Factory Units (Hansard, 25 April 1988)

§ 2. Mr. Knox
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many factory units have been built by the Welsh Development Agency since its inception.

§ The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Peter Walker)
Since its inception the agency has built 1,466 factory units. That figure does not include the 186 factories purchased from Cwbran development corporation.

§ Mr. Knox
How many factory units have been built each year, on average, since the present Government came into power, and how does that compare with the figure under the previous Labour Government?

§ Mr. Walker
As a rough approximation, under the present Government the annual rate has been more than double that under the Labour Government.

§ Mr. Foot
I welcome the increase in the number of factories that have been coming into Gwent, for example. over recent months, and I see that the Secretary of State has been eager to give some publicity to that event. Will he take account of the fact that the increase in applications is partly because many of the industrialists think that the terms that they are being offered now are better than those that they will get later? Will the Secretary of State give an absolute guarantee that if after an interval of, say, three months—I am sure that that will be long enough—he finds that the figure is not being sustained, he will revert to the present system?

§ Mr. Walker
The right hon. Gentleman knows that in terms of factory applications and factory building by the WDA, the programme for the next three years, including in his constituency, shows a substantial increase.

§ Mr. Raffan
While there has been a warm welcome in north Wales for the massive increase in the WDA property programme, made possible by the Government, will my right hon. Friend take note of the need for a better balance in the number of factories between south-east Clwyd and north-east and coastal Clwyd? South-east Clwyd seems to be benefiting far more than the north-east and coastal parts of the county.

§ Mr. Walker
I can only say that I am anxious that factories should be built and workshops provided wherever the need is. The WDA is endeavouring to do that throughout the Principality.