§ 8. Mr. Anthony CoombsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many mini urban development corporations he proposes to set up to combat dereliction in inner-city areas; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. TrippierMy right hon. Friend proposed four designations last December—three new urban development corporations in Bristol, Leeds and central Manchester, and the extension of the Black Country 1JDC area to parts of Wolverhampton.
§ Mr. CoombsDoes my hon. Friend agree that the Government's success in bringing derelict land back into use, increasing employment and improving the environment, is also giving skills to inner-city residents? What further plans has the Minister to designate areas as urban development corporations?
§ Mr. TrippierI welcome and agree with what my hon. Friend said in the early part of his question. We have plans to designate other areas as UDCs.
§ Mr. Tony BanksBefore the Minister decides to set up more urban development corporations, will he tell us exactly what is going on with regard to the National Audit Office report on the London Docklands Development Corporation? There are strong rumours that the chief executive resigned after a very short period because he was concerned about the speculation and indeed, the misuse of resources in the Docklands area. In other words, there is a lot of fiddling going on in the area. Will the Minister tell us when he expects to get the report of the National Audit Office? Can he assure us that no fiddling is going on in the LDDC area?
§ Mr. TrippierI resent strongly the allegations that the hon. Gentleman has made in his question. There are two points. First, the NAO report can neither be speeded up nor delayed by the Department of the Environment. The NAO is a law unto itself, so I can give the hon. Gentleman the categorical assurance that there is no delay in that regard. It is nothing short of scurrilous that the hon. Gentleman should refer as he did to the resignation of the former chief executive of the LDDC, who resigned for purely personal and family reasons.
§ Mr. Brandon-BravoMy hon. Friend will know that some cities have responded to the Government's lead by setting up, in effect, their own development corporations. Will my hon. Friend join me in offering every good wish and welcome to Mr. Michael Neale—recently adviser to LDDC — to Manchester and to Merseyside, as chief executive of Nottingham development enterprise? Will he join me in welcoming the initiative by Nottingham's Conservative city council?
§ Mr. TrippierI am delighted to have the opportunity to endorse all that my hon. Friend has said. It is usually through the initiative of Conservative councils or Members of Parliament that such proposals for economic development are made.
§ Mr. RookerWhat about Birmingham?
§ Mr. TrippierThe hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) asks, "What about Birmingham?" He may choose to remember or not to remember as the case may be, that the initiative known as Birmingham Heartlands was the initiative of the chamber of commerce.
§ Mr. HefferThe hon. Gentleman cannot say that about Liverpool, because the regenerated areas in my city were developed by Liverpool city council, which is elected by the people of Liverpool. The Government have not given the support that they should to those areas. We do not need mini development corporations. What we need is Government assistance to the elected representatives who are trying to deal with the serious problems of those areas. It would be good if the Government were prepared to do that. The hon. Gentleman has been to Liverpool and seen what the council has done for the people. Is it not important to give aid to the local authorities and not to outside bodies that do not represent the people?
§ Mr. TrippierWhat I have seen in Liverpool is that the city council, to which the hon. Gentleman has referred, has plunged the city into enormous debt.
§ Mr. TrippierNo. It seems miraculous to me and to my colleagues in the Department of the Environment that other Labour-controlled local authorities within Merseyside have managed successfully to balance their books. Furthermore, the major urban regeneration that has taken place in Liverpool, transforming the area and reducing unemployment, has been done principally by the Merseyside Development Corporation.