STRATHCLYDE STRUCTURE PLAN (Hansard, 28 March 1979)

§ Mr. David Lambie (Central Ayrshire)

When I applied for this Adjournment debate, I did not realise that the night chosen would be the night of a censure motion and that I would be the first Labour Member to speak after the result of the vote had been declared, apart from my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.

One of the characteristics of this place is that at one moment it can deal with national and international affairs and at the next with constituency and local matters, and, despite the vote that has just taken place, I make no apology for raising a matter that is of interest to my constituents, especially those in the new town of Irvine. I want to address myself to the Strathclyde structure plan and its effect on the role and future growth of Irvine new town. I understand that issues of principle concerning the future role of new towns will not be resolved until the regional council's structure plan has been formally submitted for the Secretary of State's consideration,

In his letter to me dated 28 February, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State assured me that no decisions had been taken by. the Secretary of State on these issues of principle, including future house building programmes and the rate of growth at Irvine in expectation of that consideration. In view of that assurance, you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, may wonder why I raise the subject again in this Adjournment debate.

In my work as a constituency Member of Parliament, I find that the Strathclyde regional council acts and takes decisions as though the structure plan had already been approved. I begin to fear that there may be some collusion or acquiescence by the Scottish Office in these activities, in spite of the Minister's assurances to me in his letter.

I view the role of Irvine very much in the context of North Ayrshire, which, as a sub-region within Strathclyde, has problems relating to unemployment and deprivation as severe as any other part of 592 the Strathclyde region. The latest unemployment figures for the Cunninghame district show a 13.4 unemployment rate in the area covered by Irvine, Kilwinning and Saltcoats, 10.5 per cent. for Largs, and 17.3 per cent. for Kilbirnie. Those figures are well above the Scottish average.

With the 682 redundancies announced for SKF Irvine and the threatened loss of 100,000 jobs at Massey Ferguson in Kilmarnock, these already high unemployment figures may go through the roof in the near future. However, there is virtually no mention in the report of how these problems may be tackled either with or without the aid of Irvine new town.

The structure report assumes that the present drift of population from Glasgow will be arrested by the ability to attract a high proportion of immigrants to Strathclyde. To achieve that aim, Strathclyde intends to discriminate against Irvine new town and other peripheral growth areas in terms of public and private investment.

In spite of the fact that it will take at least 10 years before the present housing, industrial and environmental policies outlined in the structure report have achieved any significant changes in the population of the older urban areas within the Glasgow conurbation, the slowdown in the growth of Irvine new town is to take place immediately. I believe that unless these regional policies are stopped now they will have a detrimental effect not only on Irvine and North Ayrshire but on the Strathclyde region as a whole.

Over the past two years the Irvine development corporation has been trying to reach agreement on the level of its rental housing programme. On every occasion when an agreement seemed imminent, Strathclyde retracted and either requested further information or changed its approach. Last year it was only after representations by myself to the Secretary of State—the Minister was personally involved in these representations—that the go-ahead was given for the present developments at Girdle Toll. It would appear that the Strathclyde region wants a major cutback in the corporation's housing programme. It is taking every opportunity to attain that aim.

Strathclyde councillors, such as Dick Stewart and Charlie Gray, have had meetings with the Secretary of State as part of 593 this campaign. Tonight I demand an assurance from the Minister that the present housing programmes, as outlined in the Irvine new town plan and approved by the Secretary of State, be given the go-ahead at once.

In his response to the regional report, the Secretary of State reaffirmed that Irvine new town would continue to be developed to its target population at a pace to be determined mainly by its success in creating employment which would receive strong support and for which an adequate stock of available housing would be required.

Irvine—a designated new town in a special development area, backed by BSC Industries Ltd.—can now offer to any incoming industrialist a financial package second to none of any other area in the United Kingdom.

In the near future I expect, with the help of the Labour Government and the Labour Ministers, and with the help of my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, who is here tonight, a major breakthrough in employment prospects in Irvine, with announcements by major national and international companies that they are coming to the new town. That is why the present housing programme must be continued and expanded, in spite of the efforts of Strathclyde region to stop that. If the structure plan is accepted, it will also have a marked effect on the role of North Ayrshire and Irvine new town as a location for private housing. In order to give people a choice in housing, both private and public sector housing must be available.

