People love to blame “red tape” for everything wrong with construction and infrastructure in Britain. Politicians keep promising that if they just cut a few regulations, suddenly we’d be building new roads and railways faster and cheaper.
But is it really that simple...?
Andrew Orlowski, writing in The Daily Telegraph, says the real problem isn’t endless paperwork or regulation, rather it’s what he calls “gold plating," which is what happens when a project gets loaded down with extra complexity nobody asked for. Instead of simply building what’s needed, these projects end up stuffed with unnecessary features and processes driven by consultants, lawyers, and contractors who thrive on everything looking fancier and more elaborate.
Orlowski calls these people the “lanyard class.” Basically, it’s a gaggle of professionals who rack up billable hours by making projects more complicated, and then justifying their presence by insisting on even more complexity. It’s a cycle: the messier it gets, the more hands on deck, and the more money gets spent.
The HS2 “bat tunnel” is a good example of this. The thing cost more than £200 million, mostly because it was built to such a high spec that critics say a simpler, way cheaper solution could’ve protected the bats just as well. Engineers even suggested alternatives for a fraction of the price, but the gold-plated version won out.
This kind of thing happens all the time. Projects spiral out into grand exercises in perfection, chasing theoretical best-case scenarios instead of the down-to-earth stuff that actually works. Costs soar. Timelines get pushed back to decades rather than years.
So when politicians talk about cutting regulations to make things happen faster, they’re missing what really slows things down. Orlowski points out that environmental laws and planning rules, while not always perfect, aren’t what keeps us from breaking ground. Most of the waste and delay gets baked in right from the start—fussy specs, risk aversion, and way too much overthinking.
If you just slash through the regulations, you don’t actually fix the core problem. Sometimes you create even bigger messes (especially with environmental protections), and the crazy project management still eats up time and money.
What needs fixing isn’t laws; it’s how people run these projects. The solution? Smarter management. Clear goals. Real oversight. Sticking to what's needed instead of chasing “perfect.” And maybe paying closer attention to the incentives that keep everyone piling on the extras.