Withernsea and South-East Holderness

HC Deb 22 December 1997 vol 303 cc755-62

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Dowd.]

10.11 pm

Mr. James Cran (Beverley and Holderness)

I am very grateful indeed to have the opportunity to raise what I consider to be a matter of some importance to my constituency: the difficulties of the town of Withernsea and of—[Interruption.]

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst)

Order. Will hon. Members please not hold a Christmas party at this moment?

Mr. Cran

I am very grateful indeed, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I was manfully doing my best under the circumstances.

The problem is serious; it is not one of which I have first-hand knowledge, in the sense of having lived with it since I have been the Member of Parliament for Beverley, because I inherited the area at the most recent boundary commission change; but I am becoming increasingly concerned about what I have seen in the town, and about the fact that, as far as I can see, the problem has simply been ignored by almost every agency that could possibly exist for the benefit and help of such towns and areas.

What has occurred is simply a downward spiral of economic and social decline. The town and the area are unable to get out of that spiral on their own. I am grateful to see the Minister here. She knows something about the issue, because she has written to me on the subject, so what I hear will at least be first hand.

The Minister knows that I am concerned about the condition of the town. I could spend a long time outlining the indices of deprivation, but I shall confine myself to noting that, on any such index, the town is at the bottom, if the bottom is the worst. Unemployment in the area is the highest in East Yorkshire and, I suspect, for quite a way around. The number of cars per household shows the same situation, and long-term illness is the worst not only in my constituency but in the whole of East Yorkshire. The quality of housing is, alas, not what it should be: local tax figures show that housing is all in the lower bands. Almost more sadly, educational attainment is below that in the rest of the area. No one can be other than concerned about that.

In passing, I note that I probably did not get many votes from the town and the area, but that does not matter. We must consider such problems in a non-political way. As soon as I saw the problems, I was determined to do what I could to bring them to the attention of those who can take decisions that might change the situation. Despite the fact that there is great willingness for self-help, there are no pump-priming resources to help people to develop a strategy for tourism. After all, it was one of the great towns of Victorian England that grew up at the seaside to serve as holiday resorts for cities such as Hull.

Community spirit undoubtedly still exists, but I worry that, if all the town's requests for help continue to be refused, people will come to the likes of me and ask what is the point of going to the next port of call for further representations. I am trying desperately hard to get them to understand that we have to keep going. It is only by speaking to the Minister that we can bring the problems to the attention of the Government.

People tell me, rightly, that millions of pounds were spent to help our great cities when they were in decline. I have no difficulty with that proposition. The nearest city to my constituency, the great city of Kingston upon Hull, got hundreds of millions of pounds. The difference that that has made in the past 20 years has been as chalk and cheese to what has happened only a few miles down the road. Withernsea is a much smaller community of about 6,000 people. It has fallen through every resource net that I can think of. The result is the decline that we are discussing.

I am pleased that the Minister nods. That shows that she knows the problems of such areas. The problem is illustrated by the fact that Swanland in my old constituency qualifies for European regional development funds, but, for reasons that I will never understand, Withernsea, with all its problems, has no access to them. I suspect that arbitrary lines were drawn on a map. I dare say that it was done under the Government whom I supported at the general election, but that does not mean that it is right; it clearly is not. That is why I hope that the Minister and all the other decision takers will look at the matter dispassionately and, if such situations can occur, ask what in heaven's name they can do to reorient policy to help such communities.

As I have already said, the community spirit exists. I am pleased to say that the belief in self-help is also present, which I find quite extraordinary given what I have seen in the town, and the difficulties that it has faced and still suffers. The Minister will be aware of the Withernsea 2000 partnership, which aims to consolidate the views of the key decision takers in the area—the East Yorkshire council, the training and enterprise council, the Yorkshire tourist board, the town council and even individuals.

I am delighted to say that there also entrepreneurs in the town who want to contribute something to help the process of regeneration. They simply cannot do that on their own; they need a helping hand to offer not just encouragement but resources. In the scheme of such things, the resources necessary are not that great, but the area needs such pump priming.

