Manchester (Olympic Bid) (Hansard, 4 July 1991)

§ Sir Thomas Arnold (Hazel Grove)

I am most grateful for the opportunity to address the House on the subject of inner-city investment, Manchester and the north-west. I have already explained to my hon. Friend the Minister that my purpose in raising the subject on the Adjournment is that I wanted specifically to deal with the Manchester bid for the Olympic games in the year 2000. As I explained in a letter to you, Mr. Speaker, I sought your confirmation that I would be in order to do so. The answer was forthcoming in the affirmative.

At this stage of Manchester's bid, the infrastructure is the vital issue. Great though my respect and affection are for my hon. Friend the Minister for Sport, he is not qualified, as I understand it, to deal with these matters. I therefore want to traverse the ground of partnership funding and the other urban funding for which my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment is responsible, so that we can have a clearer understanding of where the Government stand at present in terms of the applications that are likely to come to them in due course.

It will not surprise you, Mr. Speaker, to know that there is a great deal of public interest, in Greater Manchester and elsewhere, about the nature of Manchester's bid. The previous bid was unsuccessful, but the committee regrouped, and a new proposal found favour with the British Olympic Committee.

I talked to the Gallup polling and opinion research company to see whether it would be sensible to test public attitudes towards the Olympics at this stage. I am most grateful to the chief executive officer, Mr. Gordon Heald, for his co-operation in carrying out, as a public service from Gallup, a preliminary survey of attitudes.

Gallup conducted its survey between 5 and 11 June and asked a series of questions on attitudes to the Olympics and the possibility of their being staged in Manchester. The sample size was 960. First, Gallup asked: Do you know which cities or countries are competing to be hosts for the Olympic Games to be held in 2000? Some 35 per cent. of respondents mentioned Manchester.

Clearly, there is good potential in terms of future awareness of what is being proposed. Ten per cent. cited the unsuccessful bid from London; 7 per cent. cited the USA; 6 per cent., Britain; 6 per cent., Barcelona; 5 per cent., England; 2 per cent., Athens; 1 per cent., Greece; and 1 per cent., Atlanta. I think that 35 per cent. is a respectable starting figure.

Gallup told all those interviewed that Manchester is competing to be the host in 2000 and then asked: How likely would you be to visit Manchester to see any of the events? Nearly 30 per cent. said that they would be "very" or "fairly" likely to go to Manchester to see some of the events. That underlines the need for early consideration and planning of the infrastructure measures that will be necessary if the bid is to have any hope of success.

Gallup asked respondents: How important do you think it is to Britain that Manchester wins the right to be the host in 2000? Forty-one per cent. of electors regarded this as "very" important and 36 per cent. as "fairly" important—a combined figure of 77 per cent. Some 51 per cent. of 538 respondents thought that staging the Olympics in Manchester would improve employment prospects for local people a great deal or a fair amount. That again must be of interest to my hon. Friend in evaluating any proposals that come to him for funding through his Department's schemes.

Finally, when Gallup asked: How much of the finances to host the year 2000 Olympic Games do you think the Government should give?", 71 per cent. thought that the Government should give some financial help, 16 per cent. thought the Government should pay all the costs and 8 per cent. that it should not pay any.

I draw the attention of the House to the potential for further work on evaluating public attitudes that lies behind those figures. I do not believe that the bid can be successful unless it enjoys widespread public support and, indeed, a clear commitment from the Government that they would like the Olympic games to be staged here.

I recently asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he would specify the full range of grants currently available under his inner-city programme, with a brief technical description of each. I should he most grateful, therefore, if my hon. Friend the Minister will tell us something about the work that he is doing on City Challenge, the urban development corporations, the urban programme, city grant, derelict land grant, city action teams and any other schemes that he thinks may be relevant to the concerns which I know the Olympic bid committee has at present. I should also appreciate it if he said something about the European regional development grant, although not necessarily this evening, if he thinks that inappropriate.

I understand from the Olympic bid committee that three potential sites are under consideration. One of them straddles the boundaries of the city of Manchester and the boroughs of Salford and Trafford. Another, sometimes referred to loosely and colloquially as Eastlands, is on the east side of Manchester, which I believe is already attracting some City Challenge money. The site would be in the area of the Oldham road and Ashton road on the Gorton-Openshaw side of the city. There is another area, referred to loosely as Hough End, which at the moment consists of fields on the way into the city from Ringway airport.

