Should new public infrastructure projects include dedicated funding for civil defence shelters?
The UK government is increasing defence spending to nearly £80 billion annually by 2029 as part of a £15 billion Defence Investment Plan, with focus on the Home Defence Programme for national resilience against crises or conflict. Cold War-era civil defence infrastructure has largely been decommissioned or repurposed, and there is no current statutory requirement to include shelters in new public projects. Recent infrastructure strategies prioritise housing, transport, energy and flood defences over public blast protection.
4 Opinions
What a colossal waste of resources. If the nuclear deterrent ever fails shelters-for-all won’t protect against the mass starvation that would result from the collapse in economic activity.
Initially they would most likely be built in high risk areas. Some areas, such as military establishments, will be ground zero for attacks. People in less high risk areas could be provided with support to build small scale shelters. Practically. how many bomb shelters can you build to accommodate a population of near 70 million? How many would be able to access them? Contingency plans would need to be in place to prevent panic and civil unrest should they be needed
Building infrastructure in this country is already painfully slow and overpriced without forcing a Cold War bunker onto every new public project. Modern threats to Britain aren't blitz-style bombing raids... they're cyberattacks, power grid sabotage, and supply chain disruption. No shelter can protect against them.
Within my own postcode there is no viable bomb shelter accessible to me. I strongly believe everyone should be able to reach a bomb shelter within 15/30 minutes of their home. Any further spend on infrastructure, regardless of public/private, should include bomb shelters.