We are looking forward to 2026 with the announcements on infrastructure spending and house building in the budget. It is not the planning process that is preventing house building, but the cost of power. There is one problem which is the cost of gas for firing bricks, making cement and glass and the closure of petrochemical plants in the UK. These materials are fundamental to the construction sector and the Government, whilst recognising increasing carbon dioxide levels, needs to be proactive in the short term to alleviate the cost pressures of gas. The UK is fortunate in that it is an island sitting on coal and natural gas resources, surrounded by a sea bed, that has oil and gas. The weather also provides for renewable electricity to provide a large percentage of our needs, but we will need gas until the nuclear stations come on stream. It is likely that the manufacture of cement and bricks will require methane gas for many years to come.
Unfortunately, the UK has not taken advantage of the excellent weather, between March and September this year, to build, build and build, when conditions have been excellent. The weather has been wet, over the past two months, which has impacted the construction sector even more after the dry period. Quarries have suffered over the past two months, with the wet weather, as it makes processing material difficult and management of the conditions is time consuming. It is a lot different from the dry summers of 2020, 2022 and 2025, when lack of rain was a problem and dust was difficult to manage, but conditions on site allowed rock, brick clay, sand and gravel, to be worked and processed. Unfortunately, there has been a downturn in demand. If Labour can get the economy going, with the changes announced in the budget, for employment training for young people, the quarrying sector can accommodate many people entering the workforce, provide well paid jobs and training and boost the economy.
The heavy clay sector can provide bricks for 250,000 houses per annum and it will take some action on gas prices to increase that volume over the next 2 years. Two brickworks have closed in West Yorkshire recently, due to issues on gas and clay extraction, as the cost of earthmoving doubled with the loss of the red diesel exemption.