I do not propose to trespass on the constituency of any other hon. Member, so I shall say no more about those sites, except to point out that there is likely to be a very lively debate about which of the three should be chosen and about whether any other sites should be considered for the staging of the Olympic games in the year 2000.

How are the programmes to which I have referred working in practice and what is the take up? That information will begin to give us some idea of the possibilities in terms of the proposals that the committee is likely to make. For example, will there be a mechanism for evaluating whether projects associated with the Olympic bid should qualify for partnership funding and Government help? If the programmes are cash-limited, as I believe they should be, how will the resource implications be discussed within Government?

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has already said publicly that he welcomes the Manchester Olympic bid. I believe that in due course he intends to say something further about that bid. Clearly there are some important matters for the Government to deliberate upon. 539 I will want to know at an early stage whether my hon. Friend the Minister will hold regular meetings with the Olympic bid committee organisers.

Attention has also been focused on Liverpool. As I understand it, the bid committee has said that it wants to stage some of the events on Merseyside. Perhaps my hon. Friend the Minister will consider it appropriate to say something about the application of his schemes with regard to Merseyside. However, my hon. Friend also has responsibility for the rest of the north-west. I would appreciate it if he would say something about the scope of his investment programmes elsewhere in the north-west and about whether some of the schemes could be relevant to Olympic events.

All hon. Members believe that the bid deserves a fair wind. No one is arguing that the Government should invest huge sums of public money. Those of us who support the initiative are seeking an early indication from the Government that they will be a willing partner with the members of the bid committee in trying to find solutions to important technical problems which must be overcome at this stage if Manchester's infrastructure is to satisfy the demanding criteria that the International Olympic Committee is bound to place on an application to stage the games. That is why I have raised the issue tonight. A number of complex issues need to be aired publicly at an early stage, and I look forward to hearing what my hon. Friend the Minister has to say.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Robert Key)

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Sir T. Arnold) on his good fortune in obtaining the Adjournment debate and on raising a matter which is clearly of great importance to his constituents, to everyone in Manchester and the north-west and to the nation.

As my hon. Friend knows, I have been privileged to spend a good deal of my time over recent months in Manchester. It is a vibrant and multicultural city. One need only think of its range of academic and musical institutions—it now has the largest student campus in Europe—and the pop scene, its media centre and the fact that it is becoming the regional focal point for the arts just as Birmingham and Glasgow have become.

Since I have come to know Manchester so well, I have been constantly impressed by the energy and confidence of the people of the area and their sense of vision and purpose. I have seen many instances of strong practical partnerships not just between central and local government agencies, but between the private sector, voluntary organisations, churches, schools and the whole community in Manchester and Salford which have launched and sustained many exciting projects.

Only last week I spent a lively hour at Trinity high school, which is a voluntary aided school in Hulme. I was very impressed not only by the long list of academic achievements, but by the sheer energy and enthusiasm of the pupils and staff alike. That school has parent-community involvement as well as business and industry involvement in the shape of a compact. The youth of today 540 are the statesmen of tomorrow and this school is equipping its pupils with the skills which will make them independent, well-balanced adults.

Also last week I attended a meeting to discuss environmental improvements to the M602, a dreary entrance to both Salford and Manchester. There were people there from the local authority, central Government, the Tidy Britain Group, the Groundwork Trust, Manchester polytechnic students, with their imaginative scheme, and local employers. We were all working towards the same end: how to turn that bleak stretch of urban motorway into an attractive approach to the heart of Manchester.

Nowhere is this sense of common purpose better demonstrated than in the activities of the Manchester Olympic bid commmittee. Its bid to host the 1996 Olympic Games was widley praised for its vision and its integrity. Although that bid did not succeed in bringing the Olympic Games to Britain for the first time since 1948, it spread the message of Manchester's economic revival across the world and reminded many people of the rich sporting heritage to be found not only in Manchester, but in Great Britain as a whole. Manchester's latest bid, which was endorsed by the British Olympic Association on 24 April this year, opens up exciting prospects for the city, other local authorities in the conurbation, the north-west region and throughout Britain. I am sure that the bid committee will build upon the foundations of its previous bid, and I am pleased to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Duke of Westminster and his bid team.

