Infrastructure construction projects account for much of the £6bn of projects that have today been allocated £2bn of support from the government’s local growth fund.

This is the first round of what the government is calling ‘growth deals’. These provide funds to local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), which are partnerships between local authorities and businesses, or projects that benefit the local area and economy. LEPs bid for the money in competition with each other. The government puts in a third of the money; the LEP finds the other two thirds. (It’s an old Heseltine idea.)

The government is planning to put £12bn towards these competitions. Today it has announced the Local Growth Fund for 2015 to 2016, which sets out where the first £2bn is going.

Projects winning backing include more than 150 roads, 150 housing developments and 20 railways stations.

Specifically, they include:

• £23m for a new road tunnel linking Swindon to nearby Wichelstowe, opening up a new site for thousands of homes
• funding for Birmingham to help the city make the most of HS2 – including improving connection to the Birmingham Curzon Street station so that the area can maximise the benefits in terms of investment, jobs and skills
• £18m to revamp the Metrolink transport system in Manchester, which will get 12 new trams and overhauled stations. This is part of a £50m transport package in Greater Manchester
• £55m for London’s Skills Capital programme, a Glass Academy in Sheffield to train people to work in the city’s glassworks and an Oil & Gas Academy in the Tees Valley
• creation of a new National Agri-Food Campus in York
• funding for broadband networks in areas where provision is not currently available, such as remote areas of the north east.

Prime minister David Cameron said: “Growth deals are a crucial part of our long-term plan to secure Britain’s future. For too long our economy has been too London-focused and too centralised. Growth deals will help change all that. They are about firing up our great cities, towns and counties so they can become powerhouses.

“By trusting local people, backing business and investing in infrastructure, skills and housing, we can create thousands of new jobs. And that means more economic security, peace of mind and a brighter future for hardworking people across the country.”

Lord Heseltine, who provided advice on the initiative, said: “In every experience I have had of backing local people, local experience and local initiative the results have seriously exceeded expectations. Today’s announcement is a giant step in the rebalancing of our economy.”

Confederation of British Industries deputy director-general Katja Hall said: “Businesses and local authorities have been working hard to develop their plans for growth and it’s great to see that hard work starting to bear fruit in this announcement. Giving funding to the people best placed to invest it will help unlock the potential of our towns and cities – but this cannot be a one-off.

“Growing our local economies requires bold thinking, big ideas and a commitment to stay the course. We need to stick with what’s working and see all political parties supporting these projects.”

A roofing company has been fined £17,500 after a worker was hospitalised for five days from a fall.

Reactive Roofing (UK) Ltd from Potters Bar was prosecuted by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found that it failed to provide safety measures to protect workers from falls.

A 23-year-old worker from Dagenham was repairing a fragile asbestos cement roof at a business park in Hoddesdon on 3 May 2011 when it gave way beneath him.

He sustained serious fractures to his skull and an eye socket, a fractured wrist, major bruising to his back, a gash to his left leg and cuts to his head which required stitches.

Stevenage Magistrates’ Court heard on Friday (4th July) that workers were relying solely on scaffold boards placed over the fragile asbestos roof sheets while overlaying the roof with wooden frames made of battens and covered in tarpaulin. While installing the final frame, the worker walked across an unprotected area of the roof and it gave way beneath him.

HSE told the court that using scaffold boards in isolation was inherently unsafe as workers would have been at risk during the placement and removal of the boards, as well as during the installation of the wooden frames. This meant that the workers were at risk of falling through the roof at several points during the project.

Reactive Roofing had not fully assessed the risks and should have ensured that suitable equipment, such as platforms, coverings or guard rails was installed.

Reactive Roofing (UK) Ltd of Hatfield Road, Potters Bar, Herts, was fined a total of £17,500 and ordered to pay costs of £7,077 after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

HSE inspector Paul Hoskins said after the hearing: “Reactive Roofing’s workers were exposed to unacceptable risks of falling from the roof or through the fragile asbestos sheets for several days. Their failures led to a young man being severely injured but could very easily have resulted in a fatality. Simple measures such as using barriers to prevent access to fragile areas or safely installing adequate coverings over the fragile roof sheets would have meant workers were protected.

“It is essential that the hazards associated with working at height are recognised and understood by those carrying out the work. You should never work on a fragile roof without a safe system of work.”

Trades unions have voiced their criticism of the Construction Workers Compensation Scheme for being unilateral, in direct contravention of the recommendations of a committee of MPs.

The House of Commons Scottish affairs select committee, which has done much to shine a light on the scandal over the past couple of years, said that restitution “must not be left just to the companies themselves to determine what this should be, but it must be agreed after negotiations with the relevant trade unions and representatives of blacklisted workers”. 

