HL Deb 27 March 1995 vol 562 cc1422-30

4.8 p.m.

The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Viscount Ullswater) rose to move, That the order laid before the House on 9th February be approved [11 th Report from the Joint Committee].

The noble Viscount said: My Lords, the order was approved in another place on 6th March. It is one of four required to wind up the Leeds Development Corporation. Its effect is straightforward. It simply revokes the 1988 order which designated the Leeds Urban Development Area and established the development corporation.

Revocation is in two stages. That part of the 1988 order which designated the urban development area is to be revoked on 1st April. The part which established the development corporation is to be revoked on 1st July.

I should like briefly to explain why there is a two-stage wind-up process and why we need four orders in total to wind up the development corporation. The intention is that the Leeds Development Corporation will cease to exercise any operational functions after 31st March. It is appropriate therefore that the urban development area should cease to exist as from 1st April. There will then be a three-month non-operational period during which time the corporation, with just a few staff, will prepare its final accounts and report and wind up its affairs. Finally, the corporation will be dissolved on 1st July.

None of the other three orders required to wind up the corporation is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. A dissolution order will be made at the end of March requiring the corporation to cease to act from 1st April and dissolving it on 1st July. That order is not subject to any parliamentary procedure.

The other two orders were laid before the House on 24th February and are subject to the negative resolution procedure. One order transfers planning functions from the corporation to Leeds City Council at the end of March. The other transfers to the Secretary of State for the Environment any assets or liabilities that the corporation has not disposed of by wind-up. This is a necessary safety net to ensure that there is a residual home for any remaining assets and liabilities.

I have explained what the area and constitution order does and how it ties in with the other wind-up orders. I should now like to explain why the Government are now winding up the Leeds Development Corporation: indeed, why we intend to wind up all 12 UDCs in England over the next three years.

I must make quite clear that this is not because they have failed to meet the objectives we set them: quite the reverse. It is precisely because the Leeds Development Corporation has largely done what it set out to do, and others will have done so over the next three years, that we now are able to embark on this wind-up programme.

UDCs were always intended to have limited lives—some shorter than others, depending upon the extent of the problems they faced. They were set up in order to provide a focused approach to the physical and economic regeneration of particular run-down urban areas; to give these areas a much-needed shot in the arm. At the same time, we have looked to UDCs to establish a solid base for sustainable regeneration that other bodies, both in the public and private sectors, can build upon after they have gone.

This is what Leeds and other development corporations have done: mainly by way of assembling land, providing infrastructure, facilitating much-needed development, and improving the local environment. An important part of their remit has been to lever in as much private investment as possible. Their records in this regard are impressive. Take the case of Leeds. In spending £55.7 million of public money, the development corporation has drawn in £350 million of private sector investment, including £45 million from abroad. That gives a ratio of public to private investment of 1:6.3.

I was pleased to have the opportunity to see for myself how the corporation has transformed the area when I visited Leeds in January. I should like to highlight some of its achievements. In Holbeck, life has been brought back into an important conservation area by restoring historic workshops and redeveloping adjacent sites. The south side of Boar Lane has been transformed into a smart office and hotel location. The Calls and Riverside is now a lively business, residential and restaurant district.

In the Kirkstall Valley, the former power station ash tip has been transformed into a 10 hectare nature reserve. A new village heart has been put back in Hunslet with the new Hunslet Green development, which has turned 20 hectares of derelict land into a new urban village complete with new shopping and sporting facilities. Under construction at the moment, and due to open at Easter 1996, is the £42 million Royal Armouries Museum. The development corporation was instrumental in persuading the Royal Armouries to move to Leeds, and the development is expected to attract 1 million visitors a year.

I could go on to list many other outstanding examples of the corporation's achievements, but I think I have made my point. The corporation has a record to be proud of, and I congratulate its board and officials for their remarkable achievements in under seven years.

I should mention also that the corporation has made every effort to ensure that its exit is an orderly one, and that suitable succession arrangements are in place. The city council, as well as inheriting the corporation's planning functions, is taking over responsibility for maintaining amenity areas landscaped by the corporation. English Partnerships intends to take over responsibility for a number of projects that will not be completed by the end of March. In both cases, the corporation is paying an agreed endowment sum to its successor.

We charged the Leeds Development Corporation with the task of pump-priming regeneration of its area and it has achieved that objective admirably. We asked it to achieve an orderly exit, and it has done that also. The time has now come, therefore, to wind up the corporation, and we need to approve the area and constitution order to do that. I recommend this order to the House for approval. I beg to move.

Moved, That the order laid before the House on 9th February be approved [11th Report from the Joint Committee.]—(Viscount Ullswater.)

