HC Deb 11 May 1965 vol 712 cc252-4
19. Mrs. Joyce Butler

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will appoint a committee to examine all possible measures for encouraging population movement away from London and the South-East, and to recommend accordingly within the next 12 months.

Mr. Crossman

No, Sir. This is being considered in the Government's review of the South-East Study. I do not think a further committee is called for at this stage.

Mrs. Butler

Is not this rather disappointing because, clearly, there will be considerably more than 3½ million additional people in the region in the next 17 years unless special inducements are given to go elsewhere, such as special grants to people living in the region if they will move out on retirement? Is not my right hon. Friend really doing only half his planning job if he accepts the trend instead of trying to master and divert it?

Mr. Crossman

Far from accepting the trend, as was slightly implied in the South-East Study, this Government have decided not to. This is why the South-East Study is being reviewed all over again by the Department of Economic Affairs, and why we do not want to make decisions until we have carried out the review expressly to take into account considerations of the kind mentioned by my hon. Friend.

Mr. David Steel

Will the Minister look again at the suggestion made by his hon. Friend? Could he consider, if not a committee within his own Ministry, consultation with his colleagues to see whether this matter could be looked at in a national light and not simply in the light of the South-East Study?

Mr. Crossman

The hon. Gentleman may not be aware that the South-East Study was, in fact, an inter-departmental study—it was not something I can take credit for—and we are doing precisely what he suggests. We need to have a national study of the problem of stopping the trend to London. In order to do that, one must have an estimate of the situation, and one must then make one's major decisions. I have made a number of decisions for new towns in the North which are interim attempts to halt the drift, but our major decisions on halting it must await the reassessment of the South-East Study.

Mr. Hector Hughes

Does my right hon. Friend realise that this question is important for the whole of this island, because it is linked with the drift south from the north and north-east of Scotland, which is being denuded of population and of craftsmen in particular? If my right hon. Friend gives proper attention to this, the drift might be made the other way, to the advantage of the whole nation.

Mr. Crossman

I am aware that the drift does not start at the Border.

Mr. Deedes

Can the right hon. Gentleman say when the review is likely to be completed, because a great deal is hanging on it?

Mr. Crossman

I hope by the end of the summer.