EMPLOYMENT, NORTH NORFOLK (Hansard, 2 December 1966)

§ Mr. Bert Hazell (Norfolk, North)
On two days this week, we have had a major debate on the economic situation, when rising unemployment was discussed. I make no apology for raising this matter now as it affects my constituency. I had already submitted my Motion before I was aware of the business of the House earlier this week.
The eastern region has been described as a development area and this may be true of certain parts even in the County of Norfolk. Development has taken place and is taking place in the Boroughs of King's Lynn, Thetford and Norwich, where many new undertakings are being established. Overspill from London has been having an impact on these boroughs, but they are a long way from North Norfolk.
My constituency is rather out on a limb. Anyone looking at a map of the East Coast will readily accept that. No doubt it is partly because North Norfolk is removed from the centre of events that unemployment within the area has always been much higher than the national average. Certainly, such is the case at the present. There are very few opportunities of work for young people throughout my constituency, and this situation will be aggravated when the youngsters leave school at the Christmas term. Many of the older workers have to travel very long distances daily in order to obtain employment. Many of my constituents are doing a return journey of 40 or 50 miles a day. They have no choice. There is no occupation available for them within their own villages or small towns.
Even in the most favoured part of the constituency, the North Walsham area, unemployment is well above the national average; according to the figures it is 2.9 per cent. In the Fakenham and Wells area unemployment runs at 4 per cent., and in the Cromer, Sheringham and Holt area unemployment is ranging about 5.4 per cent. Unless opportunities are created in many of the small towns and larger 903 villages throughout the constituency, young people will inevitably continue to move away, but at a much faster rate than has been the case in recent years. Throughout recent years there has been a drift outwards from North Norfolk of the younger element of the community. Already, one or two small hamlets are becoming almost denuded of young people. There is no doubt that this fate will befall other villages unless we can bring about some measure of employment for young people.
One of the problems which my constituents have to face in seeking work over a wider area is a lack of public service. The rail service in North Norfolk has been closed, with the exception of one line from Norwich to Sheringham, and, from actions taken by British Railways, it appears that even that line may well be subject to scrutiny with a view to closure in the course of the next year or two.
Their actions include taking away the heavy goods traffic, then taking away from the railway system the small parcels service, and more recently, being about to close the Sheringham station, building a platform completely exposed to all the elements without any vestige of shelter at all for passengers who want to board the train at Sheringham. The passengers wait at one of the most exposed places on the Norfolk coast. The fact that they have built this platform with no cover at all for passengers clearly will not be a means of attracting passengers back to the passenger rail service.
The alternative bus services which were put on when the rail service in the major part of the constituency was closed are not satisfactory. The journeys are long and tedious and delays occur. This is largely due to the fact that the roads in Norfolk are narrow and winding. On some roads it is almost impossible for two vehicles to pass. The lack of public services to get people from the constituency to wider areas to obtain employment is very hampering and it no doubt prevents persons who might be able to take work in Norwich or King's Lynn from doing so.
Agriculture is still the major industry of my area. However, thousands of men have been leaving the land and there is no sign that this migration will cease. The 904 September, 1966, figures reveal an all time high exodus from the land and I anticipate that that trend will continue. As the years go by fewer and fewer people will be employed in this, the traditional industry of the area and the largest single industry.
The tourist trade is important to my constituency, but it gives employment for about only three or four months of the year. The people of North Norfolk, on the other hand, are seeking full-time employment for 12 months of the year. A few new industries have been established. They are quite small and they are the sort of industries for which we are looking. We are not necessarily seeking an inflow of large undertakings. I have been told by the managements of new firms to the area that they are highly delighted with the quality of the manpower available in my part of the country. I hope that more such industries will be established there.
In the old days, North Norfolk would have qualified for development grants. The figure of 4 per cent. unemployment was the basis on which an area qualified for financial assistance, when I.D.C.s were made readily available; and throughout my constituency the level of unemployment now exceeds 4 per cent. Today, the development areas cover a much wider geographical area than one constituency and, because of that, the financial arrangements available to development areas are not available to my constituency.
Norfolk is a place to which many elderly people retire. Unless we can secure work for the younger people of the area it will not be possible for us, in a few years' time, to provide the retired folk with the services they require. It is essential, if we are to maintain a balanced form of society, that our younger people should not have to move out of the area simply because we cannot provide them with the means of making a livelihood.
