In one of the liveliest Budgets in recent memory, chancellor George Osborne was at times lost for words. With the outlook for the economy significantly downgraded, some are saying that this is a Budget of paradoxes. For example, Britain will avoid a triple-dip recession after the return to negative growth in Q4 of 2012, but the economy is only likely to grow by 0.6% this year - a big fall from the 1.1% previously forecast.

The West Midlands region was fleetingly mentioned as Osborne confirmed the government's backing to Lord Heseltine's call for a 'single pot' of money for local enterprise and the country's 39 LEP's to share and promised to implement the proposal.

The Help to Buy scheme is welcomed but will it truly revitalise the housing market? And the announcement regarding £3.5bn investment in infrastructure is positive, but which schemes are set to benefit and how quickly?

As people digest the finer details from this afternoon's speech, here is some initial industry reaction:

Stephen Hemming, director, planning & development at Lambert Smith Hampton in Birmingham, welcomes the chancellor's announcement of £3.5bn support for infrastructure projects, but adds: "It is unfortunate that the spending won't come in until 2015/16, although it is appreciated that the money comes as a result of savings elsewhere. The question is what will be delivered and where? Will we see the big, potentially game changing schemes getting delayed by challenges as with HS2 or will it be the smaller, but in some cases no less important, projects such as new roads and so on which have been put on the back burner finally being dusted off."  

Jan Thompson, Jones Lang LaSalle's Birmingham-based Midland chairman also welcomes the £3bn spending on infrastructure and acceptance of a single pot for local enterprise but states again the key questions on everyone's lips - how much will Whitehall release to allow the LEP's to proceed and when? I think we are all disappointed that the budget contained no news on how the government would allocate resources to regional LEPs, through the Heseltine Review.  These proposals will be a real game-changer for the West Midlands, and there are clearly internal battles going on in Whitehall as confirmed by Heseltine in terms of the size of the pot," says Thompson.

"Until this is decided, the LEPs for Greater Birmingham & Solihull, and for the Black Country remain uncertain about when they can begin to implement their ideas for growth and make them a reality.  And if you put this into context, we see that last month, of the 576 infrastructure projects highlighted by the government only seven have been completed. The country needs these schemes to be delivered and not log-jammed inside Whitehall.

The Help to Buy mortgage announcement for new home buyers announced by Osborne was also welcomed by Brittan as a "much-need shot in the arm for the construction industry, an "important part of our region's economy which has been severely depressed in recent years."

With regard to infrastructure investment, he adds: "The announcement that an extra £3bn of government money per year would be put into infrastructure projects is welcome but we need to see action on many promises that have been unfulfilled in the past." 

Richard Abadie, PwC's global head of infrastructure, comments: "Every additional pound of investment in infrastructure is to be welcomed in a difficult market where the construction industry is struggling from reduced activity. Infrastructure projects are long term and investments made into them also need to be long term and ongoing. Regrettably the announced sum is insignificant relative to the infrastructure backlog and whilst we welcome the announced £3bn of cost-savings from various government departments, the reality is it won't make a significant impact on economic growth as it comprises less than 0.2% of GDP. 

Richard Threlfall, KPMG's head of infrastructure, building and construction says: "The chancellor's 'Help to Buy' scheme looks like the perfect "get out of jail" card. It's a bold move, perhaps a desperate one, but one that will be undeniably welcome by the beleaguered construction industry. The government has finally recognised that housing might offer the fastest acting pain relief for our economic woes and, perhaps despairing of local authorities to be proactive in supporting new house building, has decided to focus stimulus on demand. 

By opening the scheme to all buyers of new-build houses up to £600,000 in value, the chancellor has thrown the UK house building industry a new lifeline. Ultimately, the construction industry and all trades that support construction of new houses in the UK will benefit from the new scheme."

Jon Poore, public sector director at Turner & Townsend, says: "Four Budgets and two National Infrastructure Plans later, the chancellor is still committed to using infrastructure to help the country build its way back to growth. The script is well worn - improving Britain's infrastructure will make us more competitive and give the economy a welcome stimulus. Osborne's promise of an extra £3bn of public sector infrastructure investment per year from 2015/16 is eye-catching, but also an acknowledgement that his plan for the private sector to step into the breach is struggling. In the past year total infrastructure spending shrank by 12% as the private sector steadfastly refused to take on the role of white knight. Progress on the chancellor's wish list of infrastructure projects has been underwhelming. So the buck has been passed back to the public sector. The chancellor says the Treasury is willing to spend, and that the money will come from savings made by other government departments. But that money cannot be spent efficiently without clear targets - and these were notably missing from today's speech. Public sector infrastructure spending should not be an indiscriminate spraying of investment around the country. Without focus and carefully costed plans, the chancellor might as well send a fleet of RAF helicopters to drop bundles of banknotes."

Rob Champion, partner at Halls Commercial in Worcester, sums up: "I am disappointed not to see any assistance on business rates. These continue to cause real problems for both occupiers and owners of commercial property and have had a very real impact on the nation's high streets in particular. Whilst the revenue generated is clearly much needed by the government, the impact of rates bills on occupiers is significant and business viability in some cases is being undermined as a result. Whilst growth remains down the deficit continues to be cut and we are starting to see gradual signs of confidence re-appearing in the various markets.  Hopefully infrastructure funding will be sensibly allocated and I hope that Lord Heseltine's proposals of a single local growth fund will prove helpful to the West Midlands as a region."