National Infrastructure Assessment | Evidence Submission

Evidence by the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity
Submitted on 10 February 2017

In October 2016, the National Infrastructure Commission launched a 15 week call for evidence to provide input into the development of its National Infrastructure Assessment. The Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity responded. In our reply we urge the commission to consider the demand management potential of the ‘infrastructure of civic life’, approaching the infrastructure of the UK as an integrated system. Government use of incentives, taxation and subsidies should be reformed in order to encourage low carbon options, and a transition from a private vehicle based transport system towards an integrated public mobility system should be considered.

The circular economy has the potential to reduce waste and hence help to solve waste infrastructure problems, we find. CUSP research has explored the business responses to circular economy ideas through its More Profit Less Stuff programme, as well as research on challenges for smaller businesses with regard to investing in circular economy business models. We suggest a better use of current infrastructure, the improvement of early stage private investment into recycling and advanced manufacturing sectors, as well as encouraging investment in the circular economy.

You can read our full response in pdf. For further details about our submission, please contact Victor Anderson.