Not just a British crisis.

It seems much of the worst effects you talk about are from what used to (and may still be) called "deferred maintenance." That is, we know we need to do something to prevent this from failing when we need it, but we can't do it now.

As long a basic infrastructure is working, it is the first place money is saved by not maintaining it. Only things that are broken get fixed.

Many of our urban and other systems are well past their expected lifetimes, with no prospect of any routine replacement/upgrade in the near future. Thus, it fails in a catastrophic mode.

If I may be indulged, a bit of a personal victory over this attitude. About 18 years ago, we moved into a new community with a Homeowners Association, which had some fixed assets to maintain. I got on the Board and got an audit of these assets, their expected lifetime, and replacement costs. Then we set up a budget with yearly funds going into a fund to replace these assets as needed, and a yearly maintenance budget for them. We now have a reasonable sum set aside for replacement as required, and everything is being maintained as it should be.
Seemed like common sense. . . .