HC Deb 20 December 1955 vol 547 cc1983-92

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. R. Allan.]

10.1 p.m.

Mr. William Hamilton (Fife, West)

this debate arises out of the letter which the Secretary of State for Scotland sent to the Fife County Council after a meeting between him and the representatives of that Council on 31st October. It was sent on 23rd November, three weeks after the meeting, and it outlined the policy of the Government as to the immediate future of the new town of Glenrothes. The details of the present situation as outlined in that letter are well known to the Joint Under-Secretary. It explained that the present population of the town is 6,600, of which 550 are miners. The letter says that that is only about one in 14 of the population, as opposed to the theoretical proportion of one in eight or nine. To begin with, the arithmetic of the letter is wrong; the proportion is one in 12 and not one in 14. It appears that we cannot place too much reliance upon the accuracy of the Scottish Office.

In any case, as the new town is in the initial stages of its development, a proportion of one in 12 would appear to be on the right side. If the ultimate proportion, when we get the miners coming in, is to be one in eight or nine, it is surely desirable that in the early stages the proportion should be lower than that. The letter further states that of the 550 miners there now only 72 had come from outside Fife. That means that the Corporation which was set up in 1948 has done little to help to solve the county council's housing problem. The letter goes on, as it seems to me, to put the blame upon the National Coal Board. It explains that the varying estimates of manpower requirements made by the National Coal Board over the last seven years made it difficult to plan Glenrothes as was originally intended. There have undoubtedly been difficulties in connection with the sinking of the Rothes Pit.

Only this year, I understand, the National Coal Board sent a reply that no more houses for transferred miners would be required until 1958, when they would want 100. Later in the year, the Coal Board said that up to the end of 1956 it would try to find 330 transferred miners and that the total need between 1957 and 1960 would be 850 houses. The Coal Board also suggested the advisability of reviewing annually the phasing of the houses required from 1957 onwards.

Bearing in mind the figure that 800 houses would be required between 1957 and 1960, and the fact that 708 houses are now either being built or are contracted for, the Government came to the inevitable conclusion that the number now being built or contracted for more than caters for the Coal Board's needs up to May, 1958. I have been given to understand that the Government attach little reliance to the Coal Board's estimate, even at this juncture.

The argument goes on that because present house building more than caters for the estimated needs of the Coal Board, house building should stop altogether. In short. the Government have decided that the development of the new town is proceeding more quickly than mining progress in the Rothes Colliery warrants. The Government's conclusions are (1) that house building should stop altogether after we have completed the houses under construction or contracted for, and (21 that we should slow down or stop further development.

The county council has now been invited to consider how far it will require houses in the new town and whether it will build them itself or make arrangements with the Development Corporation to house needy families from its own housing list in houses not required for transferred miners. The people who are handling this problem appear to think Glenrothes a convenient centre in which to find houses for county council applicants.

The Minister should know that the county council cannot find tenants for the houses that it has already been given in Glenrothes and in West-Central Fife. Even within the county itself people are loath to pull up their roots and go to the new town. How much less are the miners of Lanarkshire willing to do so? There are no industrial facilities for employment for families, and the amount of time that has to be spent in travelling makes it difficult for people to go into the Glenrothes area.

On the future administration of the new town the Scottish Office has informed us that the Development Corporation will remain in being, although the new town may be put into the hands of the county council on an agency basis. That is the gist of a letter sent to the county council on 23rd November. On the following day I had an interview with Lord Strathclyde, the Minister of State, Scottish Office. He simply underlined the arguments that have now been advanced. We all understand that the Rothes Colliery development has run into unforeseen difficulties, but the Press has been extremely unfair about it. It has been a costly operation. According to the Coal Board, Rothes has lost £3 million up to now, and the estimated total cost is £9 million, compared with the original estimate of £5.1 million. It expects to start producing coal by 1957, and to get about half a million tons of coal a year by 1960. I wish to ask the hon. Gentle- man a few questions which are being asked by the local residents, who are extremely concerned about the recent change of policy. I say "change of policy" though the Government deny it is a change, but we need not quarrel about terminology.

First, how closely is the Government's policy in Glenrothes related to its overall policy of economy in capital investment, and so on, as enunciated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 26th October? Was it a coincidence that it was only five days after that Budget speech that the Minister of State informed the Fife County Council's representatives of these new proposals? Again, can the Minister tell us to what extent is this new policy-an expression of the desires of the local industrialists? What pressure has been brought by them on the Government to prevent a speedy development of the new, towns?

We know that the local industrialists allege that there are labour shortages in the area. Though I have challenged them to produce specific figures they have not done so, but even assuming that there are labour shortages we have to remember future generations. Between 1952 and 1954, 96 children left school in the Glenrothes area, but only five found work in the locality. Between now and 1962, when the peak of school leaving will be reached, the position will get much worse. They will have to go to Kirkcaldy, but the number of school leavers in the Kirkcaldy area will increase as well and will want the jobs available in that area.