The Minister also knows better than anyone else that Withernsea entered, meritoriously, the rural challenge competition for the second time. It was the only bid that came from East Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire, but again the town's bid failed. I can do no better than read from the letter that was sent to me on 25 November by the Minister for the Environment, who stated: I thought I should write to let you know that East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire's Turning the Tide—Withernsea bid has been unsuccessful in this year's round of Rural Challenge. The competition, which is sponsored on our behalf by the Rural Development Commission, aims to encourage innovative partnerships and new ideas for regeneration of the countryside. The outcome of that competition is wonderful for the area that won because it will be able to use whatever plans it has for the regeneration of its particular neck of the woods, but we are on our tod yet again.

We drew some comfort from the Minister's letter, in which he also wrote: Officials from the Commission are ready to discuss with the partnership the outcome of the competition and whether it may be possible to provide support for the project by alternative means. The words "alternative means" are important, because I understand that the other sources of finance available to the Rural Development Commission require matching funding. I understand perfectly well why that condition is part of the deal, but I regret to say that, apart from East Yorkshire council, there is not much matching funding of any significant proportion to be had in the town or the surrounding area. I dare say some exists, but it is simply not available in the amounts required to liberate funds of any size from the commission.

On the basis of the Minister's letter, I went hot foot to see the director of operations at the RDC, and we had a constructive meeting. I do not believe that I betray any confidence when I say that he explained to me exactly why towns such as Withernsea have such problems. I do not believe that I betray any confidence if I say that he understood exactly the position of places such as Withernsea.

What do we do about that? Again, I do not believe I am betraying any confidence between us when I recount how said that he would do his best within tight resources to see whether there was money here, there or wherever that could be liberated for a strategy to develop the town's tourist potential or small businesses in the town. He was keen to try to do that, but he spent some time pointing out to me that he, too, has difficulties with the schemes that he and the RDC operate. None the less, I took from that meeting the fact that the Rural Development Commission was not going to walk away from the situation, but would look for ways to help the town.

I understand that the Withernsea partnership has had a meeting with the regional RDC. I have not had a report of the meeting's outcome; if the Minister has received a report, perhaps she could tell me what happened. We need to know whether the regional officials mirrored the conversation that I had with the director of operations, who sounded a constructive note and said that the RDC would try to find ways to help.

I could say a great deal more about the details of the case, but I am keen to hear what the Minister has to say rather than to listen to myself. I should like to hear from the Minister that she recognises the problem that I have outlined and the fact that the town cannot succeed on its own; I should also like to hear that the Government will not walk away from the situation and related problems elsewhere.

I hope that the hon. Lady will consider meeting the members of the Withernsea partnership. It will be difficult for them to get down here, as the town is not flush with money, but they will be in Whitehall if the Minister is prepared to meet them. It would be even better if, when she was passing nearby—I am not suggesting a particular date or time—she came to see for herself the difficulties in the area. It would be as much of an education for her as, without doubt, it has been for me.

On one of his tours, the Prince of Wales managed to come along. I was not privy to what he thought, but people who were present have suggested to me that he did not particularly like what he saw. I hope that the Minister will consider all those points. I also hope, more importantly, that she will be open minded about the policy framework. If we have a competition—I understand that it existed under the previous Government—from which only one winner can emerge, that poses significant difficulties for all the other partnerships that have put together good plans. What happens to them? We clearly have to look at this policy stance. If the result on 1 May had been different, I would have been giving exactly the same speech to a Conservative Minister.

I hope that I have outlined the problems—I think that the Minister knows them herself. Confidence is important in such situations, and it is easy for confidence to ebb away from the community so that people say to themselves that there is nothing they can do and nobody is interested in their condition, so they might as well pack up shop. That means that those who are prepared to shove the thing along and do something about the community spirit all melt into the background and the situation becomes worse. I do not think that that will happen, but it could, and I should like to avert that.

I am a pretty right-wing character in the political framework, but I am not particularly daft, and when I see the position that exists in Withernsea I know perfectly well that there is no alternative to the pump priming that only Government can provide.

10.28 pm

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Angela Eagle)

I congratulate the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Cran) on raising this extremely important subject and on managing to acquire the last Adjournment debate before Christmas. I cannot act exactly like Santa Claus for him tonight, but I want to emphasise that I have listened carefully to what he has had to say about Withernsea, and I should like to thank him for bringing the issue to the attention of the House.

