Ben Hopkinson @Ben_A_Hopkinson Twitter profile

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Ben Hopkinson

21 days

Why can Dijon, France plan, approve, and build a 12 mile tramway in 4 years, while it takes 13 years to build a 1 mile tram extension in Birmingham? Our new report, written with @createstreets , explores how Britain can make building new tramways cheaper and faster. 🧵

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

To re-open 3 miles of track to Portishead, the local council had to complete a 79,187 page long planning application. If printed out, that's 14.6 miles of paper (4 1/2 times the line itself!). Then they had to wait 3 years for approval. Yet now this project may be scrapped.🧵

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Brescia, Italy (pop 196k) has a fully automated metro line built in 2013 with plans for two more. Leeds (pop 516k) is the largest city in Western Europe without a light rail or metro.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Adding solar panels to this council building "would introduce a modern and out of character feature (that would) be harmful to the architectural and historic significance of this building" So the council rejected their own planning request!

Britain Remade

@BritainRemade

9 months

Medway Council declared a climate emergency in April 2019. In 2022, the council rejected its OWN request for planning permission to put solar panels on its Grade II-listed 1970s concrete and brick HQ

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

Britain has been in a funk. Real GDP per capita hasn't reached its 2007 peak. Real wages have stagnated. Bills and rents are too high, and our transport infrastructure is creaking. It doesn't have to be this way. Today @BritainRemade is launching our plan for economic growth.🧵

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

8 months

A nice Victorian hotel in Cornwall wanted to reduce its emissions and save money on fuel bills by installing solar panels. The council called its plans "diabolical and monstrous."

Britain Remade

@BritainRemade

8 months

Cornwall Council declared a climate emergency in 2019. In 2023 they refused permission for a solar farm that could power 30,000 homes with clean renewable energy. Councillors also unanimously rejected plans for a hotel in Newquay to install 450 solar panels.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

New @BritainRemade research has analysed data on every nuclear power station built in the 21st century. Our bleak conclusion: It costs more to build a new nuclear power station in Britain than almost anywhere else in the world. (Thread)

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Tours, France (pop 135k) built their stylish tramway for less than £30m/km (inflation adjusted). Compare this to Manchester's second city crossing tram extension at £156m/km.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

This is all to replace the existing, derelict tracks with new rails and add two stations in communities that are desperate to have a rail link. With a shorter planning process, spades would be in the ground (or the railways could even be open by now)

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

4 months

South Korea builds the cheapest nuclear power plants in the world. KEPCO can build 6 of their APR-1400 plants for the same cost that we’re currently paying for Hinkley Point C. This is exciting news for Britain’s nuclear future.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

Within the nearly 80,000 pages, 17,912 are devoted to the environmental statement. That's 3.3 miles of paper trying to determine if rail transport is good for the environment. 1,174 for bat technical appendices, 215 for newts, 1,810 for vegetation management.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

Rachel Reeves scrapped the Restoring Your Railway programme last week, and now all of the projects are being reviewed and potentially cancelled. Portishead is nearly shovel-ready and £32m has already been spent on the planning application and design.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

The project has a Benefit to Cost Ratio of 4.85 making it a no-brained, yet it could be lost because of an unwillingness to invest in capital expenditure.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

Britain is the most expensive country to build nuclear power. To fix this, we're proposing unilateral recognition of designs approved by US and EU regulators to stop the 7,000 design changes that Hinkley Point C had to make.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

That would limit the time projects are exposed to the threat of being reviewed and cancelled as infrastructure spending is often the easiest item for a government faced with a budget squeeze to cut.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Here's the timelines for the two projects. Birmingham had to complete a 5,718 page planning application, across 52 documents. (If printed out, that's longer than the 1.05 mile extension). It then had to wait 40 months for the Transport Secretary to approve construction.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

@mhclg Victorians and their successors funded many of their railways that we still rely on today by building new homes, towns, and industries along the new tracks. We should do the same.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

@mhclg To lower the cost of building great projects like the Portishead railway, we need consistent funding and reforms to the planning system to avoid 80,000 page long applications for 3.3 mile railways.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

To make the funding of future lines easier we should borrow lessons from the Victorian railwaymen who built projects like the original Portishead line.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

All of these delays add cost. We looked at 100 projects in 18 countries. The results for the UK weren't great. It costs more than double the European average to build a mile of new tramway in Britain. More than 3x the price in Germany.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