Recently Strathclyde regional council called in a planning application for a private housing application in Beith, in the Garnock Valley, because it was in conflict with the structure plan. That must not be allowed. I am asking my right hon. Friend tonight to take action against Strathclyde region and instruct it to allow the needed investment in the private house-building sector, not only in Irvine new town but throughout North Ayrshire.

There is also a conflict in education as well as in housing. With Strathclyde's attempt to cut back in housing, it is also dragging its feet on school building. Before decisions are taken on closing schools 594 in the Irvine area, an inquiry is needed into the whole question of educational provisions. To close two primary schools—Bank Street and Redburn—in isolation, without considering what effect this could have in future years, is stupid, especially if the structure plan is not accepted by the Secretary of State for Scotland and expansion goes ahead as planned.

If the present plans for house building are continued, there will be an urgent need for new schools, both primary and secondary, in the Bourtreehill, Broomlands and Girdle Toll area of the new town. The education committee has approved in principle a proposal for a new Roman Catholic primary school in the Bourtreehill area. This school must be started in this financial year as it is needed now for the present children as well as those families who will come in within the next two years.

Strathclyde regional council cannot be allowed to say "We shall not give you permission to build new houses, therefore you do not need new schools. There will not be enough children." There is an urgent need for drawing up and implementing a non-denominational secondary zoning plan. I have already drawn the Secretary of State's attention to representations that I have received from the stall and parents of Ravenspark academy on this subject, and I hope that he will take action as a matter of urgency.

The last aspect of the structure plan that I wish to draw to the attention of the Minister is the proposal that major office developments of over 2,000 square metres should be confined to the Glasgow central area. Irvine development corporation must be allowed to seek employment and to gain a reasonable balance of employment. Irvine and North Argyllshire need to attract office development in order to reduce commuting or migration of office workers out of the North Ayrshire area.

I have been in contact with the Minister of State, Civil Service Department to try to attract some of the Government Departments which are being dispersed out of London and the South of England. I am arranging a meeting with my right hon. Friend and the chairman of Irvine development corporation to discuss this matter further and to request that Irvine be placed on the list of places being considered for these Civil Service jobs.

595 The policies being proposed in the structure plan are restrictive rather than positive, and I believe that they are designed to frustrate the efforts of Irvine new town in meeting the targets contained in the new town plan. If at the end of the consultative period and after a public inquiry the Secretary of State accepts the principles of the structure plan, the people of Irvine new town will have to accept it. Until that time, which I hope will never come, Strathclyde region has no legal right to prevent or slow down the development of the new town. Tonight, when my right hon. Friend replies, I ask him to confirm that fact and to give me these assurances.

§ The Minister of State, Scottish Office (Mr. Gregor MacKenzie)

My hon. Friend the Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr. Lambie) will appreciate that it is difficult for me to offer a substantial reply to many of his comments on the Strathclyde region structure plan. There are two good reasons why I cannot give a substantial reply, one of which I should have thought was perfectly obvious, namely, that we have not yet received the structure plan. It has not yet been submitted to the Secretary of State.

While I understand that the plan was approved in its final form by the full council of Strathclyde region earlier this month, it has not been submitted to my right hon. Friend and I understand that it will not be formally submitted until about next month. Thus, although my officials have kept in touch with the various drafts through which the plan has gone, the Secretary of State has not been officially appraised of the final decisions of the regional council. I am sure that my hon. Friend is well aware of that.

Secondly, even if the plan were normally before the Secretary of State, it would be premature for me to express definitive views on the issues arising from it at this stage, since statutory provision has been made for a prior discussion in an examination in public. This procedure, which replaces the public inquiry into the old style development plan, is a probing discussion of issues selected by the Secretary of State in order to help him decide in what form to approve the plan.

That is the forum in which such issues relating to the plan as have been raised by 596 my hon. Friend this evening should be more appropriately pursued. The examination in public of the Strathclyde structure plan is likely to take place in November or perhaps even December this year.