A successful bid, well executed, would be a great boost to the regional economy and urban regeneration in Manchester and the north-west. I have, for example, seen estimates that suggest that the event could add £0.5 billion to United Kingdom invisible exports. Moreover, there is a growing self-confidence that Manchester can take its rightful place as a major European city with all that that could bring in terms of international recognition and investment. The very process of mounting the bid is likely to improve further the international profile of the city.

The Government therefore wish Manchester every success with the bid. My hon. Friend the Minister for Sport has already met the chairman of the bid committee and the secretary of the BOA to discuss how best the Government can help to promote Manchester's bid. I have, of course, pledged my support to Bob Scott and the Manchester committee.

Partnership is a common theme of our whole approach to investment and regeneration, but we are demanding of our many partners in the regeneration process. We expect local commitment, participation, value for money and well-constructed ideas that are capable of implementation. I welcome the approach that has been adopted by the Olympic bid committee. Its strong emphasis on private sector participation, in line with Manchester city's historical entrepreneurial traditions, should produce the ideas, commitment and investment that will make the games a success. I understand that the Olympic bid committee is already engaged in the search for a suitable site for the main stadium and arena. In addition to sites at Barton Cross, the subject of last year's bid, as my hon. Friend has pointed out, there may be a possibility in east Manchester. A successful bid could make a worthwhile contribution to the regeneration of that area, which I know is now being closely examined by Manchester city council and the private sector, led by Terry Thomas.

541 I am pleased to report that my Department has recently agreed in principle to help with the cost of studies into the potential reclamation of part of the area. I welcome the city council's intention to consider east Manchester as a candidate for City Challenge next year. We shall examine closely any bids that we receive for support for Olympic facilities either in the context of City Challenge or separately.

However, my prime responsibility is for the regeneration of inner-city areas. My Department will play its part through the normal mechanisms and criteria that are designed to encourage greater economic activity in urban areas, especially on underused or derelict land. I encourage the bid committee to do what it can to ensure that there is sufficient developer interest to provide a suitable venue for major sporting events in the north-west. I look forward to hearing from the bid committee when its plans are more advanced.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, whom I am delighted to see on the Treasury Bench, has already taken a lively interest in the Olympic bid and, because we have discussed this together, I know that he is aware that the Central Manchester urban development corporation is also closely involved and playing its role.

Moreover, the Government have pledged themselves to a major programme of infrastructural and environmental works in the north-west within the time scale of the Olympic bid. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Patten), when he was Secretary of State, spoke of a further £3 billion improvement programme when he addressed the Olympic committee in Tokyo last year—where he had gone to express the Government's commitment to that bid. This is already under way, and the effects will become increasingly evident over the next few years. Our attention has not been confined to Manchester; we have worked through the Merseyside development corporation and increasingly in collaboration with the local authorities to regenerate Merseyside. That approach, building on the great warmth and energy of the people of Merseyside, has begun to unlock the enormous potential of one of our nation's major conurbations. Of course, resources are also being targeted to the shire districts of the region; for example, almost £20 million has been allocated this year for transport supplementary grant, and further resources are being spent through derelict land grant and estate action programmes.

I am proud to be a member of a Government who have invested heavily in the regeneration of the north-west, in its inner-city areas, in its infrastructure, and in its environment—and that means in its people. The Government have done so by carefully targeting public resources and by levering in the private sector. We have created the conditions necessary for initiatives to flourish. The Olympic bid team are among those who have benefited from that approach, not only because of the physical transformation of many areas, which will directly enhance the bid, but because it is a partnership that draws together all sectors of the community and the economy. The job has only just started, but the Government have a continuing programme of investment and initiatives to tackle it.

