§ 7. Mr. Litterickasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if it is his intention to revise the definition of the inner city partnership area defined for the city of Birmingham, with particular reference to the Bournbrook area of Selly Oak.
§ Mr. FreesonNo, Sir. The boundaries were agreed by central Government, the local authorities and the health authority at the first meeting of the Birmingham Partnership Committee. It is essential to concentrate effort and resources on that part of inner Birmingham where social, economic and housing problems are most acute and widespread.
§ Mr. LitterickI understand the rationale of the Minister's answer. Does he agree that the Bournbrook area of Selly Oak has all the characteristics described for the inner urban areas which have prompted the policy now being brought forward? That area has rundown housing, masses of derelict factory sites, run-down shopping areas, obsolete schools—in fact, the whole business— notwithstanding the distance of the Bournbrook area from the centre of the city. Can my hon. Friend give the people of Selly Oak some assurance that notwithstanding the positive discrimination implicit in the partnership area strategy they will not suffer thereby?
§ Mr. FreesonI can give my hon. Friend that assurance. I make the point that what my hon. Friend has illustrated is not confined to Selly Oak. One finds it across the country. We have chosen certain areas in which to start this initiative. But the kind of lessons that we can learn from organising total programmes for urban renewal—economic, social, environmental, housing, and so on—in the main core of Birmingham and other partnership areas could well be applied to areas such as Selly Oak.
The second point is that it will still be open for the Birmingham authority to seek to apply some of the urban area money to areas outside the core area—the inner-city Birmingham area. We shall sympathetically consider other proposals. Already the construction package that we announced some months ago has, for example, produced a new health centre in the Selly Oak area. Activity will be encouraged along these lines as we develop our policy.
§ Mr. EyreWill the Minister be careful not to allow the central Government representatives to override the opinions of local representatives in the drawing up of the core area and partnership area lines? Reports are coming in about 1438 irregularities and areas of unfairness in certain recommendations.
§ Mr. FreesonI fear that the hon. Gentleman is not as fully in touch with this aspect of the matter as I hope he will be in future. As I indicated in my original answer, the inner area boundary was agreed jointly at the first meeting of the partnership committee. That did not involve simply a central Government decision; on the contrary, the paperwork and study that produced the boundary was done locally and came to the partnership committee under my chairmanship.