Hertfordshire Futures welcomes the Chancellor’s pro-innovation sentiment in the Spring Statement which could bring substantial benefits for Hertfordshire’s defence, construction and clean growth businesses.

In response to increasing global uncertainty, Rachel Reeves announced an additional £2.2 billion of funding for the Ministry of Defence next year. This will strengthen the UK and drive economic growth by boosting Research and Development (R&D) and innovation.

Hertfordshire is well placed to contribute to this national security effort. It is home to major research-intensive advanced manufacturing/defence businesses, such as MBDA and Airbus in Stevenage warranting special mention by the Chancellor. University of Hertfordshire researchers are also working with Ministry of Defence agencies and multi-national defence companies to develop technologies that protect the UK’s armed forces from biological attacks.

Significant investment has already been secured such as a £3.9m UK Space Agency Grant for Airbus to develop the Space Catalyst and it has also secured the contract to build European space agency spacecraft. Hertfordshire Futures has identified defence as one of its priorities from 2025/26 onwards, leveraging the presence of major industry players to drive technological advancements, create high-quality jobs, and enhance national security. The engineering and manufacturing industry is already a major local employer with around 48,500 people working in the sector in 2022 and the number of businesses has risen by 3.8% a year since 2010. Hertfordshire aims to enhance its world class economy further over the next decade by creating 100,000 new jobs, bolstering innovation and more investment into high growth sectors and increasing connectivity. 

Construction and house-building

Planning reform will take housebuilding in the UK to a “40-year high”, said the Chancellor, reinforcing the Government’s earlier pledge to “get Britain building”. With £2 billion in grant funding, this would deliver up to 18,000 new homes in England and go some way to “fixing the housing crisis”. By speeding up the delivery of new homes, through already announced planning reforms, mandatory housing targets and by developing grey belt land, this is forecast to deliver an additional £6.8 billion for our economy.

As Hertfordshire’s response to the Industrial Strategy Green Paper already confirmed, construction (including house building) will be critically important to the UK over the decades ahead and investment and innovation is key if the Government is to meet its new housing delivery targets.

Hertfordshire is committed to delivering 100,000 new and social homes, creating quality, sustainable, healthy and safe communities. Hertfordshire’s enterprise zone, Herts IQ, is at the heart of this housing hotspot with real opportunities to accelerate housing delivery via offsite construction.

Harlow Gilston Garden Town and Hemel Garden Communities – the two new Garden Towns east and west of the county – are each on track to deliver 10,000 homes, with many other urban extensions in train. Landowners, developers, housing associations and all councils across the county are encouraged to sign a Development Quality Charter and pledge to meet  high quality design and sustainable build thresholds. This is set to be strengthened further over 2025.

Hertfordshire is home to a large number of construction employers ranging from large multi-national organisations including BAM, Morgan Sindall, Clarion Housing, Willmott Dixon, Align, Kier, AECOM, Skanska and Volker Vessels to Building Research Establishment (BRE). Others provide specialist services including Hertfordshire Building Control, MCP Property Maintenance, Green Building Design and building restorers AVV Solutions.

With a sizeable construction sector, a strong built environment heritage via Garden Cities, New Towns and now two new Garden Towns being taken forward, together with the scale of development planned over the next decade, Hertfordshire could become a trailblazer for high quality, sustainable place-making.  

Green Skills 

Skills training in construction will also be key to delivering on the Government’s house building plans. A total of £625 million in England has been allocated over four years to boost existing training routes, ensure a sustainable flow of skilled construction workers and support employers to invest in training. Adopting different methods and approaches across the supply chain will also be key if the Government is to meet its net zero targets.

An extra £2 billion has been allocated to support renewable energy projects and improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses. Hertfordshire can potentially leverage these funds to advance its sustainability goals and reduce carbon emissions. Hertfordshire Futures published its Retrofit (Greener Homes) Skills Plan last year and is working with local partners on the delivery of a countywide Retrofit Strategy. This is aimed at upgrading properties to higher efficiency levels as well as communicating clear access routes to the retrofit market for supply chain businesses. The county’s four FE colleges are also increasing green skills provision to help retrofit existing housing stock.

Artificial Intelligence 

The Spring Statement also recognised the transformative effect of AI and digital technologies on the national economy. Once again Hertfordshire is well placed to benefit. It has expressed interest in establishing an AI Growth Zone to support the accelerated delivery of data centres in those areas where there is available land, energy supply and opportunities to generate added value from investment. In relation to work, Hertfordshire Futures’ emerging Economic Strategy has a strongly future-facing element  – recognising that many current roles will be eliminated through automation but others will be created over the next decade.

Get Britain Working

Alongside wide-sweeping welfare reforms, the Chancellor also detailed measures to get the 2.8 million people who are currently economic inactive due to ill health back into work. Additional investments will build on the Connect to Work and Get Britain Working trailblazers. Hertfordshire Futures is leading on the development of a Local Get Britain Working Plan while Step2Skills will deliver the Connect to Work programme helping Hertfordshire residents with health needs and other barriers to employment into work.

In Hertfordshire, 18.3% of people aged 16-64 are economically inactive, which is slightly lower than the national rate of 22%, but this rate varies from district to district. The incidence of ‘long term sick’ among those who are economically inactive is slightly lower in Hertfordshire than across England, but worryingly this rate appears to be growing faster than the UK as a whole. The locally led response will help to get to grips with this issue by helping to better understand the root causes of economic inactivity in order to start to develop an integrated approach to work, health and skills support.

Adrian Hawkins OBE, Chair, Hertfordshire Futures, said: “We welcome the Chancellor’s focus on innovation and inclusion as key drivers of UK growth. These measures will not only strengthen our local economy but also ensure that Hertfordshire remains at the forefront of technological advancements and sustainable development. Through the delivery of our programmes and services aimed at fostering a more inclusive workforce and supporting our key and high growth sectors, we can build a brighter future for our residents and businesses and ensure Hertfordshire is a key partner in the Government’s future growth plans.”