ADD2787 Infrastructure Coordination Service Programme

1.1.    The Mayoral mandate for the Upgrading London’s Infrastructure programme and associated delivery plan was approved through Mayoral Decision (MD) 3382 with the Assistant Director Connectivity Air Quality Transport Infrastructure as the approved SRO. 
1.2.    The Upgrading London’s Infrastructure delivery plan aims to ensure that London has the energy, water, digital connectivity and data infrastructure in place to achieve the Mayor’s ambitious Net Zero, climate resilience, housing delivery, and economic growth goals. It has four intervention strands: 
•    enabling the new infrastructure needed for housing and productivity
•    readying London’s infrastructure for the future
•    reducing disruption caused by infrastructure delivery
•    driving data innovation
1.3.    This ADD is meant to secure approval for projects that are already detailed in the delivery plan and require approval for expenditure and receipt of external income, as per Mayoral Decision (MD) 3382, Decision section, paragraphs 3 and 4. 
 

2.1     The core London-level outcomes to which this programme will contribute are: London is a net-zero carbon city; London is resilient to extreme weather and the impacts of climate change; Londoners live in homes they can afford; and stable, long-term economic growth benefits all of London’s communities. 

2.2.     The objectives and expected outcomes of the programme are set out in the Upgrading London’s Infrastructure delivery plan which is appended at Appendix 2 of MD3382. The specific ones for the infrastructure programme are: 

•    Intervention strand 1, Enabling the new infrastructure needed for housing and productivity: 
o    Policy and regulatory engagement and developing a refreshed London Infrastructure Framework. 
o    Address utility connection issues, pilot futureproofing and plan for major electricity demand users

•    Intervention strand 2, Readying London’s infrastructure for the future
o    Support whole-systems and area-based approaches to net-zero energy planning and delivery.
o    Develop Subregional Integrated Water Management Strategies. 

•    Intervention strand 3, Reducing disruption caused by infrastructure delivery
o    Reduce disruption by expanding the Lane Rental Scheme, deploying the ‘dig once’ approach and developing a new delivery framework to scale SuDS installation through streetworks.

•    Intervention strand 4, Driving data innovation
o    Building and supporting digital and data services such as Infrastructure Mapping Application Toolbox, LAEP DataHub and IWMS digital tools
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and GLA must comply with the public sector equality duty (PSED) and must have due regard to the need to:
•    eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act
•    advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
•    foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.
3.2.    The ‘protected characteristics’ are: age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership (but only in respect of the requirements to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination), race (ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, and sexual orientation. 
3.3.    Consideration of the PSED is not a one-off task. The duty must be fulfilled before taking a decision, at the time of taking a decision, and after the decision has been taken, to ensure that equalities impacts are kept under ongoing review.
3.4.    The Upgrading London’s Infrastructure delivery plan helps achieve a number of the Mayor’s statutory equality objectives, and progress on delivery of these objectives is reported on each year in the Mayor’s Annual Equality Report.
3.5.    In line with the Mayor’s ambitions, this delivery plan aims to improve all Londoners’ access to essential services and housing. Reducing disruption on the road network through Upgrading London’s Infrastructure delivery plan will create benefits such as reduced noise and air pollution, which can have a disproportionate impact on neighbourhoods with vulnerable residents. Increasingly, we are seeing that streetworks collaborations produce a positive impact for a diverse group of beneficiaries, including residents and businesses. 
3.6.    Infrastructure and development works often reduces the accessibility of roads and the public realm, having a negative impact on several groups with protected characteristics. The dig-once approach aims to minimise impacts upon these groups and to ensure their needs are considered wherever possible at an early stage of project planning. Reducing the duration of streetworks will also help improve accessibility across London. The dig-once approach looks to reinstate roads in a better condition than before, with healthy streets interventions that improve the quality of London’s public realm to ensure it caters to the needs of all Londoners, but particularly those with protected characteristics for whom navigating roads is otherwise a challenge.
3.7.    Marginalised communities, and groups with protected characteristics, are often disproportionately affected by climate change risks such as flooding and water scarcity, and they are also often disproportionately impacted by a lack of access to blue and green spaces. The water planning work will support Londoners to adapt and be more resilient to the growing issues of water scarcity, and poor water quality, in the face of climate change. It will identify areas currently prone to floods or at future risk of flooding, and ways to increase community resilience. 
3.8.    A key focus of the Local Area Energy Planning (LAEP) work includes considering the impacts of the energy transition on diverse groups of Londoners. The GLA is engaging with Londoners directly through GLA engagement platforms, such as Talk London, to inform planning activities, capture key demographic data and understand variations in attitudes. The GLA is also using wider datasets such as socioeconomic data to consider the impacts of net zero on fuel-poor and marginalised groups. Through the proposed area-based approaches workstream to implement LAEP recommendations, the GLA will work with boroughs to engage with communities directly.
 

Risk assessment 
4.1       The table below covers risks related to collaborative streetworks delivery, and the receipt of income: 

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities 
4.2       This work links to the following Mayoral strategies and priorities: 

4.3    No one involved in the drafting or clearance of this document has any conflicts of interest to declare

5.1.    Approval is sought for Expenditure across 3 financial years to deliver projects covered in intervention strands in MD3382. The budget lines are included in the 2025/26 onwards for the Infrastructure programme.

5.2.    Approval is sought for Income across 3 financial years to deliver projects covered in intervention strands in MD3382. The budget lines are included in the 2025/26 onwards for the Infrastructure programme.

5.3.     Future years’ budgets will still be subject to the annual budget setting process. Any contracts that cover future years will need to have break clauses. Any changes in the anticipated profile of spend across the years will be reflected as updates during the budget setting process.  
5.4.     Any additional funding secured for the programme will be used to enhance the programme with the appropriate budget adjustments being made.
 

6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Assistant Director of Connectivity, Air Quality, Transport and Infrastructure concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further, or that are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development, and the improvement of the environment in Greater London. In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:  
•    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people  
•    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the UK  
•    consult with appropriate bodies.  
6.2.    In taking this decision, the Assistant Director of Connectivity, Air Quality, Transport and Infrastructure should have due regard to the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 – namely, the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not. This requirement is addressed at section 3, above. 
6.3.    To secure funding contributions from the utility companies, Cadent, SGN, UKPN and Thames Water will each be required to sign an agreement ahead of each paying the subscription fee of £50,000 for each of the financial years 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28. London Councils will also sign an agreement for their £50,000 contribution towards the London Infrastructure Framework for financial year 2025/26.