HC Deb 31 January 1956 vol 548 cc751-3
41 and 42. Mr. Burke

asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) what conclusions have been reached regarding the need for further diversification of industry in the North-East Lancashire Development Area as a result of the visit of his Parliamentary Secretary to that area;

(2) if he is aware of the continuous drift of population away from north-east Lancashire; and what steps he is taking to prevent this in addition to the one factory which has been established in the Clitheroe division.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade (Mr. Derek Walker-Smith)

I am aware that there has been some migration from north-east Lancashire, though I understand that in the two years after the area was scheduled in 1953 the estimated population remained almost unchanged.

The Board of Trade has built in this Development Area the largest factory which it has ever built in a Development Area. It has also brought the attractions of the area to the attention of industrialists, a number of whom have received Industrial Development Certificates for factory building. The Board of Trade is continuing its efforts.

Some further diversification is, in our view, desirable.

Mr. Burke

Does the Minister realise that in the three years 1952–55 the insured population of Burnley alone fell by 3,500, 8 per cent. of the insured population? Does he not regard that as very serious and as demanding something more than one factory, which is not in production after three years?

Mr. Walker-Smith

The Question related to the North-East Lancashire Development Area as a whole. In respect of that area, as I indicated in my Answer, the fall in population was almost arrested from 1953 to 1955.

Mr. H. Wilson

While action, or lack of action, in this area has been particularly disappointing, will the hon. and learned Gentleman, following his visit to a number of Development Areas since his appointment, give an assurance that the Board of Trades does not contemplate any change in the general policy towards Development Areas?

Mr. Walker-Smith

I must dissociate myself from the implication in the first part of the right hon. Gentleman's supplementary question, because there has been considerable progress in this Development Area since it was scheduled in 1953. I assume that in the second part of the supplementary question the right hon. Gentleman refers to the Report of the Select Committee on Estimates, which is naturally being studied in the Board of Trade.

Mr. Fort

In order to remove the misapprehensions of the right hon. Member for Huyton (Mr. H. Wilson), will my hon. and learned Friend give the House lists of the factories in Padiham and elsewhere to which Development Certificates have been issued under the Development Order?

Mr. Burke

Will the House realise that only one factory has been brought there by Government initiative?

Mr. Walker-Smith

The factory referred to in the question of the hon. Member for Burnley (Mr. Burke) is the large Mullard factory. To reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Clitheroe (Mr. Fort), 16 industrial building schemes of over 5,000 square feet have been approved since the scheduling of the area, totalling 1,400,000 square feet of factory space.

Mr. S. Silverman

Will the hon. and learned Gentleman tell the House, in regard to Development Certificates in respect of other factories than Mullard's, what proportion of them is in respect of non-textile factories? Will he confirm that the only Government money which has been spent in this area since the Order was made is in the single factory to which my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Mr. Burke) referred?

Mr. Walker-Smith

The only Government-financed factory is the Mullard factory, which, as I have said, is the largest Government factor)' built in any Development Area. Replying to the first part of the supplementary question, I could not give a precise figure without notice, but my impression is that the whole or virtually the whole of the figure which I gave in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Clitheroe is for non-textile factories.

Mr. H. Wilson

While the figures given by the hon. and learned Gentleman are a great tribute to the local authorities in the area and not to the Board of Trade, would the hon. and learned Gentleman enlighten his hon. Friend the Member for Clitheroe (Mr. Fort) by pointing out to him that the certificates in question are not granted under the Industrial Development Order, but under Section 14 (4) of the Town and Country Planning Act?

Mr. Walker-Smith

The right hon. Gentleman is quite correct in saying that Industrial Development Certificates are granted under Section 14 (4) of the Town and Country Planning Act, but they are certificates of the Board of Trade and therefore are not solely the action of the local authorities. Many of these factories were steered to that area by the Board of Trade.