It is quite clear that if we are to have development in Glenrothes, and if the town is to grow as originally planned new industries are wanted there now. The Tory newspapers in Scotland have been saying that for two or three years. I should like to know whether the Minister has any statement to make about the possibility of getting new industries into Glenrothes in the near future. What is really wanted—and I think that the Joint Under-Secretary might agree with me privately on this—is the implementation of the Cairncross Report. We may eventually get a change of Government policy along the lines indicated by that Report.

Has the Minister any information about the Report of the Scottish Council on the special problems of Fife? What have the Government in mind in the event of the county council turning down the suggestion that it builds houses in the new towns for its own needs? Will that mean a complete standstill in the new town and the winding up of the Development Corporation? If my memory serves aright, Lord Strathclyde admitted to me that there would be staff reductions in the Development Corporation. To what extent will those reductions take place, and how do the Government intend to get those people back once they have gone?

It has been said that they would go to Cumbernauld. Some members of the Development Corporation's staff went to Glenrothes on a verbal undertaking that they would be there for twenty-five years, but they now find themselves on the scrap heap and may get difficulty in getting other jobs. Building workers will be thrown out of work—that was forecast by many of us on this side when the Government's housing policy was announced during the Budget debates.

Incoming miners and their families will not be attracted, and the fears and suspicions of the local population will not be allayed unless and until the Government give categorical assurances of their honourable intentions in translating these assurances into active policies which are designed to help and not to hinder the future continued growth of the new towns. I certainly hope that the Under-Secretary will give these assurances, will allay the suspicions, and give concrete evidence that the Government's intentions are honourable.

10.15 p.m.

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. J. Henderson Stewart)

I am much obliged to the hon. Member for Fife, West (Mr. Hamilton) for raising this matter because it enables me to perhaps clear up some misunderstandings which have arisen locally. May I thank him for his courtesy in advising me of some of the questions which he intended to put?

At the risk of repetition, it would perhaps be easiest if I replied immediately to the questions, and said a word or two, if I have time, about the general position. First, the hon. Gentleman asked, "What is the relationship between the new policy in Glenrothes and the Government's general economic policy?" Actually, there is no connection. The hon. Member put a Question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 6th December, about this matter of a link, and the Chancellor's answer was: Development of the new towns is to continue in step with the movement or expansion of industry in and around each of the new towns."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 6th December, 1955; Vol. 547, c. 191.] The hon. Gentleman quite naturally asked whether it was a coincidence or was it something different that the one policy took place five days after the other. As a matter of fact, it was a coincidence. He asked me to what extent the new development in Glenrothes was a reflection of what he called pressure from local industrialists. I can assure him that there was no pressure at all.

The President of the Board of Trade was asked by the hon. Member, on the 8th December, about the prospects of bringing new industries to the town, and he said: We will draw the attention of suitable industries to Glenrothes as appropriate."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 8th December, 1955; Vol. 547, c. 93.] I will say a word about the possibilities of new industries in a moment.

Next the hon. Member drew attention to the question of school leavers. That is very important. We have given this matter very careful consideration, and I have no doubt that potential industrialists have also done so, because no industrialist is going to any area, however attractive—as, of course, all areas are in Fife—unless he is sure that he will have enough labour there. We have considered this matter very carefully, and I may be able to refer to it in a moment. The hon. Member will, I am sure, bear in mind that not all school leavers in Glenrothes or anywhere else will be available for local employment. Many of them may go away.

The hon. Member also asked about the Scottish Council's report. The answer is that the Report is in the course of preparation and we are expecting it very soon. It should be a very interesting document. His next question was, "What will happen if the county council turns down the proposal or the suggestion made for co-operation?" That is a very pertinent question. He also asked, "Would the whole thing then come to a standstill, and would the development corporation be wound up?" If the county Council did not wish to co-operate—and at the moment the county council has done no more than say that it will look into it, and I have no information on how it will decide—we should have to consider some interim arrangement.

I should like to make it plain to the hon. Member that, irrespective of the county council's answer, the development corporation will not be wound up. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, replying to the hon. Member for Fife, West on 6th December, said: I hope that the need for this slow-down will prove to be only a temporary one.…" —[OFFICIAT. REPORT, 6th Dec. 1955; Vol. 547, c. 38.] There is the problem of staff reductions, to which the hon. Gentleman very properly referred. It may well be that some of the staff will move elsewhere, but it is not possible to estimate what staff reductions are likely to take place. A great deal depends on the county council's answer. I am advised, however, that no major difficulties are expected in the matter of staff.

The hon. Member spoke of the fact that building workers in Glenrothes are a little perturbed. There was a protest march the other day. It is not possible to make a forecast about building work at the moment. Should the county council decide to build for its own ends in Glenrothes—and it is possible that the council may do so—there should be no run-down in the building work. The 700 houses which the hon. Member mentioned as now under construction will be finished, and that will keep the workers busy for a considerable time.

