HL Deb 03 February 1971 vol 314 cc1214-8

4.13 p.m.

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT (LORD SANDFORD)

My Lords, with the permission of the House, I should like now to intervene to repeat a Statement being made in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment. It is as follows:

"As the House knows, the previous Government designated the site for a New Town in Central Lancashire. I have reviewed fully the case for this project, and have concluded that it is right to proceed with the development of this area under the New Towns Act. There will be no question of imposing some theoretical or arbitrary pattern, of development such as a long linear city. I shall be asking the development corporation in due course to see that the new development is primarily based on the existing towns in the area.

"I expect the private sector to play a much larger part than it has done in New Towns built hitherto; and I look to this project to make an important contribution towards the improved infrastructure which the North-West Region needs. I shall accordingly now proceed with establishing a development corporation under the Act."

My Lords, that is the end of the Statement.

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, I am grateful for the Statement, and for the fact that the noble Lord's right honourable friend has reconsidered this matter and has now confirmed the decision which was taken by the previous Administration. May I ask the noble Lord whether this means that the area designated by the last Government is being changed? Does the Statement also herald a new policy, in the terms of New Towns, of placing a greater emphasis on the private sector? Further, may I have an assurance that if the private sector is unable to meet the challenge of these New Towns, the public sector will then take up the slack?

LORD BYERS

My Lords, may I, on behalf of noble Lords on these Benches, welcome this Statement? May I also ask the noble Lord to clarify one phrase in the Statement? His right honourable friend said that he will be asking the development corporation in due course to see that the new development is primarily based on the existing towns in the area". Is this intended to inhibit the creation of a new entity, an autonomous and integrated unit? If not, how is the development corporation to work in with the existing towns?

LORD SANDFORD

My Lords, may I thank both noble Lords for their reception of this Statement? I would confirm that the New Town will carry forward the designation made by our predecessors. I do not think that the noble Lord, Lord Shepherd, ought to read into this Statement more than is there. My right honourable friend is confident that the private sector will be able to play the part assigned to it. In answer to the noble Lord, Lord Byers, I would confirm that what is intended is that the boundary will be relatively tightly drawn around the three components within it, Preston, Chorley and Leyland, and will not spread, as has been mooted in some quarters, right down into South Lancashire.

LORD BYERS

Will it be an autonomous unit?

LORD SANDFORD

Yes, my Lords, but the three communities that form the basis of it will retain their existing names.

LORD SLATER

My Lords, could the noble Lord state the position in regard to the designation of the population of this New Town, in relation to the terms of the New Towns Act laid down when the first six New Towns were designated as far back as 1945?

LORD SANDFORD

My Lords, I am not quite sure that I understand the sense of the noble Lord's question. If he is asking a direct question about population, I can say that it is envisaged that this New Town will rise to a population of 430,000, of whom 250,000 are already there.

LORD SLATER

My Lords, the noble Lord said that he did not understand the purpose of my question. Is the noble Lord aware that I represented a constituency in which the smallest New Town of the six New Towns that were agreed upon by the last Government was a place called Newton Aycliffe, with a designation of 10,000, and that alterations in regard to populations for that New Town have since been decided upon to enable the population to rise to no less than 48,000? That is the purpose of my question.

LORD SANDFORD

My Lords, I hope that my answer then serves its purpose.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE

My Lords, would the noble Lord say where the extra 200,000 people for this New Town will be coming from, in view of the fact that over the last twenty years Merseyside and Manchester have lost 100,000 population and Preston over the same period has lost about 20,000?

LORD SANDFORD

My Lords, it is perfectly true that the new housing requirements of Manchester and Liverpool are not now as extensive as was once thought. This New Town is designed to serve the North-West Region as a whole. The housing needs of this region are still substantial.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE

My Lords, may I ask two further questions? Will the noble Lord bear in mind, and have his Department bear in mind, that the prosperity of this New Town is bound to be linked in part with the development of West/East communications; namely, the improvement of the A.69 across the Pennines to the A.1? Will they also bear in mind the possibility of developing a maritime industrial development area on the Lune Estuary 15 miles to the North which may create a new source of employment and wealth?

LORD SANDFORD

My Lords, the last part of that question is entirely different from the subject that we are discussing. The first part is highly relevant. It is very much my right honourable friend's concern that, as I have said, this New Town should serve the North-West Region as a whole and assist in its growing prosperity. There are a number of steps which will serve that end. First, North-East Lancashire is already designated as an intermediate area. My right honourable friend intends to advance progress on the Calder Valley road by one year in the case of Stage One; and there is an expanding programme of reclamation of derelict land. I was in Lancashire a week or so ago, to encourage the Lancashire County Council to expand even more; and we intend to accelerate the housing improvement programme. Both my right honourable friend and the Minister for Local Government and Development are going to Lancashire to take care of this matter, I think, on Friday of this week.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that answer. The location of industry in the New Town is bound to be relevant to its design. In this case is there not an opportunity for being imaginative and preparing a site for industry near the deep water 15 miles to the North on the Lune Estuary. All I ask is that he will convey this to his right honourable friend.

LORD SANDFORD

Yes, my Lords, I will certainly do that.