The problems are difficult and of quite long standing, so they will be hard to address, but I want to be as encouraging as possible in the face of the disappointment suffered by the partnership as a result of the recent decision on rural challenge. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman would regard this as encouraging, but I would certainly be very happy to meet a delegation from the area—as he suggests. If they get in touch with my office, we can put that in train and discuss where they might be able to go from here.

I come from the east coast of Yorkshire. I was born just up the way in Bridlington, so I appreciate the uniqueness of that part of the country—its beauties as well as its problems. In part, its unspoilt character and remoteness add to its difficulties in terms of economic regeneration. When preparing for the debate, I noticed that the area lost its last railway link in 1964 as part. of the Beeching cuts, so the decline has been going on for some time, and it will not be arrested overnight. There has also been a change in the nature of tourism in the United Kingdom. Some would say that the glory days of seaside resorts are long gone, but it is certain that the change in the pattern of tourism has presented many areas with difficult strategic choices.

As a Government, I hope that we can put in place programmes and policies that alleviate the problems of areas such as Withernsea and south-east Holderness. I know that the people there must have been disappointed not to secure resources under rural challenge, but I want to provide some encouragement tonight. The hon. Gentleman admitted honestly that, in a competition, there are winners and losers; that is certainly the case with rural challenge. Of the 17 national entrants to the competition, only six were chosen and there was an allocated share of £5 million, so many more areas were disappointed than were celebrating.

I want to spend a few minutes focusing on the many strengths of Withernsea's bid, because I strongly believe that within the bid lie the seeds of Withernsea's recovery. First, there was its strong partnership approach: a solid partnership has been established and that can be built on. It includes all the key local partners, including the local authority, Humberside training and enterprise council, English Partnerships and the voluntary sector. A report in the Yorkshire Post dated 3 December suggests that the partnership will look at ways of moving forward some of the projects without rural challenge support. I would encourage that.

It is possible that various elements of the bid could be successfully supported through the Rural Development Commission's rural development programme, which is available to the partnership and which will support worthwhile economic and community projects developed by the public, voluntary and private sectors. It will be for the partnership to decide which priorities it wants to push and how they will fit into the rural development programme strategy and meet the objectives relating to Withernsea.

I understand that, as the hon. Gentleman said, the RDC has already met the rural challenge partners and encouraged them to revisit the bid and consider which projects could be progressed through that programme. I know that the hon. Gentleman has lent his support to the partnership and will do all he can to ensure that its good work continues.

Secondly, community capacity building is another of the bid's strengths that should be concentrated on in future. I congratulate the partnership on attempting a solution to Withernsea's problems that is based on people. I am aware that a formal consultation process was established during the rural challenge bid process, and I would like that to continue. The partnership acknowledges that the capacity of the community is low; I suggest that that be made an immediate priority. As the hon. Gentleman said, community confidence and economic regeneration are inextricably linked—neither can happen without the other. As a Yorkshirewoman, I am aware that it is a proud area—the community has the will to become involved, but the solution will be neither quick nor easy.

Thirdly, the bid contained a strong private sector input and I was impressed that the partnership did not simply rely on a tourism—based solution to the area's problems. The mass tourism market in the United Kingdom has changed, and the tourists who flocked to Withernsea in their tens of thousands in the 1950s and 1960s are not coming back in the same numbers. I live in New Brighton, which is in a similar position. Withernsea's decline has been gradual, so there needs to be effective private sector investment to turn the situation around.

I realise that, without rural challenge funding, the improvements will take longer to effect, but I know that the key economic partners—the local authority, Humberside training and enterprise council, English Partnerships and the RDC—have started the process, and are keen to keep it going. There is much to build on and much that can be retrieved from the bid for the benefit of the people of Withernsea.

Mr. Cran

As I understand it, a number of proposals can be retrieved from the bid, but the problem is the issue of matching funding. Can the Minister give us any hope there?

Angela Eagle

Matching funding is certainly required, and we would have to work with local partners to see where that could be got from. Perhaps we should place that subject on the agenda of the meeting that I have just offered. Certainly the local authority would have to give some priority to the area if we were to try to put together some moneys to make progress possible. I know that English Partnerships has a development of small industrial sites in the area, but it is 70 per cent. empty, so we must do more to generate interest and involvement.