One of the first things that was evident to me when I became inner-city Minister for Manchester and Salford was how rundown areas could be transformed by 542 imagination, the strong commitment of local people, and careful targeting of resources. One only has to visit the north-west region's three development corporation areas, with combined annual budgets of more than £72 million, to see the progress taking shape. Before the year 2000, and the Olympic games, the corporations expect to lever in £1.6 million of private investment. More than 620 hectares of derelict land will have been reclaimed and major infrastructure works will have been undertaken.

Since 1988, more than £139 million has been spent in the north-west's inner-city areas, excluding Merseyside, through the urban programme. Of that, almost £25 million has been spent on directly enhancing the environment, and £58.3 million has been spent on renewing the local economic infrastructure. The urban programme has levered in at least an equivalent amount of private investment in those areas. More than £56 million of city grant has been awarded to private sector companies in the north-west, which are investing more than £301 million of private money in a wide range of urban regeneration projects. Those projects are providing new homes, new jobs, new hotels, refurbishing listed buildings and reclaiming derelict sites.

The Government have allocated the main share of derelict land resources, almost £26 million, to the north-west region this year. Emphasis is being given to schemes that enhance the local environment and 10 rolling programmes are operating in those areas where the problems are most severe. We have been vigorously tackling, on a wide front, the problems posed by rundown council estates. The Government's estate action programme demands a strategic approach to turning round deprived areas, and seeks to incorporate wider proposals to secure comprehensive regeneration. Physical improvements alone are not the answer—estate action assists in the development, in tandem, of proposals for dealing with social, economic and environmental problems. Since 1986, the Government have provided resources totalling £805 million for estate action, of which no less than a third has gone to the north-west.

The Mersey basin campaign, a 25-year, £4 billion, initiative, is using central, local authority and private sector funds to regenerate the watercourses of the River Mersey through river and canal improvements and waterfront-linked schemes. North-West Water plans to spend £4.3 billion to improve water and waste services throughout the region over the next decade. That compares with £1 billion in the 1970s and £2 billion in the 1980s. A major part of the spending programme will he on environmental improvements.

We have established an impressive record of Government inner-city and environmental investment, which is continuing to transform the region, not by throwing money at the problem—an approach which had singularly failed in the past—but through imagination, strong local commitment, and careful targeting of cash.

My hon. Friend will be aware of particular examples in which the Government's approach and policies have been brought together to achieve fundamental changes to formerly neglected areas. One of the best-known examples, Salford Quays, has benefited from £28 million of derelict land and urban programme grant. That has attracted private investment of £293 million—with more to come —and has transformed a derelict inner-city area, providing homes, offices, hotels and leisure facilities.

543 The Government are not content to rest on what they have achieved so far; new ideas are needed to continue the transformation of our inner-city areas. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently announced the City Challenge, in which 15 councils around the country have been invited to bid for a share of £75 million next year —and the same amount each year for five years—to build on the success that has been achieved to date. Central to that partnership initiative are a strong vision for the future of the cities involved, participation by all sectors of society, a clear timetable and effective delivery mechanisms.

Within the Manchester conurbation, both Manchester and Salford city councils have been invited to compete. I am to receive their detailed bids tomorrow and, whether or not either authority is successful on this occasion, there will be a further opportunity to compete next year. I have seen both areas, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State knows them well. The work that has already been undertaken to mount the bid has begun to mobilise the wealth of untapped talent, expertise and local pride that I know exists in the region.

My hon. Friend mentioned the possibility of ERDF money. That may be a suitable way in which to support the 544 cost of the games, although Manchester will need to find the necessary capital cover from its existing allocations and secure the agreement of its partners in the Manchester, Salford and Trafford areas. To date, no such applications have been made. As I said, we shall pay careful attention to any that are made.

We are at the beginning of the process. I have tried to set out the ground, so that we are all clear about exactly where we are starting from. We shall continue to listen with considerable sympathy and—more important, I hope —with enthusiasm; we shall also maintain a practical commitment to the Manchester bid team. One of the team's challenges will be to recognise that at some point the Manchester bid may have to become the national bid, and we shall be interested to observe how the team deals with that.

Let me again congratulate my hon. Friend on raising this issue. I assure him that my ministerial colleagues and I will continue to support the bid committee's sterling efforts to bring the Olympic games to Britain—and to the north-west—in the year 2000.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at twenty-seven minutes past Ten o'clock.