We also build our tracks too deep. The West Midlands Metro (left) rides on top of 600mm of concrete, which is from a cautious desire to protect against lorries running over the tracks. Yet in Europe the standard is 300-400mm (Vienna, right). We need to use shallower track beds.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

10 months

We've heard a lot about the planning barriers to clean energy. But one hurdle has slipped under the radar, which can double the cost of solar farm planning applications. Let's talk about trenching 🧵

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Every city in France with a population greater than 150k has a tram or metro. Nearly 30 British cities are larger than 150k and rely on congested roads and buses instead. Why? France can build a mile of tramway for less than half the cost Britain can.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

People prefer trams to buses, and they vote with their feet. Munich's East Tangent tram had 50% higher ridership than the bus it replaced. The smoother ride, predictable scheduling, and visibility with easy to understand routes all encourage higher ridership.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Germany, the country that builds trams the cheapest, has national standards and knowledge sharing. While each British tram has to 're-invent the wheel.' There isn't a single Department for Transport employee tasked with promoting new trams and light rail.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

The Victorians funded new transport links by building new homes and towns along the tracks, yet a 2017 DLUHC guidance limits how many homes can be built alongside a large project. We suggest overturning this and giving city regions new powers to fund transport infrastructure.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

@mhclg You can read my full post on Portishead, the 80,000 pages, and funding infrastructure at my substack here:

A train to nowhere?

How 80,000 pages and irregular funding lead to higher infrastructure costs

benhopkinson.substack.com

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

High construction costs matter because it means we get fewer miles of track with the same investment. If we could build at German costs, we'd have an extra 181 miles of tramway with the same investment level. That's 3 extra Manchester Metrolinks!

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Every French city with a population greater than 150,000 has a tram, while there are 30 British towns and cities that larger that lack any rapid transit. So how does Britain start a tram renaissance? How can we lower the cost and build new trams across the country?

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

When comparing the construction cost per megawatt capacity for every power plant built since 2000 w/ reliable cost data (39 in 16 countries), Britain ranks second to last. Only America performs worse.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

Only nine British cities have a tram or metro, compared to 30 French and 60 German cities. We're proposing fixing utility regulations to cut the cost of building and devolving approval of new local transport to metro mayors.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

The @mhclg should modify its 2017 guidance on the 2016 Housing and Planning Act, which limits the number of homes that could be jointly consented with a Development Consent Order to 500.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

With high costs, we're missing out on the benefits that tramways bring. A Tramway can move nearly 3x more people than buses and 15x more than cars per hour. This higher capacity supports new developments, housing, and higher density in our city centres.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Here's a link to the report with more detail & solutions on how to create a British tram renaissance: . It also includes lots of great @createstreets graphics and a plan for how Leeds (largest city in Europe w/o mass transit) can make the most of a tram.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

5 of the 10 most expensive tram projects in our database were British. Only 1, Nottingham's first phase, was done for less than the global average.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Utilities- we move too many utilities and tram promoters have to cover 92.5% of the cost. Utility companies effectively get a nearly free replacement of all of their pipes and wires at the trams expense. We need to rebalance this cost so utility companies pay their fair share.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

@mhclg And for future projects we need to provide new funding sources with railways capturing the value uplift they bring by building new homes and towns. If we’re planning on copying the route to Portishead the Victorians built, we might as well copy how they funded railways too.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Our community doesn’t want our farmers to 6x their income while producing cheap green energy

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Outside London, Britain's cities are less productive than the national avg. They're 30% less productive than German cities, 23% less than French cities and 18% less than Italian cities. A lack of reliable transit makes our cities 'smaller' with fewer people near good jobs.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

4 months

"We've looked at over 300 transport infrastructure projects, and the results for Britain aren't great" My remarks to the @TransportCttee today on the costs of building new transport infrastructure in the UK.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

England has stopped building onshore wind, one of the cheapest forms of electricity because of a 2015 effective ban on new projects. To fix this, we're proposing onshore wind be allowed to use the same nationally significant process that all other types of energy generation use.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Trams are green, too. They've got no tailpipe and negligible particulate emissions, and encourage people to switch from their cars to public transport. In Manchester and Nottingham, 30% of tram riders switched from their cars to trams.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