I want to say something about how Government policy will help the economic development of Withemsea. We are putting forward policies to help the regions. We strongly believe that the future success of the English regions depends on the co-operation and participation of the entire community. With that in mind, we have set five key priorities.

The first priority is integration. One of our major steps was to integrate the Department of the Environment and the Department of Transport. That enables us to concentrate on infrastructure developments of the type that are strategically important to Withernsea's recovery.

The second priority is decentralisation, which could also be important. We said in our manifesto that local decision making should be made more accountable to local people. The regional development agencies are a key element in our plans to achieve that.

The third priority is regeneration. We believe that this is not confined to making physical improvements to the infrastructure; it is equally important to regenerate communities, improve the social fabric and foster equality and cohesion.

The fourth priority is partnership. We must work in partnership with the public and private sectors and the voluntary sector to make our policies most effective. There are already many good examples of local partnerships in the region and I feel, as a result of what I know of Withernsea, that a very promising example of such a partnership has been developed locally.

The fifth priority is sustainability. Sustainable development must be built into all our policies, which means combining economic goals with environmental and social ones—improving people's quality of life and helping them to achieve their potential while making sensible use of natural resources.

Government policy will ensure that areas such as Withernsea and south-east Holderness can play an effective role in economic development at regional level. The index of deprivation is being updated. It will recognise need at three levels: district, ward and enumeration district. That should allow Withernsea to register at least as an area of concern in a much more obvious way than may have been the case in the past.

We are conducting a comprehensive review of regeneration spending with the aim of recognising needs at these levels and creating policies that can address them, or at least allow regional development agencies to address them. RDAs will have a remit to regenerate areas of need—such as Withernsea—in their geographical areas. Other initiatives, such as welfare to work, capital receipts, employment and health initiatives, may be tied together to create a package to take Withernsea forward.

We continue to assess and evaluate the impact of our programmes, and we are looking forward and starting the process of considering how regeneration policies should be shaped for the future. My hon. Friend the Minister for the Regions, Regeneration and Planning recently launched a consultation paper entitled "The Way Forward", which is intended to facilitate a debate on the future of Government regeneration programmes. I know that the East Riding of Yorkshire council and the local partnership will want to comment on the proposals and play a full part in the consultation process to ensure that the needs of Withernsea and similar areas are taken fully into account in regeneration programmes of the future.

Many of the themes discussed in the paper are those that the Withernsea partnership addressed in its rural challenge bid, which will stand it in excellent stead in future. There is, for example, the need for a strategic approach. The challenge bid was strategy based; it employed a targeted approach to regeneration, which is vital to ensuring that the activity is properly focused and has local impact. We intend any future regeneration programme to be strategy led.

We are pleased to note that local partners are beginning to pull together to try to improve their prospects. I spoke earlier about the need for effective partnerships. Community involvement is also important: Withernsea and south-east Holderness must continue to develop community capacity. That is the key to long-term sustainable development.

As I said, there are other areas that we may be able to bring to bear on the problem—welfare to work, for example. We hope that that will begin to turn the tide in the area and that our proposals will assist Withernsea with programmes targeted on more isolated areas. The focus for welfare to work is the young unemployed; the worst consequence of unemployment is its effects on the human spirit.

Work has already started in Withernsea that will ensure provision of a high-quality programme for the young unemployed. The local Employment Service office has set up a rural East Riding specialist strand to present suggestions as to how to help the more isolated communities. All providers under the new deal—whether they are in the voluntary sector, in further education or private sector training providers—have been asked by the local Employment Service office to come up with plans to help unemployed clients in rural areas. Community and distance learning packages will also be available. Providers are located across the district and will therefore be well placed to meet the needs of clients in rural and coastal areas.

We are determined that welfare to work should make a real and tangible contribution to the improvement of the economy. Strengthening the capacity of the English regions to address the issues will also be important to ensuring that, strategically, areas such as Withernsea—which time has passed by and which are never big enough to attract attention—will have the prospect of being taken into account at regional development agency level. We trust that packages will be put together to help to give hope.

As I have said, we believe that there are firm foundations in the bid on which to build—

The motion having been made after Ten o'clock, and the debate having continued for half an hour, MR. DEPUTY SPEAKER adjourned the House without Question put, till Monday 12 January, pursuant to Resolution [15 December].

Adjourned at nineteen minutes to Eleven o'clock.