Tim Davies, head of office at Colliers International South West, said:
“The South West has a strong business offering for the rest of the UK and anything that can make the region more accessible can only have a positive impact. The announcement of the £7bn transport investment fund to improve roads, air links and a new rail franchise will enable the South West to be better connected; facilitating business both in and out of the region. This, along with measures to improve internet connectivity in the remotest areas will be welcome news to businesses across the South West.
“However, the Severn Bridge toll does put an additional financial strain when doing business with firms across the border. It is disappointing that any relief won’t be felt until 2018.”
David Eynon, head of sustainability at Colliers International South West, said:
· Assistance measures such as tax breaks for North Sea Oil & Gas and investment in new seismic surveys to boost production by 15% by 2020 are not unexpected, given the huge impact that the plummeting oil price has had on the economy and jobs in Scotland – and has additional political significance in the face of the rising support for the SNP and the potential of a ‘confidence and supply’ deal with Labour at the General Election.
· Bringing forward of compensation for energy intensive industries will also ease the burden of long term projected energy price rises, and the freeze on fuel duty to increasingly pass lower oil prices onto consumers (‘a tenner of a tank with the Tories’) will be welcomed by households across the country.
Support for big data and the ‘internet of things’ should be welcomed by the sustainability sector – increasing the ability to obtain more granular resolution on energy consumption data across all scales will assist in identifying areas where energy consumption reductions can be generated, and will be seen as a positive step for the ‘smart cities’ agenda.
Whilst there was positive news for the Severn Barrage tidal energy project, further incentives to promote low carbon sources of energy and decentralisation of generation would have been welcomed, to increasingly support innovative indigenous energy production, work to secure national security of supply, and reduce exposure to the volatile international energy markets.
That said, in final Budget from the ‘greenest Government ever’ there was scant explicit reference to the low carbon economy. With this sector providing huge potential for UK plc to be at the forefront of global innovation, technology, services, and crucially jobs, more could have been done to ensure that the nation fully capitalises on this huge global opportunity.