To build the homes Britain desperately needs, we should look to New Zealand, where Jacinda Ardern's government allowed new six-storey developments near transit stops in their most expensive cities. Rents tumbled by up to 1/3. This could save an average London couple £6k a year.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Trams can solve this and connect more people with high-quality jobs. They can be the catalyst for regeneration, with new commercial and residential space clustering along the permanent tramway investment. The Salford Quays in Manchester is a great example.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

New wind and solar power is clearly good for the environment, yet environmental statements can reach up to 15,000 pages long. Britain needs to adopt Spain's policy of exempting most solar and wind projects from environmental statements in areas of low biodiversity.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

In France, mayors stand for election on promises for a new tram for their city, and then can approve, fund and build them within their 6-year term, while British mayors are stuck constantly appealing to Westminster. Devolving approval would allow them to get on with building.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

The DfT needs a specialist tram delivery unit within its public transport directorship, which should work with industry bodies to develop a national tram standard. This should encourage replicable and low cost engineering solutions and capture lessons from successful trams.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Many of Britain's cities are far smaller than their population figures suggest because people lack quick and reliable access to the city centre. This is a big limit to growth

Birmingham is a small city.

Real Journey Time, Real City Size, and the disappearing productivity puzzle.

www.tomforth.co.uk

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Funding- right now we've got a 'begging bowl culture' where local authorities have to keep appealing to Central Government for funding, which slows down building and risks projects getting cancelled.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

We don't have to accept this stagnation.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

4 months

If you want an example of a successful New Town, look at Edinburgh’s, a beautiful, walkable city extension. Labour should prioritise urban regeneration and extension where people want to live, not building new towns far from anything. My latest @CityAM

Labour's new towns plan is not the answer to the housing crisis

Solving the housing crisis means building near where people want to live, not creating new towns in the middle of nowhere

www.cityam.com

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

We have the most congested roads in Europe because we've failed to invest. We need to slash the planning barriers that led to the Lower Thames Crossing's 360,000 page planning app that cost £300m. That's more than 2x what Norway spent building the world's longest road tunnel.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

Britain hasn't built enough homes for decades. In 1991, 67% of 25-34 year olds owned their own home, today less than 40% do. The cost of new homes is up to 13 times average wages in many of our cities.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

You can read all of our 60+ policies here: and if you agree, you should join our campaign!

Back to What We're Good At | A plan to get Britain Building again

www.britainremade.co.uk

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Britain split the atom, built the first full-scale nuclear power station, and built 9 more in the next decade. But it's failed to build a new nuclear power station in 28 years.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Planning- as Birmingham's case demonstrates, new tram projects face huge planning apps and delays. We need to devolve planning approval to Metro Mayors, who know their area best. Metro Mayors could then champion projects from the beginning.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

Our world-beating universities make incredible discoveries, but Britain fails to reap the rewards because of a massive housing and lab space shortage in Oxford and Cambridge. We should create beautiful urban extensions to these cities to back our scientists and inventors.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Local funding allows Metro Mayors to get on with building, rather than being completely dependent on the Treasury for funding. In Dijon, they didn't have to ask Paris for approval or for funding- these powers were devolved- while Birmingham had to keep asking, slowing it down.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

At the same time we need to make it easier to switch to electric vehicles, by permitting more chargers. Speeding up the EV rollout by just a year would slash emissions by 20x more than banning all new road construction.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

We need to use London's land better. Currently the London plan bans new housing in some of the best connected areas. It should be re-written to allow development on strategic industrial land golf courses that are within walking distance of stations.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Brescia's automated metro cost £62m/km with 11km in tunnels. While the Northern Line Extension to Battersea cost £462m/km.

Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Brescia, Italy (pop 196k) has a fully automated metro line built in 2013 with plans for two more. Leeds (pop 516k) is the largest city in Western Europe without a light rail or metro.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

21 days

Our report suggests a number of new, local funding mechanisms, including a 1% employer national insurance raise similar to the French Versement transport, council tax precepts, stamp duty uplifts, and business rate supplements to capture the land value uplift, and more.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

South Korea leads the way at roughly a quarter of the UK cost. How do they do it? SK build fleets of 8-12 reactors to benefit from economies of scale. Construction becomes cheaper with experience gained and investment made by private contractors.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

11 months

“At one point the taxpayer was funding the careful rehoming of badgers via HS2, while at the same time paying for Defra to exterminate them.”