There is, however, one ray of hope for my constituency. During recent weeks there have been substantial finds of gas in the North Sea and Shell and other companies are contemplating piping that gas to the shore at the village of Bacton and the adjacent village of Paston. This development is not likely to provide many jobs for my constituents, but, in an area of high unemployment, even a few new jobs will be more than welcome.
905 There has been some controversy about the installations that will be erected as a result of the gas being brought to Bacton, but Press reports of parish meetings held in Bacton and Paston show that the villagers overwhelmingly support the new project. They see in it opportunities for employment, not necessarily in the industry itself but from the ancillary activities that will flow from the project. I understand that the small coastal strip required is omitted from the area described as one of natural beauty by the National Parks Commission. It is, therefore, hoped that the planning authorities which will, at an early date, be considering the applications made by Shell, the Gas Council and other companies, will give their approval to these schemes.
I hope my right hon. Friend will urge his colleagues in the Government to give their full support to these projects as they come along. It is expected that once the gas is brought into the constituency it might lead to new industry, that it could be the beginning of an exciting era for North Norfolk. It could mean the attraction which has hitherto been lacking. There has been the greatest difficulty in encouraging industry to come into the area, because of lack of transport facilities and because North Norfolk is somewhat out on a limb. The first impact of this new development might change the picture. We in North Norfolk are hoping that such development will follow. I am aware of that fact that the Urban District Council of North Walsham, which is adjacent to the area where the gas will come in, is confidently hoping that expansion will take place within its area. I fervently hope that my right hon. Friend will urge upon his colleagues that following the intake of this gas the Government will give their blessing without delay to applications coming from industries for development services.
Finally, the whole of the area would welcome new industry, to provide the employment which is so badly needed. Small or medium-sized undertakings would be coming to an area which is delightful both for working and living. There is ample labour available which is willing to give of its best to those industries that might call for its services. There 906 would be a cordial welcome from the people of North Norfolk who are anxious to continue living and working in the area, without the necessity of travelling long distances. Some people are able to make this journey by sharing cars, but there are others who have no means of transport and they are having to sign on at the employment exchanges to receive unemployment benefit.

§ The Minister of Labour (Mr. R. J. Gunter)
I am sure that the House is grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Norfolk, North (Mr. Bert Hazell) for the thoughtful and constructive way in which he always defends the interests of his own constituency.
I am aware, of course, of the difficulties, about which I shall go into in some detail, in North Norfolk. It would be very foolish of me, and I am sure that my hon. Friend would not expect it of me, to say that there is an easy solution to problems in areas like North Norfolk. I join with him in hoping that the bringing-in of the gas from the North Sea will help; but I would strike a cautionary note here: it would not, of necessity, provide a lot of employment in heavy industrial terms even if it were brought in.
When I was looking at the facts and figures relating to the constituency of North Norfolk, I was surprised by its stability. When my hon. Friend was speaking about the ageing population and the agricultural and the service Industries——

§ Mr. Speaker
Would the right hon. Gentleman please address the Chair. It is difficult for the Official Reporters to hear.

§ Mr. Gunter
I beg your pardon, Mr. Speaker.
I was saying that when I looked at the facts and figures I found that in 1959, for example, there were 8,141 agricultural workers in the three main employment exchange areas. Last year, in 1965, the figure was 7,370 so there had been a decline of approximately 771. The estimated number of employees in manufacturing industries in these three exchange areas had gone from 2,360 to 3,118—almost exactly the same increase as the decline in agriculture. In the 907 service industries there were, in 1959, in these three exchange areas, 12,541 employed or registered for employment, and last year almost the same number—12,633. There has, therefore, been this measure of stability.
I now turn to some of the difficulties that arise from that stability. The three main employment exchanges in my hon. Friend's constituency are at Cromer, Fakenham and North Walsham. As my hon. Friend has said, North Norfolk is is still proud of its agricultural tradition—perhaps as much as any part of the country—and it is dominated by a highly-mechanised agricultural industry. There are also large numbers of employees in food canning, catering, retail distribution and other service industries. Unfortunately, this type of industrial structure always gives rise to marked seasonal fluctuations in employment, particularly in catering and retail distribution, and, to a less extent, in agriculture.