4.15 p.m.

Lord Williams of Elvel

My Lords, the House will be grateful to the noble Viscount for introducing this order. I say at the outset that it is welcome, not perhaps entirely for the reasons that the noble Viscount adduced but because we believe that the proper way to develop inner cities is in partnership between councils, local authorities and the private sector. They can do that by themselves without the need for urban development corporations. Indeed, we welcome the fact that the development of the centre of Leeds is basically going to move along the lines that we would recommend, as the noble Viscount has described.

The question then arises as to whether this urban development corporation has worked in any meaningful sense. Indeed, do UDCs work? I would seek to define "work" a little more closely. Has it really helped to regenerate previously derelict inner city areas which would otherwise not have been regenerated? Has it improved the lot of local residents? Has it created employment that otherwise would not have been created? I believe that those are three good criteria by which to measure the success or otherwise of any urban development corporation, and in particular the one which is before us today; namely, the Leeds Development Corporation.

I shall not talk about the others, but as regards the Leeds Development Corporation I believe that the position is uncertain. We ask ourselves what it has achieved in seven years of existence. As the noble Viscount will know, there was already a good working partnership between Leeds City Council and the private sector. I ask your Lordships this question: what would have happened if the resources which have been made available to the UDC had been made available direct to Leeds City Council? Our belief is that Leeds would have achieved the same attraction of private funds because that is exactly what it did in the Asda development, which was near completion before the UDC came into existence.

The next question about Leeds is: what sort of jobs have been created? We have heard a figure of over 8,000 jobs. Perhaps the noble Viscount can help me on this matter. I cannot find anywhere a precise statement on whether these jobs are temporary or permanent. Do they relate to the unemployment position in Leeds, which is essentially that of male heads of households? Are the jobs planting trees? Are they jobs in economic and public relations consultancies, in which many have been employed by the UDC and perhaps to good purpose?

I hope the noble Viscount will confirm that these are not jobs which are in pursuit of the development corporation's housing strategy for the simple reason that the corporation had no housing strategy. For an urban development corporation to set out to regenerate an inner city without having such a strategy seems to me very odd, to say the least.

Neither did the Leeds Development Corporation pay much attention to social projects. Will the noble Viscount confirm that of the total expenditure of that corporation only 0.2 per cent. went on any project of a social nature? Will the noble Viscount also confirm that this and the housing question were the objects of a severely critical report from the National Audit Office published on 27th July 1993? So everything is not quite as successful as the noble Viscount described.

The noble Viscount said that he visited Leeds. He will have reflected on and heard the opinions of my honourable friends in another place who said that in many instances the Leeds Development Corporation neglected local small businesses which are precisely the kind of businesses which are required for regeneration of that nature. The corporation is very keen on big developments, but not very keen on local, small businesses.

Generally speaking, have UDCs worked? We understand from the noble Viscount that there will be an orderly wind-up of all 12 UDCs over the next three years. Have the Government lost faith in the whole exercise? We hear very little about UDCs nowadays. They used to be trumpeted as the great new weapon by which the inner cities would be regenerated. There is none of that now. There is none of the publicity or hype that we had previously. The fact of the matter is that urban development corporations have had a difficult time—not least because they have been operating in an economic climate which has not been favourable. I accept that, but given that the Government are to wind up all of the UDCs, I must ask whether they have lost faith in them. If they have lost faith, I think that it would be more honest for them to say so instead of using the fig-leaf of saying that they were simply pump-priming operations which were to be handed over to the local authorities when ready.

I said at the beginning of my speech—I say it again—that we welcome the order because we believe that the future regeneration of our inner cities lies with local authorities working in partnership with the private sector. It was for that reason that I put my questions to the noble Viscount in a constructive manner and in the hope that he will be able to answer them.

Lord Bellwin

My Lords, I should like to contribute briefly because we are talking about my favourite home-town and I have had some experience of its affairs in a public capacity. We are also talking about what we always used to call "quangos", but they are now referred to as NDPBs—non-departmental public bodies. Given that at the end of this week I finish 10 years' service on the Commission for the New Towns, which is one such body, and I currently chair the Louth Hull Housing Action Trust, perhaps I should declare an interest in the subject.

To appreciate fully the extent of the achievements of the urban development corporation, I believe that one has physically to visit the area in question. It would be even better if one could not only see the area as it is now but know what it was like previously. I can say without any doubt that the transformation—I use that word deliberately—is quite remarkable. Indeed, I commend to your Lordships a splendid illustrated booklet on Leeds. I am sure that my noble friend the Minister will make a copy available to any noble Lord who wishes to see it. It graphically illustrates the "befores" and "afters". It is most impressive.