Giles Wilkes

@Gilesyb

11 months

From @willydunn excellent New Statesman newsletter: this is really interesting on root causes of HS2's costs

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

10 months

Really happy to see mine and @Sam_Dumitriu 's transport cost work featured in the government's infrastructure delivery plan. Definitely worth the month and a half of filling in a spreadsheet.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Kepco, South Korea's nuclear national champion, is even using the same nuclear design to build 4 reactors in the UAE, which will cost 2 1/2 times cheaper than Hinkley Point C.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

6 months

Building new housing is banned on a lot of land in London. It's not parks or green belt, rather it's mostly concreted over brownfield land. The mayor could easily change this land use to build the homes London needs. Let's talk about Strategic Industrial Locations (SILs) 🧵

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

10 months

90,000 sheets of paper is 30 ft tall! That's 2 double decker buses or 2 giraffes

Sam Richards

@samrichardswebb

10 months

Want to know why it takes so long to build anything in Britain? Here's why:

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Planning is an area where there are stark differences. Hinkley Point C's planning and financing took 10 years, compared to Finland's 4 1/2 year timeline, with their formal construction permit only taking a year. France took 3 years to plan their nuclear plant.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

10 months

So what should we do? We need to update the National Planning Policy Framework and National Policy statement to add clear guidance for when trenching isn't needed. We should use existing geophys tech to scan the ground, and only trench when absolutely needed.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Building cheaper mass transit is possible, which is key step to growing Britain's economy

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Rather we should learn from South Korea's fleet strategy and make the most of the new Clean Energy Partnership that Britain signed with South Korea recently.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Just 38% of Britain's rail network is electrified. We are miles behind France, Germany and Italy.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

The UK’s funding and planning process for local transport is far too centralised, which holds back Britain’s towns and cities. You can read my full @UKDayOne briefing on how the next government can kickstart a tram renaissance here:

Devolving Local Transport Infrastructure: The Track to Better Cities - UK Day One

ukdayone.org

UKDayOne

@UKDayOne

3 months

💡 New Briefing! 💡 @Ben_A_Hopkinson argues: devolving local transport infrastructure would deliver faster and more reliable local transport & LOWER the cost of construction.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Sizewell C's environmental impact statement is now at 44,260 pages and it had to answer 2,229 written questions at examination stage.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

"A “stop-start” approach to major projects also made it harder for the UK to retain the skills and experience of people who had worked on big projects"- @Sam_Dumitriu Great to see the infra costs analysis featured in @Telegraph

Britain paying up to eight times more than EU for road and rail projects, research finds

Red tape and other planning hurdles frequently inflate the cost of new infrastructure

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

High nuclear costs are not inevitable. We can learn lessons from other countries that have kept costs down and have a bright atom-powered future.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Out of the 39 nuclear plants looked at. Hinkley Point C comes second from last on cost. Only America's Vogtle 3&4 cost more per megawatt of generating capacity.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

10 months

Lack of consistent rolling investment that allows contractors to plan and invest in plants, equipment, and skills is a big part of why our infra is so expensive. Happy to be quoted in @watling_samuel great @thetimes piece on this key issue

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

So what should we do? We shouldn't abandon nuclear power, which can generate at full capacity 92% of the time. This underpins and complements a majority renewable grid.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

2 months

If we meet the Gov's target of 70 GW of solar power by 2035 (and assuming no efficiency gains), solar would take up 1,113 sq km, only about 0.46% of land, and <1% of farmland. Golf courses cover ~1,250 sq km, yet we never hear about trade-offs between golf and food security.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

2 months

Last week, Ed Miliband approved three large solar farm projects, which has been met by concerns about food security and a war on the countryside. Should we restrict what farmers can do with their land and what are the impacts of solar on food security? 🧵

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Read more here ⬇️

Infrastructure Costs: Nuclear Edition

Building nuclear plants in Britain is more expensive than almost anywhere else

www.samdumitriu.com

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Were we always this expensive? For plants built before 1995, Britain averages £4.79m per MW. That's half the cost today, and roughly average internationally

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

We should also be open to the new wave of Small Modular Reactors that is on its way. These can be mass produced in factories and then assembled on site. But right now find sites to build on and getting reactor designs approved is nearly impossible.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

China built the Taishan plant for £2.1m per MW generating capacity, Finland built their one for £5.97m and France for £7.24m. Hinkley Point C will cost £10.03m per MW generating capacity.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

6 months

It's shocking to see how many homes could be built within walking distance of London's stations. This map highlights how low density most of London is. Really insightful tool from @russellcurtis .

