HC Deb 05 February 1969 vol 777 cc378-80
5. Sir F. Maclean

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he will now make a statement regarding current proposals submitted to him for industrialisation on the Clyde.

34 and 35. Mr John Robertson

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) which local authorities are giving financial support for the study being presently undertaken of industrial developments in the Clyde Estuary area;

(2) if he will give an undertaking that no decisions concerning the siting of any major industrial development in the Clyde Estuary area will be made prior to a public inquiry being held on the total development of that area.

Mr. Ross

The local authorities included in the group which commissioned the Clyde Estuary Development Study were the county councils of Argyll, Ayr, Bute, Dunbarton and Renfrew, and the town councils of Dumbarton, Greenock and Port Glasgow, all of which contributed to its cost. I would like to express my appreciation of the group's initiative in commissioning this study and publishing the report.

I am sure that the report is now being carefully considered by all concerned, and I shall be consulting the appropriate authorities about further procedure. I propose to initiate very soon a public local inquiry into the planning application of the Murco Petroleum Company for a refinery development at Longhaugh Point, and associated development at Wemyss Bay, and I cannot exclude the possibility that separate action on other matters dealt with in the report may prove to be both desirable and practicable.

Sir F. Maclean

Will the right hon. Gentleman ensure that, when the time comes, due consideration is given to the relative merits of a site in the Upper Clyde, where development would be possible on a larger and more worthwhile scale?

Mr. Ross

I have to be careful about this. I am sure that any inquiry which takes place will consider all the relevant suggestions made. Eventually, the matter will come to me, and I do not want to come down on one side or the other at this stage.

Mr. Hugh D. Brown

Since this concept involves so many authorities, does my right hon. Friend agree that we have not the planning machinery on a sub-regional basis adequate to look at the problem? Will he make the public inquiry as wide as possible, not excluding the possibility of re-examining the Erskine township proposal which will entail such a heavy burden in Glasgow?

Mr. Ross

We must bear in mind that in this case we got together all the local authorities concerned for the first time. The nature of the report and the interest which has been aroused by it are an indication of the value of that. I should certainly like to see it taken much further.

Mr. Gordon Campbell

Has the right hon. Gentleman received any proposals submitted by the newly nationalised steel industry? If not, has he aproached that industry to ensure that the valuable asset of deep water in the Clyde Estuary is fully used at a time when the world trend is towards even larger bulk shipping?

Mr. Ross

That is one of the relevant possibilities touched on by the Report. I have no such proposal before me. The only one which needs decision in respect of inquiry is the one I mentioned, the Murco application.

Mr. Lawson

I compliment my right hon. Friend on the work which he has instituted or assisted forward here, but will he bear in mind that any large-scale development on the estuary of the Clyde will have considerable implications further up the river? Will he see to it that authorities such as, for example, those in Lanarkshire are brought into any planning which may be done in this connection?

Mr. Ross

Yes, Sir. Advance copies of the report were sent to the Clyde Valley planning authority, and that authority will be given the opportunity to participate in consultation concerned with the general follow-up.