It has always been said that if one were to give development money to the local authority, it would do the job just as well. But it is not like that. I have worked for a local authority. Indeed, I was the leader of the authority in Leeds for many years—and I know about this. Other Members of your Lordships' House who are in the Chamber at the moment could also tell the House about the constraints upon local authorities when trying to carry out all the functions and services for which they are responsible, when trying to keep an even balance between what is done in one area as compared with another and when trying to match up to the pressures placed upon them by all of their citizens. It is a hard thing to do. And it is not just a question of money. Without breaching any confidences, I can tell the House that it is simply not the case that previously it was only money that prevented us achieving all that we had hoped. Today I can compare my city with any other in the country, but it was not always like that and it was not simply a question of money.

The previous Labour leadership discussed with me at great length what more might be done and how it might be done. Although there were political pressures at the time, when the money became available through the establishment of the development corporation, many were more than happy that that money was coming in. In fact, the leader and the deputy leader of the city council are members of the board of the development corporation, and I pay credit to them. I am sure that their contributions to what is a small board played no small part in the achievements that are there for all to see.

Perhaps I may comment also on the board itself. According to the proceedings of another place, the chairman of the board was abused in a debate. He does not deserve that because he has done a splendid job of work. He is a most able man. Indeed, I hope that we shall always find such men coming forward on to such bodies and playing their part in helping to regenerate our cities. In fact, all members of the board are distinguished local people. Indeed, the noble Baroness, Lady Lockwood, is a member of that board, and no one can question her abilities and what she has to offer. Therefore, I have to disagree with the noble Lord, Lord Williams, although the point that he made is always made in such circumstances.

Another feature of the work of development corporations is that when money comes into a city, not only does it enable an area or areas of that city to be improved, but it means that the resources of the local authority can be better used to meet its other objectives. I know that that point, too, is appreciated.

The Minister gave us some examples of what he thought were the successes of the corporation. I shall not detain your Lordships by speaking of others, except to mention that one of my favourites is what has happened in Hunslet Green which was a problem area throughout all my years in the city. Any noble Lord who visits the area now and talks to the people who live there and to those in its forum will be able to understand just what the corporation has done and what it has meant to a far greater extent than is possible simply by listening to what is said here today.

The noble Lord, Lord Williams, said that there was no housing strategy. But I must advise him that 561 houses exist today that were not there previously. You can call that "strategy" or whatever, but I like what has happened very much indeed.

There is no doubt that, without the input of the development corporation, the city of Leeds would not now be set to receive the Royal Armouries which will mean so much to it. That is a wonderful example of a local authority, the private sector and the Government all putting in funds. It is a very happy story.

Perhaps I can tempt the noble Lord, Lord Williams, to visit Leeds to see what has happened along the riverside and, who knows, even to stay at one of the hotels there. That part of the city was previously derelict, but it is now delightful. Indeed, I would welcome the noble Lord to the city myself and would be glad to show him round if he needed it.

I must not go on. If my enthusiasm is showing through too much, I hope that your Lordships will make allowances for the fact that I am talking about my home-town. I do not need to go there to see it because I know it. Like my parents, I was born there. I was brought up there, and I am very proud of it.

I should like to finish by saying one or two thank-yous. I should like to thank the Government for putting in the funds in this way. We would not have had all the extra jobs and the millions of pounds of private sector investment without it. None of it would have happened without that. The Secretary of State who made the appointments to the board deserves congratulations on that. I have already said how much I appreciate what the leadership of the city council has brought to the party. We should not let this occasion pass without a word of praise for its officers. The chief executive, Martin Eagland, is an outstanding officer. Indeed, they have all done a fine job, as have all involved in businesses, the professions and, indeed, the community at large, 300 of whom turned out last Friday to say farewell. The Secretary of State came along. It was a splendid occasion.

There are those who seek to belittle what has happened. Politicians, as they did in another place, seek to score points. There are those who argue about the precise number of jobs that are being created. How many thousand was it really? How many hundreds of millions of pounds have gone in? Was it more or less than has been said? People can argue about that if they like, but when all the talking is done, the reality is there for all to see. An important area of the City of Leeds has been transformed. I use that word again deliberately.

Where there has been dereliction for a long time, there is now much of which everyone in the city can be proud. Much more needs to be done in Leeds. It will henceforth be the responsibility of others to do it. I say merely that I cheer them on in their doing of it because I want to see everything possible done to make the city a better place than it is at the moment—good though it is in comparison with all others. I pay tribute to all concerned for a job very well done.

4.30 p.m.