Russell Curtis

@russellcurtis

6 months

I've been developing a tool to try and measure the potential for intensification around London's suburban stations. Here are extracts from an online map I've created showing the entire city, with areas for densification identified. 🧵

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

So why is the UK more expensive than France or Finland for the same reactor design? It's not that France and Finland have been pursuing a fleet strategy. Like Britain, they both went 20+ years between building reactors.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

@_MattBrown @s8mb @BritainRemade is looking into the causes, I think a lot of it comes down to contract/programme management (reliance on fixed price contracts, which can lead to disputes rather than flexibility) plus issues around planning/nimbyism and complex designs vs. modularity

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

Hinkley Point C uses the EPR-1750 reactor, which has also been used in France, Finland, and China, and will be used for Sizewell C. So, how do they compare?

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

5 months

Britain has 9 nuclear reactors currently generating clean and safe power, but 8 of these are expected to close in the next 4 years! How can we speed up rolling out new reactors to harness the proud local nuclear heritage that exists in Britain? 🧵

Jeremy Driver

@J_D_89

5 months

One insight from @BritainRemade 's work over the last 18 months has been the strength of support for nuclear in the areas that have a nuclear heritage. @Ben_A_Hopkinson and I have looked into why this matters, and how we can speed up deployment of new nuclear to take advantage

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

It isn't construction delays either. Finland's plant took 17 years to build, and France's will likely also take that long if it opens next year as scheduled. Hinkley Point C is likely only going to a breezy 9 years by comparison. (chart from @_HannahRitchie )

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

10 months

I've written more about trenching and how to speed up building solar farms for @CapX .

Entrenching failure – how absurd digging rules are holding back a solar revolution

To deliver a fully decarbonised grid by 2035, the government is banking on a near fivefold increase in solar capacity. Can it be done? Yes, but it won’t be easy. And as it stands the biggest barrier...

capx.co

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

9 months

We need to make sure that we streamline approvals for SMRs that share the same technology, so that they don't have to navigate the same long planning process that full-scale plants go through.

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 month

If London matched Austin, Auckland, or Tokyo's home building rates, we could build 100k+ homes a year. Labour are right to focus on building more homes to spark economic growth, but we should be bold in our ambitions rather than cutting London's target.

A lower target won't fix London's housing shortage

Our planning system isn’t working. England is on course to deliver fewer than 200,000 homes this year. The independent Centre for Cities reckons 442,000 homes per year is what’s needed to close the 4...

capx.co

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

7 months

This is £300mn for one part of the government to ask another part whether it can build. The planning system creates unnecessary uncertainty, delays, and cost overruns. No wonder why the price for the LTC has nearly doubled, and construction hasn't even started yet.

Hugo Gye

@HugoGye

7 months

exc @theipaper Cost of planning application for the Lower Thames Crossing (15yrs in the making, not a spade in the ground), is now... THREE HUNDRED MILLION POUNDS (for comparison - this is nearly 4x the cost of covid inquiry) Read here:

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

Important thread giving an overview to our research into infrastructure costs. Britain is a high cost country, which means fewer important links get built, reducing connections and inhibiting growth

Sam Dumitriu

@Sam_Dumitriu

1 year

Is Britain getting a bad deal? @Ben_A_Hopkinson and I looked at 242 infrastructure projects across 14 different countries. Our conclusion? It costs more to build new tram systems, railways, and roads in Britain than almost anywhere else in the world. 🧵

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

1 year

British infrastructure costs are much higher than other countries. We can learn lessons from them to lower costs and deliver more infrastructure Happy that @BritainRemade analysis is in @jburnmurdoch latest column

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

3 months

"Sunnica Solar Farm will power 172,000 homes when built. Nearly 3 years ago, Sunnica’s developers submitted a 69,173 page long planning app. Yet after all those pages and all that time, they are still waiting for a decision." From my latest in @CapX

Let's get Britain building again

The modern world was made in Britain. From the first steam engine and railway to splitting the atom and the first commercial nuclear power station, Britain was a nation of builders. Yet instead of...

capx.co

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Ben Hopkinson

@Ben_A_Hopkinson

7 months

London's housing crisis is getting worse. Rent payments are >40% of post-tax income for Londoners and it would take an average couple 30 years to save for a deposit on an average property. Get London Building is @BritainRemade 's plan for the next Mayor to build more homes. 🧵

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