The structure plan derives from the regional report of May 1976, which outlined the strategy which the regional council intended to pursue in the period to 1981. Against a background of declining population and employment levels in the region, the major strategic issue identified by the council was the extent to which the existing urban fabric and urbanised land could continue to be used, re-used or improved to meet future demands for development. The council's principal concern, therefore, is the balance which should be struck between the process of urban renewal and demand for the development of green field or "new" land.

In the light of that concern, the regional council would, in my view, be failing in its duty as planning authority if it did not reach conclusions on issues such as the future role and growth of new towns within the region. But I must stress to my right hon. Friend, as I thought I had in a letter that I wrote to him, that the rate of growth at Irvine and other new towns in Strathclyde, and decisions of specific housing and industrial development, remain firmly with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.

In responding to the regional report, my right hon. Friend indicated that the three Strathclyde new towns would continue to be developed to their target populations at a pace to be determined mainly by their success in creating employment. His comments also stressed—no doubt my hon. Friend will recall this—the importance he attached to the new towns securing a more representative social mix through the provision of housing for special needs.

These views still embody his policy on new towns, and the question of which actual developments are to be allowed to proceed, pending full consideration of the structure plan when submitted, remains a matter for the Secretary of State.

Following formal submission of the structure plan, the examination in public—even on a fairly tight programme—is unlikely to take place before November.

597 Although this appears to be a long delay, I assure my hon. Friend that it is necessary to fit into this period time for objections to the plan, for ministerial consideration of the issues for examination, and the statutory period of notice.

Our experience in dealing with the Lothian structure plan, which has completed the process, indicates that this timetable is probably the best we can hope to achieve. This means that Strathclyde is unlikely to have an approved structure plan until at least a year after the plan is submitted to the Secretary of State in April. Until that time, decisions relating to Irvine will have to continue to be taken on the merits of the proposals submitted to my right hon. Friend.

Thus, the Secretary of State's consideration of the immediate building programme of Irvine corporation is not being determined by policy resolutions in the draft structure plan. The corporation's proposals are being assessed in the light of housing plan proposals by the district authorities and the regional council's observations thereon, and the Secretary of State's policies with regard to the provision of housing in new towns—namely, that housing should be mainly employment-led but that specific provisions should be made for housing the elderly, the disabled and other socially deprived categories.

At the same time, it would be unrealistic to suppose that my right hon. Friend could, or should, ignore views expressed by the Strathclyde regional council, whose statutory responsibilities are directly engaged.

There have been extensive discussions over the months directed towards reaching agreement on Irvine's housing programme and I regret that as yet these difficulties have not been resolved. Nevertheless, I accept that uncertainties regarding projections of employment in Irvine to which Strathclyde has drawn attention are very relevant to the housing proposals now before the Secretary of State and require very careful examination.

598 It is for this reason that my right hon. Friend's decision has been delayed, for it would serve no purpose if at some future date housing were to stand empty in the new town or be filled by people attracted from the conurbation who could not find a job in the area.

For all the reservations which may be expressed about employment prospects in Strathclyde, which has had more than its fair share of bad news in recent months, the new towns are pressing forward energetically in their job-creating role. While unemployment remains high in Irvine and district, as my hon. Friend said, there can be do doubt whatsoever that the situation there would have been a great deal worse without the presence and efforts of the development corporation. Over 1,000 new jobs in industry were created there between 1977 and 1978 to offset closures and contractions.

I should like, before closing, to pay tribute to the efforts of Irvine development corporation and the other new towns in Strathclyde in promoting development and growth within the region.

Such achievement in a period of general economic constraint underlines the important role of new towns as an instrument of Government policy in combating unemployment, within the region and within Scotland.

I should like to express my appreciation of the energy of the development corporations in seeking out development for Scotland, the care with which they have fostered and encouraged the expansion of industry within their designated areas, and the image of initiative and success which they present, on behalf of the people of Scotland, to the world at large.

I am sure that the House and those concerned with the development of Scotland and its regions will join me in commending the efforts of the development corporations.