Urban Policies (Hansard, 28 April 1993)

§ 10. Mr. Eastham
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the effects of his urban policies.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Robin Squire)
The Government's urban policies are encouraging investment and improving the quality of life in our major cities through partnership and competition. The hon. Member will, I know, welcome the fact that over £400 million in targeted urban resources has gone into Manchester in the period 1990–93 alone.

§ Mr. Eastham
Is the Minister aware that phasing out the urban programme will cost us about 3,400 jobs and about 12,000 training places? Is he further aware that the town hall has spent about £100,000 on tendering that has been aborted as a result of Government cancellations? The voluntary organisations are being devastated in the city at the same time—a time when the Prime Minister has visited Manchester to back the Olympic bid, saying that he wants to revitalise the city.

§ Mr. Squire
Against the background of the Department of the Environment's urban block programme this year of £1,000 million, it is a little perverse of the hon. Gentleman to concentrate entirely on the urban programme. For the record, this year Manchester will get some £9 million from the urban programme and, of course, the council has the freedom to spend all its capital receipts as it wishes. In addition, Manchester has two development corporations, an excellent city challenge, one task force, substantial housing investment, use of derelict land grant and the prospect of substantial investment from the Olympics in the year 2000. Most hon. Members would be delighted to get such a package.

§ Mr. Knapman
In the areas that have large numbers of empty houses, can my hon. Friend discern a pattern between the scale of the problem and the political complexion of the councils in those areas?

§ Mr. Squire
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that matter. I understand from my housing colleagues in the Department that there is often a sad correlation between the number of housing voids and the fact that a council is under Labour control. I hope that electors in the forthcoming county elections will bear that in mind.

§ Mr. Vaz
Does the Minister recall telling local authority leaders in November that he would review the list of urban programme authorities in the new year, using the 1991 census? Will he explain why the consultation paper arrived only in April, four months after it was promised, and why local authorities have been given only weeks to respond to a very important area of policy? Is not it the case that the delay in publishing this document is a result of the Minister's desire to manipulate the criteria for political ends and to provide excuses for his savage cuts in inner-city aid?

§ Mr. Squire
The hon. Gentleman must have misheard my earlier answer. I agree with him only on the importance of this programme. There is no delay. Matters are on target. It takes a little time to incorporate the entire results from the 1991 census, which will rightly guide us in this review. We have consulted local authorities, as I assume the hon. Gentleman wishes us to do, and we shall produce our final proposals later this year. The hon. Gentleman should not worry, because we are on target and our advice will be the best possible and will be triggered by the latest possible information.

§ Mr. Nicholas Winterton
Does my hon. Friend accept that recreation and leisure areas and parkland are vital to urban areas? The question is not just about the urban programme and allied policies but about urban policies in general. The inspectorate of his Department often appears only too ready to grant planning permission to public bodies such as health authorities that are seeking to develop vital and important open areas within centres such as the borough and town of Macclesfield. Such areas are vital for recreation and as parkland, and they enhance the environment of our town centres. Will my hon. Friend seek to prevail upon his inspectorate and direct his attention to these vital policies? We do not want every area of green within cities to be covered by housing.

§ Mr. Squire
My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing, Planning and Construction has heard my hon. Friend's question and has confirmed to me that the latest 954 document, PPG17, specifically addresses that point. I agree with my hon. Friend on the wider issue of the importance of recreation. Hon. Members from Sheffield or near Sheffield will know about the substantial work by the development corporation there which is transforming old, derelict areas into excellent open spaces for recreation.