Liverpool (Hansard, 17 March 1982)

§ 14. Mr. Alton
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what additional public funds from his Department's Vote have been allocated to projects in Liverpool since his visit last summer; whether any projects in Liverpool had the level of public funds available to them reduced in the same period; and if he will name the projects concerned in each case.

§ Mr. Heseltine
I have allocated £18 million additional funds to Liverpool for 1982–83. The principal programmes involved are the urban programme, the housing investment programme and that of the Merseyside Development corporation. A number of other proposals are under active consideration. In addition, the Liverpool city council is free to use the flexibility of the capital expenditure controls system to supplement its allocations by, for example, using its capital receipts and the 10 per cent. year-to-year tolerance. I know of no project for which I have a direct responsibility where the level of public funds has been reduced.

§ Mr. Alton
I am grateful for the fact that some of the £23.5 million that Liverpool has lost over the past two years appears to have been restored. Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that one of the most chronic problems that Liverpool has to face is the escalation of crime to a level at which one crime is committed every four minutes? In that context a reduction this year in the budget of the Merseyside police of £500, 000 is unacceptable. Will the right hon. Gentleman take every step possible to have that money reinstated so that 1, 000 extra community policemen may be put back on the beat in Liverpool?

§ Mr. Heseltine
The hon. Gentleman has misunderstood the point about the £23 million. That is an allocation to the county as opposed to the district, and that sum has not left the area. The disposition of the Merseyside county council police budget is a matter for the authority and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department.

§ Mr. Steen
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the secret of the successful regeneration of the inner areas is not more provision from public funds but the involvement of those living and working in the inner city areas in the decision-making process? Is my right hon. Friend considering how he can extend the involvement of local people in the programmes that he has so ably started?

§ Mr. Heseltine
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has great experience in these matters. I do not think that I would go quite as far as to say that it is an either, or situation. There is probably a need for both aspects of the problem to be examined. However, the provision of more public money is not of itself a solution to the inner city problem.

§ Mr. Parry
Will the right hon. Gentleman accept that there has been widespread disappointment on Merseyside since his appointment last July? What initiatives does he intend to present to the Cabinet with a view to reducing unemployment and deprivation on Merseyside, especially in inner Liverpool? Will he make a statement on his recent meeting with the newly elected leader of the Merseyside county council?

§ Mr. Heseltine
I make it my responsibility to keep in close touch with the leaders of the elected majority parties on Merseyside. In that context I asked to see the new leader of the Merseyside county council for an informal discussion of the way in which I could work with the authority. I cannot accept the assumption that there has been disappointment with the work that I have been doing on Merseyside. I never tried to pretend that the general economic decline, which stretches back perhaps over 70 years, could be reversed in seven months.

§ Mr. Thornton
All of us on Merseyside will welcome my right hon. Friend's work in Toxteth, following the most distressing events that took place last year. However, does he accept that there is genuine concern among those in other parts of Liverpool, who feel that they are perhaps becoming disadvantaged by an over-concentration on the events that took place in Toxteth and an over-concentration of the moneys that are available to Liverpool in that area?

§ Mr. Heseltine
I appreciate the concern that my hon. Friend mentions. I stress that much of my time is devoted to areas other than Liverpool 8, and to areas outside Liverpool. I have been widely involved in projects that extend across Merseyside and I shall continue to be so.

§ Mr. Dan Jones
Will the Minister direct some of the money into Burnley—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. On that basis we could go round the whole of the United Kingdom. The hon. Member for Burnley (Mr. Jones) should table a question on Burnley. If he does so, he will obtain a more adequate reply.

§ Mr. Jones
May I persist for a minute or two, Mr. Speaker?

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I hope that the House will be tolerant for a moment. There are some special reasons in this instance, which I am not free to disclose.

§ Mr. Jones
Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are sound reasons, because the Minister and ministerial colleagues whom he has sent to Burnley have produced a succession of reports and he has done sweet Fanny Adams in response to them.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman has conveyed his views.