I do not think there should be misunderstanding about Glenrothes. The Government's decision is quite clear. In the Secretary of State's letter to the county council, to which the hon. Member referred, announcing the Government's recent decision, it was made quite clear that no change of policy was proposed. He said: The Government have not departed in any way from their original conception of the New Town. The letter also made clear that the decision not to approve further housing development in Glenrothes was dictated solely by the fact that the provision of houses and other facilities and services at Glenrothes had run considerably in advance of the movement of transferred miners to cater for which the new town was primarily established. It was again made clear in the letter, and in the Answer given to the hon. Member on 6th December, that there was no question of a change of policy.

It may be helpful if I very quickly review the reasons for which it has been necessary temporarily to reduce speed at Glenrothes. The new town was established in 1948. It was estimated by the Coal Board at that time that the ultimate expansion of the East Fife coal field would involve bringing into the area 6,500 miners, not from Fife but from other parts of Scotland. It was estimated' that 3,500 of them would have to be accommodated at Glenrothes in order to serve the Rothes colliery and other new and expanding collieries within easy reach of Glenrothes.

In 1950, two years later, these estimates were revised by the National Coal Board, and it was forecast that there would be a reduction to about 5,900 in the number of additional miners who would ultimately work in the East Fife pits as compared with the estimates made two years earlier. Moreover, the 1950 estimates showed that in the long term the expected run-down in mining manpower in Central Fife would be greater and more rapid than hitherto had been thought likely.

The Government of the day—that was in 1950—calculated that as a result of these changes the population at Glenrothes was not likely to exceed 18,000, compared with the original figure of 30,000, and this decision to bring down the target to 18,000 was announced by the then Labour Secretary of State, the late Mr. Hector McNeil.

A critical factor affecting the future of Glenrothes is the Rothes colliery. This was expected to come into production in 1954 but, as the hon. Gentleman said, owing to a great many technical difficulties this target date had to be deferred. The Coal Board now hope that production will begin in 1957 and that full production will be obtained about 1965.

This three-year lag has made all the difference in the case of a project like Glenrothes, when house production has attained a steady rhythm of 350 houses a year. As a result of the deferment of the coming into operation of the Rothes Pit it now appears that the houses at present under construction at Glenrothes will be sufficient to cater for the Coal Board's estimated requirements by the middle of 1958 on the basis of the revised programme for the Rothes Colliery. The Coal Board has undertaken to try to secure that of the 708 houses under construction about 350 will be occupied by immigrant miners by the end of 1956, and that the bulk of the balance of the 708 houses should be available to meet the remainder of its requirements—that is the requirements of the Coal Board—for transferred miners for Rothes Colliery up to 1958. It is clear from these figures, I think, that any further houses built now, in advance of the coming into production and the manning of Rothes Colliery, would go to meet merely Fife County Council requirements. Indeed, the houses built so far at Glenrothes have been almost wholly taken up in meeting purely local demands, contrary to the original purpose of the project.

The Government would be very happy to see Glenrothes develop in this way, since it is an excellent centre to meet local needs, side by side with the provision of houses and other services to meet the needs of families who may come from further afield. The question whether Glenrothes should, however, be developed to meet local housing needs is principally one for the county council, and the Secretary of State has therefore asked, as the hon. Gentleman said, whether as the county housing authority, the county council is prepared to make arrangements with the Glenrothes Corporation for the provision of houses in the new town to meet local requirements, 'even during the slow-down period.

In the short time available to me, I have been able to deal with only one or two of the points raised by the hon. Member, but I have done my best in that time. The hon. Gentleman rightly emphasised the importance of new industries in a growing community like Glenrothes, but he must realise that new factories need labour. A special census was taken in the autumn of 1954, showing that the 44 mining families who had by then moved into Glenrothes from outside Fife included only about 15 employable dependents, and they all readily found local employment. I am glad to say, however, that we are now reaching the stage when there may be, as the hon. Gentleman truly said, a promising crop of young people leaving school coming along. Although the numbers are limited and would not be sufficient to sustain any large-scale industrial undertakings, within a year or so there will be a valuable nucleus of labour to attract some of the smaller and medium sized undertakings.

The hon. Gentleman asked what were the chances of new industries. I can tell him that, if all goes well, it is possible that there will be started in Glenrothes in the relatively near future an industrial project with an expanding line of production which will be able to take up some of this labour. I sincerely trust that that possibility will come true. I hope that I have dealt with most of the points raised. I thank the hon. Member again for giving me the opportunity to deal with this matter, and I trust that, with his good offices, of which we have seen much evidence in the past weeks, and the explanation that I have given, much of the unrest that is now there in Glenrothes may be removed.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at twenty-nine minutes past Ten o'clock.