好色先生TV

Chancellor George Osborne unveiled a Budget designed to 鈥渂ack business鈥� that construction industry leaders said appeared to fail to provide the concrete measures hoped for to back up the government鈥檚 rhetoric on infrastructure investment.

Following on the heels of a speech by David Cameron to the Institution of Civil Engineers on Monday, which laid out plans to part privatise the UK鈥檚 trunk road network in order to bring in private capital, the Budget statement contained relatively few additional details.

Most significantly it ducked launching controversial changes to the planning system under the National Planning Policy Framework, which had been expected and will now be , when it will also come into effect.

Osborne said a pension fund vehicle set up to invest in infrastructure projects had already raised 拢2bn, and announced further funding for rail, housing and local authority development schemes. For a full list of measures see box below.

Osborne said the Budget, which contained cuts to personal and business taxation, was unashamedly pro-business, and would provide firms with 鈥渕odern infrastructure; new growth-friendly planning rules and employment laws.鈥�

Figures showed that the changes in the Budget will actually see expected government investment in capital projects, which include but aren鈥檛 limited toconstruction, 拢1.1bn lower in 2011/12 than indicated in the Autumn Statement.

The 2012/13 figure will also be 拢1.1bn lower than expected in October, however the figures recover in later years.

Osborne also gave no idea of the government鈥檚 plans to replace the Private Finance Initiative mechanism, which is currently under review.

Construction industry figures said they welcomed the continued focus on infrastructure investment outlined by Osborne, but had been hoping for greater detail.

Noble Francis, director of economics at the Construction Products Association, said: 鈥淭here is little in terms of practical measures - we鈥檙e talking about relatively small amounts in relatively few areas. It鈥檚 not a game changer, there鈥檚 very little that is significant.鈥�

Jonathan Hook, construction partner at consultancy PwC, said the industry was waiting for detail on how the pension fund investment would be brought in, and on the future of PFI: 鈥淚t鈥檒l be positively received by business as a whole, but there鈥檚 little for the construction sector. Remember there are a lot of public sector cuts to come so the question is how the private sector can be brought in.鈥�

Ben de Waal, head of residential at Davis Langdon, an Aecom Company, said it was disappointing not to have got more detail on a 拢150m pilot for Tax Increment Financing, a way of raising money locally to spend on publicly-backed developments.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a positive move, but people need the detail to weigh up the costs of putting in bids for these pilots,鈥� he said.

Some developers raised concerns about the increased Stamp Duty rate for properties worth more than 拢2m, which the Treasury said would raise 拢1.1bn over the next five years.

John Hitchcox, chairman of property firm Yoo, said: 鈥淗iking stamp duty may seem like a good thing by hammering the rich but it will hinder growth by encouraging people to stay in their homes instead of moving.鈥�

See for a round up of reaction and to review the budget as it happened.

All our budget news, comment and reaction is