Essex Institute Planning School (Hansard, 1 July 1986)

§ Lord Alport
My Lords I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is intended to close the planning school at the Essex Institute of Higher Education.

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, the matter has not yet been referred to the Secretary of State, but we are aware that a recommendation to close the Planning School at the Essex Institute of Higher Education has been made to the National Advisory Body for Public Sector Higher Education by the Transbinary Town and Country Planning Group.

§ Lord Alport
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for her Answer. Will she ensure that when he considers this matter, the Secretary of State remembers that this school specialises in rural planning, is the leading school for that particular subject in the country, is extremely important to the rural areas of East Anglia and to the local government authorities that depend on it, and that its loss would mean a great defect in the whole of the planning policies for our part of England?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, the Government are aware of the school's high reputation in the area of rural planning. In fact, there is a special Government-sponsored study of rural deprivation. Therefore, we will not lose sight of that fact in future deliberations. We are well aware of the geographical location of the school and will bear that in mind also in future deliber-ations.

§ Lord Glenamara
My Lords, while it is true, as she said, that the Secretary of State has not yet considered this matter, will the noble Baroness confirm that those proposals, and all the proposals of the NAB, are forced upon it by the Secretary of State through his restraint of public expenditure? Is the noble Baroness aware, for example, that the polytechnics in the North-East of England have been threatened with disproportionate cuts in addition to the cuts already made in the two universities there? Will the Secretary of State look very carefully at those proposals before he agrees to them? Will he receive representations from those of us who are concerned with those institutions?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, the noble Lord has asked a number of questions and I shall deal with some of them. The transbinary working group was set up in response to discussion and consideration of the need to have proper manpower forecasts in certain specialised fields. I remind your Lordships that for the three institutions recommended for closure an alternative was offered in that instead of a four-year planning course, in this case for the Essex institute, they were offered the alternative of instituting a three-year general environmental degree course. The noble Lord's allegations are not, therefore, entirely well-founded.

§ Lord Taylor of Blackburn
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that the supplementary question asked by my noble friend has not been answered by her? My noble friend was referring to the polytechnics in the North of England.

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, in that case, it was very wide of the original Question.

§ Lord Alport
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that although I am well aware of the problems of the North-East of England, this Question relates to Essex and East Anglia? This is a particularly important problem so far as local government, rural planning and the general environment in East-Anglia are concerned.

§ Baroness Hooper
Yes, my Lords, I am well aware of that and, indeed, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science will be taking it into consideration.

§ Lord Walston
My Lords, is not the noble Baroness aware that East Anglia is the fastest growing region in the whole of the country and therefore the need for planning and knowledge of planning in all its aspects is even more important there; possibly more important than even in the North-East?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, that was obviously one of the considerations that the transbinary working group took into account, and it will certainly be in the mind of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State.