economy, it does nothing to feed the economy – its a taker.
Parliament, its Government, needs to ‘but out’ of this socialist dream that they can physically do things. Its the People, those people they fight every day that get things done, and the one thing they need is being stolen from them – the money.
August 17, 2026
In the category of ‘what needs to be built’ that would be a good start, but there are so many things wrong with modern Britain these things would only scratch the surface of remedial actions required.
Money should be diverted from building ludicrous cycle paths that go nowhere and from creating LTNs (Low traffic neighbourhoods) to roads generally. In our congested road network, one false step by a driver causes mayhem and jams for miles around. IMVHO the police spend far too long in analysing such incidents for suspect results.
It is time the capacity of all roads was opened up for full use and that includes many narrow country lanes that should be made 2 lanes at least to help siphon off some of the worst of the heavy traffic after a motorway crash.
Instead of squeezing ever more homes into the over-crowded south HMG should make use of the vast open spaces in Scotland to build new towns.
If we have to build places for illegal immigrants then it should be of the same style they are used to – basic one room huts. Houses should be made available to those in need who would appreciate them.
Building accommodation will help to revitalise Britain if done at a pace and with less policy restrictions, but can we trust labour to that in a fair way that allows private builders in without penalising them. We need private investment for building homes – we already have enough council housing that quickly becomes a slum.
August 17, 2026
After many years contributing to this site, I have decided to direct my efforts to helping Reform win the next general election. I wish John and my fellow contributors well for the future. I believe that this country has one last chance to turn things around, and this can only happen with a single strong right-wing party. That party must be Reform; otherwise, we, as a country, are doomed.
August 17, 2026
Your list is what the new PM should have been doing these last few weeks. Shut in his office at No 10, reviewing and working on these kinds of proposals with Ministers and Civil Servants. That is what a serious and intelligent new PM would have done. It is pathetic to take less than a pound a week off our electricity bills, while not ensuring security of supply. The so-called Burnham bounce amazes me and shows that some voters are just as lightweight as the new PM.