It would be 鈥榗atastrophe鈥 to axe major projects, warns infrastructure commissioner

It鈥檚 鈥渂usiness as usual鈥 for major infrastructure projects like HS2, a leading member of the government鈥檚 infrastructure commission has said.

Architect Sadie Morgan said she has 鈥渆very confidence鈥 projects will go ahead because infrastructure spending is critical to lifting the country out of the Brexit crisis.

鈥淎s far as the NIC is concerned, it鈥檚 business as usual,鈥 she said at a House of Commons reception for the construction industry hosted by 好色先生TV and the All Party Parliamentary Goup on Construction & Urban Development.

鈥淚f anything is going to get us out of this hole it鈥檚 infrastructure,鈥 she said.

鈥淚t would be a catastrophe to stop that now. I have every confidence that the projects will go ahead.鈥

Morgan, a director at dRMM and who said she is making a good recovery after recent surgery for breast cancer, is chair of the HS2 design panel and a member of Lord Adonis鈥 National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) which is next due to next Tuesday.

A meeting held on Friday on location to discuss the proposed Oxford-to-Cambridge railway link had to be abandoned because so many of the people involved were called back to Westminster to deal with the fallout from the referendum result.

The NIC was set up last autumn and given three initial areas of focus by the government: northern connectivity, London鈥檚 transport system and energy. Its other members include former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine.

In his autumn spending review, chancellor George Osborne pledged 拢100bn of infrastructure spending over the next five years.