§ 26. Mr. Ainsleyasked the President of the Board of Trade what new industry or extension has come, within the past 1052 ten years, into the north-west Durham constituency, which is in a development area and is now scheduled under the Local Employment Act.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade (Mr. Niall Macpherson)In the period from 1st January, 1950, to the end of October, 1960, sixteen new industrial buildings and extensions, with a total of 166,000 sq. ft. of additional floor space, were completed in the area covered by the hon. Member's constituency, providing a total of 715 jobs. Two schemes at present under construction and five schemes which have been approved but on which building has not yet been started are expected to provide a further 259 jobs.
§ Mr. AinsleyI am wondering if I represent that constituency. Is the Minister aware that, in the intervening period, three reasonably-sized coal mines have closed and the personnel in others have been reduced by 50 per cent., that two coking by-product plants have closed and two or three limestone quarries have closed and that the lead mines, from which the feldspar has been extracted, have closed and the only factories in the constituency are those which bear the name Hugh Dalton? Can the Minister give some idea when something is to be done for this constituency?
§ Mr. MacphersonWe are doing our best, and I can tell the hon. Member that in the next four years 580 jobs are in sight. This includes extensions as well as the new companies to which I have referred in my Answer.
§ Mr. NabarroWrite to Alfred Robens.