Political reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Rachel Reeves has set out a series of major announcements on infrastructure projects, including backing plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.<\/p>\n She promised to go “further and faster” than previous governments after years of sluggish growth in the UK.<\/p>\n However, many of the projects still need to go through a formal planning process so it could be years before building starts and the economy sees any benefit. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Reeves confirmed the government is backing plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport, arguing it could create 100,000 jobs.<\/p>\n The plans received parliamentary approval in June 2018, but have been stuck in limbo after legal challenges ever since.<\/p>\n She invited Heathrow to submit plans to expand the airport <\/b>by the end of the summer, <\/b>but promised the government would only sign them off if they were “in line with legal environmental and climate objectives”.<\/p>\n The government has already backed the expansion of City Airport and Stansted Airport around London.<\/p>\n A decision to expand Luton Airport and build an emergency runway at Gatwick Airport will be delivered soon, she promised. <\/p>\n The government will work with local authorities to reopen the Doncaster Sheffield Airport, aiming to turn it into a thriving regional hub.<\/p>\n There will also be a new partnership between Prologis and Manchester Airport Group will build a new advanced manufacturing and logistics park, resulting in \u00a31bn of investment and 2,000 jobs, Reeves said.<\/p>\n Reeves later said a third runway could be built by 2035, however others believe it will be closer to 2050.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Reeves vowed to build “Europe’s Silicon Valley” between Oxford and Cambridge, with policies aimed at boosting the region’s growth, saying they would add \u00a378bn to the UK economy in the next 10 years.<\/p>\n Funding has been confirmed for transport projects, including new services on an East-West Rail line beginning this year – reviving plans shelved by Boris Johnson in 2022.<\/p>\n She also promised an upgrade on the A428 between Milton Keynes and Cambridge.<\/p>\n The University of Cambridge will open an innovation hub in the city centre, which will be built alongside 4,500 new homes and schools, after the Environment Agency dropped its opposition.<\/p>\n Approvals for new towns are expected soon as the government has already received proposals along the rail with 18 submissions for sizeable new developments.<\/p>\n A new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital will also be prioritised.<\/p>\n Lord Patrick Vallance, the ex-chief scientific adviser to the government and now a Labour minister, will be in charge of overseeing the project.<\/p>\n Governments of all stripes have been looking at creating large-scale housing projects in the so-called Oxford-Cambridge Arc since at least 2003.<\/p>\n Various projects gained support under Johnson, Theresa May and Rishi Sunak – but were killed off by funding concerns and local opposition.<\/a><\/p>\n The original plans had promised the new rail line would be completed by 2030 and one million new homes and jobs delivered in the area by 2050. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The government has approved \u00a37.9bn in investment for water companies to build nine new reservoirs, including a new Fens Reservoir to serve Cambridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n There will also be a new Abingdon Reservoir near Oxford.<\/p>\n Officials agreed water resources management plans <\/a> with water firms in December, with the first reservoirs due to open in 2028, and 2050 as the completion date for all projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Government guidance on building major projects will be reviewed in order to support investments outside of the wealthy and productive south-east of England, Reeves said.<\/p>\n “This means that investment in all regions is given a fair hearing by the Treasury that I lead,” she said.<\/p>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/4a5f\/live\/79e8eeb0-de60-11ef-bd1b-d536627785f2.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nHeathrow expansion<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
‘Silicon Valley’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
New reservoirs<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Changing infrastructure rules <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n