The November figures of unemployment at the three exchanges reflect some of these difficulties. The percentage rate for Cromer was 5.6 per cent. compared with 4.2 per cent. in November, 1965, and November, 1964, and for Fakenham the rate was 4.1 per cent. compared with 2.9 per cent. and 3.5 per cent. respectively. Separate unemployment percentages rates are not available for North Walsham because it forms part of a travel-to-work area with Alysham. Although unemployment in North Walsham has increased, the numbers are still considerably smaller than at the other two exchanges but, again, these percentage rates are a good deal higher than the national rate.
One of the features lightly touched on by my hon. Friend, and one of the problems, is the high proportion of the unemployed who are in the older age groups. In July this year—the latest date for which figures are available—the percentage of wholly unemployed men registered at the Cromer Employment Exchange who were aged 50 to 64 inclusive was 77.5 per cent., and the figures for Fakenham and North Walsham were 63.3 per cent. and 82.7 per cent. respectively. These compare with a rate of 41 per cent for Great Britain as a whole at the same date.
908 As my hon. Friend knows, these older unemployed include a fair number of elderly farm workers who have been displaced by the extensive mechanisation of the agricultural industry over the last decade. There are also, as in other seaside resorts, many older people who have retired below the age of 65 and are entitled to claim unemployment benefit in addition to their occupational pension, so long as they are registered for employment. These retired people account for a considerable part of the registered unemployed in the area. It is true that the area also suffered some difficulties as a result of the closures of the U.S.A.F. base at Sculthorpe, the Bircham Newton R.A.F. base, and the railway workshops at Melton Constable.
In addition, the nature of the industrial structure, the seasonal problems and the attractiveness of the coastal parts of the area for older people have probably contributed to the present level of unemployment. North Norfolk, in common with other parts of the country, has been affected by the recent economic measures, although no recent large redundancies have been reported to me at the Ministry from that area. As might be expected in an area such as North Norfolk, the number of unfilled vacancies is always low at this time of the year, particularly for males, among whom unemployment is relatively high. It is true that the area is in need of a measure of suitable additional employment for men.
I am sure that my hon. Friend would wish me to be frank. One of our problems in areas such as this—and there arc similar areas throughout the country—is that there is no real manufacturing tradition. Consequently, there are no reserves at all of what we might call skilled labour to counteract the remoteness of the area from London and other industrial centres. The difficult problem of seasonal unemployment means that the type of employer we need to attract to the area to provide continuous industrial employment may question, and very often does question, whether he will be able to obtain the type of permanent employee he requires.
These difficulties are, of course, not insuperable. A number of small and medium-sized firms have become established in the area over recent years and 909 have helped to diversify the local employment structure. They have included firms engaged in the machine tool industry, television and radio components, electrical engineering and manufacture of commercial trailers. Although the percentage of employees engaged in manufacturing industries in Cromer and Fakenham is still relatively low, it has shown a small but significant increase compared with the position in 1960 and 1955.
I imagine that my hon. Friend has had some dealings with the Board of Trade on these matters. I know that the President of the Board of Trade is very sympathetic to the problems of this area. Since January, 1965, nine industrial development certificates have been issued for 186,000 sq. ft. of industrial buildings in the Cromer, Fakenham and North Walsham areas. These schemes on completion are estimated by the developers to provide approximately 500 jobs, 315 of them for men.
My hon. Friend will know that as part of the expansion programme for Government training centres a new centre is to be opened in Norwich in the late summer 910 of 1967 and will provide 152 places for training skilled workers for a variety of trades. It is true that the main need is for semi-skilled rather than skilled training and this form of training can best be given by employers in their establishments. Nevertheless, I am encouraged to believe that the Norwich Government Training Centre should make a substantial contribution to the provision of skilled workers over a fairly wide area of East Anglia, which may give us the key to the problem of attracting more industry to the area.
I say to my hon. Friend that one of the problems in dealing with industrialists and firms willing to help us is the absence, in this area, of craftsmen and skilled men. I assure him that anything my colleagues and I can do to help his constituency, we shall do. If I may end with a personal word, I hope that North Norfolk never becomes too industrialised, for there are parts of it which are still too lovely.