Stuart's Story

Stuart is 31 and lives in Basildon and Billericay in the East of England. He wanted to retrain in construction, but found himself caught between training providers with unfilled places and a local housing crisis crying out for skilled workers. This episode examines how HM Treasury's treatment of infrastructure spending as a deficit risk prevents construction training funding from reaching areas with the greatest housing need. The workers are available, training capacity exists, but central government chooses not to fund the posts that would put bricklayers, electricians, and plumbers to work building homes that already have planning permission. A story about political choices, not resource shortages. Blocked Britain is produced independently and receives no government funding.