No agreement was reached with the trade unions or representatives of blacklisted workers prior to the scheme’s launch last Friday (4^th July). Representatives of the eight companies behind the scheme sought the support of the construction unions but failed to get it. They went ahead with the scheme regardless and determined their own settlement terms.

The High Court case brought on behalf of hundreds of blacklisted workers is scheduled to begin on Thursday this week (10th July).

Ucatt general secretary Steve Murphy said: “Blacklisting companies have ignored MPs and ignored blacklisted workers in launching this scheme. This is simply a cynical gimmick before the High Court case begins.”

The blacklisting construction companies behind the TCWCS are; Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and Vinci.

The construction unions also feel that the money on offer is inadequate, given the size of these companies. The maximum pay-out is £4,000 for fast-track applicants, rising to £20,000 to the most affected victims of the Consulting Association blacklist – which ran from 1993 to 2008 years.

To get compensation, victims must drop their legal action. Union leaders are urging members to hold firm, telling them that they are likely to get a bigger sum through the courts.

GMB national officer Justin Bowden said: "To try and present such a grossly inadequate sum of money as meaningful compensation for the devastating damage inflicted on the livelihoods and families of the thousands of people they blacklisted, and for the gross invasion of privacy they committed, suggests they are sorry only that they got caught and saw their corporate reputations dragged through the mud, nothing more.

“These construction companies lied and spied and this is the paltry price they place on 15 years of blacklisting. Their cut price compensation offer is not an act of genuine contrition, it is a PR stunt. Legally represented blacklisted workers are likely to get a much better settlement through the Courts.

“The eight companies between them have a turnover of over £34 billion and pre-tax profits of £1.04 billion, they can afford properly to own up, clean up and pay up."

£1,900,000 • Demolition of the former switchgear building and the erection of 25 dwellings (which include a mix of size, type and tenure), associated landscaping, and with access served off Westwey, Granville and Stavordale Roads (Full)

£6,000,000 • Student accommodation building comprising 128 studio flats, including ancillary communal facilities and retail unit, associated landscaping, car parking and ancillary works.

£500,000 • Warehouse building.

£100,000 • Outline application with access and scale to be considered and all other matters reserved for the demolition of the existing dwelling and erection of two dwellings and formation of new access

£100,000 • Erection of extension to rear following demolition of detached sorting office

£200,000 • Proposed conversion to 4no. 1 bed apartments. Minor external alterations, demolition and extension.

£1,100,000 • Outline application for the erection of 15 dwellings to include access

£800,000 • Proposed warehouse building.

£200,000 • Construction of replacement roof and conversion of hotel to four residential flats

£200,000 • Proposed erection of 3 new dwellings with associated garaging and parking with private amenity spaces all to the side and rear of 21 Castle End Road Maxey

£1,000,000 • Demolition of no 16 & 18 The Drive: erection of two storey building with accommodation in roof and basement comprising 11 two bedroom, 1 one bedroom and 2 three bedroom flats, formation of vehicular access and provision of associated parking.

£1,500,000 • Use of the first to eight floors of the building for residential accommodation (Class C3) comprising 4 x 1 bedroom flats, 11 x 2 bedroom flats and 7 x 3 bedroom flats, reconfiguration of the ground and basement floors to provide retail (Class A1) and rest

£300,000 • Change of use from residential Institution (C2) to dwelling houses (C3) including external alterations and modifications.

£100,000 • Pre-application advice for the erection of two houses

£100,000 • Proposed amalgamation 2x 1 bed flats into one 3 bed flat on the ground floor together with the erection of a single storey ground floor rear extension.

£300,000 • Demolition of single storey retail unit and construction of four storey building comprising 3No. 2 bed and 1No. 1 bed apartment with associated landscaping, cycle parking and refuse provision. (Revised Application).

£100,000 • Single storey extension to indian restaurant kitchen

£100,000 • Two-storey side extension to provide two self contained flats.

£100,000 • New Shop Front And External Alterations

£100,000 • Change if use from former Church building to dwellinghouse

Contract notice, The most economic tender, General public/services

£200,000 • Renewal of Planning Permission – Residential Development comprising a terrace of 3 dwellings and in-curtilage parking provision

£100,000 • 3 year temporary permission for erection of a single storey building for administrative office use.

£100,000 • Rear and side extension, roof extension and conversion of single dwelling into 3 flats

£800,000 • Erection of flatted development (9 no. flats) in two blocks

£200,000 • PD Prior Notification: Change of use from B1(a) Offices to C3 flats

£100,000 • Removal of flat roof and erection of an additional storey.

£200,000 • Conversion of existing B1 Office units on the first and second floors to form 4 x 1 bedroom flats.

£100,000 • Determination for conversion of ground floor and basement from B1 (offices) to C3 (dwellings)