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I think there is a pretty strong likelihood there's going to be a very parochial and nimbyistic response to development generally
Nigel Jackson, chief executive of the Mineral Products Association
Politicians "fail to see the link" between construction and the economy the industry has warned, as better than expected GDP figures are attributed to the sector.
GDP figures published today showed the economy expanded by 1.2 per cent in the second quarter of the year, a rate not seen for nine years.
The surprising results released by the Office for National Statistics were attributed largely to gains in the construction sector.
But the industry has warned that politicians often fail to see the link between the construction sector and the economy.
Speaking to ePolitix.com ahead of the publication of today's results, Nigel Jackson of the Mineral Products Association (MPA) said the last thing the economy needed was uncertainty when it came to construction and development.
"In the last GDP statement the government wanted to point to the significant role that a rebounding construction had done to growth," he said.
"If it does act as a driver of growth, don’t mess with construction and development."
He added: "I think to cut capital spend into infrastructure is unwise in many respects. If you want to drive growth in the economy, commit to construction".
The MPA is the trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, lime, mortar and silica sand industries and claims its members are by far the largest single supplier of materials to the UK construction industry.
"Most governments fail to understand the link between construction, the economy and critically the planning system and the economy," Jackson said.
"The one thing everything needs is a planning permission and the worst thing about getting planning permission is uncertainty and continuous change in regulation"
Jackson, the organisation's chief executive, said the coalition's localism agenda was "flirting with nimbyism big time" when it came to devolving planning procedures to a local level.
"Let's assume that the proposition that we want as many decisions made locally as possible is in statue, I think there is a pretty strong likelihood there's going to be a very parochial and nimbyistic response to development generally," he said.
"The likelihood is as your drive nearer to local communities your degree of resistance to development will increase.
"Therefore I'm not optimistic at the moment that the new system, whatever its final shape or form, is necessarily going to be better than something that was already bad".
But Jackson said the planning system operated under Labour was "not fit for purpose" as it made builders jump through too many regulatory hoops and gave too much power to those who wanted to block development including the "agents of darkness" from the Environment Agency.
"Our experience is that unless there is some push from the national level down to the local level, local communities find it very difficult to say yes to a new housing estate, a new quarry, a new rail depot," he said.
Jackson cautioned against viewing recent economic growth a recovery rather than merely an improvement.
"Our concern at the moment is whilst the last GDP figures suggested that there's a recovery taking place, what we would say is there is a comparative improvement taking place.
"To look at last years figures and do the arithmetic that there is growth one can easily forget the fact that last year was as low and as bad as things can get."
He said the association's members had been "devastated" by the recession, losing 30 percent of their capacity and around 15,000 people.
"The difference between this recession and previous recession is the speed of decline, it forced everybody to go in hard and quick," he added.
Anticipating the Comprehensive Spending Review due to be published on October 20, Jackson said he "totally supported" the clearing out of quangos and wanted to see the coalition cut the public sector harder and faster.
While he said he was not against the public sector as whole, he wanted to see the back of the "fat, lazy and unproductive" section.
"An awful lot of people are paid to think and write but not produce," he said.
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