Viscount Ullswater

My Lords, I welcome the contribution made to the debate by my noble friend Lord Bellwin. He has the knowledge and expertise which I certainly do not have, and so I welcome what he said. From the first he said that the transformation of the areas that the Leeds Development Corporation has tackled is remarkable.

Almost seven years ago the Government gave the Leeds Development Corporation the task of bringing back prosperity, business, jobs and housing to two very different areas of the city, at South Central Leeds and the Kirkstall Valley. It was given the powers and the resources to focus single-mindedly on removing the barriers which were preventing regeneration from taking place. The noble Lord, Lord Williams, said that the city council could of course have done that if it had been given the money. Perhaps it could have done, and perhaps it would have done in time, but, as my noble friend Lord Bellwin said, it was not just the money. It is not always just a question of money. The city council was looking at different priorities, and that makes it difficult for it to focus on any particular area. Hunslet Green was, I understand, an area of high-rise flats. The area was derelict for five years or more before the development corporation came along. So it is a question of when the regeneration would have taken place.

The corporation is dedicated to its task. It has shown the vision, focus and determination to solve the problems which were holding back progress. Its achievements in attracting investors and breathing new life into the city are there for all to see.

I gave some illustrations earlier of how the corporation has succeeded in regenerating particular areas of the city. I should now like to sum up its achievements with some key output figures, starting with jobs. During its lifetime the corporation has helped to create over 9,000 jobs. That figure is not one calculated by the corporation itself. It has been arrived at by independent economic consultants, based on a full survey of all completed developments within the designated urban development area. That influx of new jobs bodes well for the future and looks set to increase as new developments are completed and businesses consolidate and expand. The noble Lord, Lord Williams, asked whether the corporation really had created jobs where there were none before. That independent assessment of the number of jobs created is an important one to examine.

Lord Williams of Elvel

My Lords, I am sorry to interrupt the Minister, but I wonder whether he could help me. As I understand it, his ministerial colleague in another place said that 8,300 jobs had been created. Does that mean that an extra thousand have been created in the past month or so?

Viscount Ullswater

My Lords, the final report from the consultants indicated that there has been an increase of over 9,000 jobs during the existence of the development corporation, and so I can give the House an updated figure.

Some 561 houses, as my noble friend said, have been built within the urban development area, mainly in the riverside area and on the Hunslet Green development. Hunslet Green has been one of the fastest selling housing developments in the north of England. As well as low-cost houses for sale, the development includes 58 housing association dwellings for rent.

The noble Lord, Lord Williams, asked whether only 0.2 per cent. of expenditure had been of a social nature. The spending on community projects totals £120,000, but the 58 housing association dwellings for rent represent a social benefit. That is an important part of the scheme.

Other key outputs include the reclamation of 68 hectares of land; the completion of 11.4 kilometres of highways and footpaths; and the creation of 366,000 square metres of non-housing floorspace, with planning consent granted for a further 170,000 square metres. Those are impressive achievements and ones of which the corporation can be proud.

Now that the Leeds Development Corporation has so successfully fulfilled its remit we are able to wind it up. Our aim now is to secure an orderly exit of all 12 UDCs in England over the next three years. In that respect, the lessons Teamed from this first wind-up will, I am sure, prove very useful. Furthermore, my department has commissioned consultants to evaluate the impact of Leeds Development Corporation, together with the next two corporations which will be winding up. That will permit an objective, overall assessment of the corporation's efficiency and effectiveness and determine the extent to which strategic regeneration goals have been met.

The noble Lord, Lord Williams, said that there was a National Audit Office report in 1993 which was critical of UDCs. I shall read out the press notice of 25th August 1993 relating to that NAO report. It says: Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, told Parliament today that, overall, urban development corporations have made valuable contributions towards regenerating their areas, with significant successes, although external factors, in particular the economic downturn, have had a crucial effect on the ability of corporations to deliver their intended outputs". The quotation from Sir John Bourn backs up what I have been putting forward in the House.

In drawing this debate to a close perhaps I may once again commend the achievements of the Leeds Development Corporation in bringing new development and economic vitality to the city. I should like to express particular gratitude to the corporation's chairman, Peter Hartley, and his fellow board members, including, as my noble friend said, the noble Baroness, Lady Lockwood, and to its chief executive, Martin Eagland, and his dedicated staff. They have undertaken their task with considerable dedication. I know that they have worked hard and successfully met the objectives that we set them.

Although the Leeds Development Corporation is coming to its end, regeneration of the city will go on. Leeds has a great deal to offer and I trust that the public and private sectors will continue working in partnership to build upon the corporation's successes. But we must now see through the process of winding up the Leeds Development Corporation. To that end, I commend this order to the House.

On Question, Motion agreed to.