UK business 'needs better infrastructure'

Improving the UK’s transport infrastructure is vital to attracting foreign investment and future health of the nation’s economy, the chairman of the Port of London Authority said today.

Dame Helen Alexander, who is also chairman of Building’s parent company UBM and a former chief executive of the Economist Group, told the British Council of Offices’ (BCO) annual conference in Madrid that UK businesses were concerned that a lack of investment in transport infrastructure would hinder investment.

She said: “Heathrow, roads, railways… It worries we people in business, especially in terms of attracting foreign investment.”

Alexander highlighted the improvements to Junction 30 of the M25 London-orbital motorway as a “clear, precise project” that will facilitate international trade and investment.

The Junction 30 project is being financed by port developer DP World and are intended to relieve congestion caused by the developers nearby London Gateway project. The improvements are expected to complement wider Highways Agency improvements to the junction planned for after 2015.

Alexander also added her support to the controversial HS2 railway project, but said that the government needed to fully commit to the second phase of the project for its benefits to be fully realised.

The first phase of the project is planned to run from London to Birmingham, with a second phase then connecting Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.

She said: “I think the views of business are pretty clear. The focus has to be on phase two and the benefits of the Y-shaped lines [north of Birmingham]. Phase one needs phase two.”

Alexander added that the project also needs to link directly to the HS1 line and Heathrow Airport.