Black Country Development Corporation (Vesting of Land) (Central Electricity Generating Board) Order 1988 (Hansard, 25 July 1988)

§ Lord Hesketh

My Lords, I beg to move the orders standing in my name. The House may find it convenient if I speak at the same time to the other orders also in my name on the Order Paper.

The 13 orders we are considering vest around 240 hectares of publicly owned land in two urban development corporations. Six of the orders deal with land in the Black Country Development Corporation's area and seven transfer land to the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation. We estimate that taken together, this land is worth around £16 million. The House may find it helpful if I explain some of the background to these orders.

As your Lordships will know, urban development corporations are established under the provisions of Part XVI of the 1980 Local Government, Planning and Land Act. Their job is to secure the regeneration 77 of their designated areas. To achieve this they have a wide range of powers, including the powers to acquire, manage and dispose of land and property. One of the ways by which land can be obtained is by vesting orders made under Section 141 of the 1980 Act. This section empowers my right honourable friend the Secretary of State to vest in urban development corporations land owned by local authorities, statutory undertakers and other public bodies. It is orders made under these provisions that we are considering tonight.

It was determined by a committee of this House that these orders were hybrid and therefore subject to the usual petitioning procedures. In the case of 11 of the orders no petitions were received. For the other two, holding petitions were lodged but were withdrawn following agreement between the UDCs and the bodies involved.

I should point out that the Statutory Instruments Committee has drawn the special attention of the House to the Black Country Development Corporation (Vesting of Land) (General) Order on the ground that its drafting appears to be defective. It refers to plots on the deposited map edged with a stippled band while some narrow plots are shown wholly stippled. Although the committee accepted that there is no doubt which plots are vested by the order, nevertheless I must apologise for this oversight. I am grateful to the Statutory Instruments Committee for its agreement to proceed.

The two urban development corporations affected by these vesting orders were set up in May, 1987. Shortly after their establishment each corporation produced a development strategy designed to bring prosperity back to the area. These strategies identified areas for early action and outlined the kinds of development the corporations were hoping to attract. In some cases it was clear that regeneration would only happen if the UDCs themselves had the land in question in their ownership. With the land in their control they will be able to assemble sites suitable for redevelopment, reclaim derelict and polluted land and service sites to make them attractive to investors. The orders currently before the House transfer such land in the ownership of public bodies.

Vesting of publicly owned land is not the only way these UDCs will be acquiring land. Private sector land which is needed by the corporations in order to secure the regeneration will also be acquired either by agreement or, if necessary, by compulsory purchase. There may also be the need to acquire further publicly owned land in years to come.

It is interesting that there are no outstanding petitions against any of the tranche of vesting orders my right honourable friend the Secretary of State has laid before Parliament over the last few weeks. It is also noteworthy that the orders currently before the House were debated in another place last week and were unopposed. I think all this demonstrates the goodwill there is towards the UDCs, and subject to the approval of your Lordships' House this land will vest in the UDCs and they can start the serious work of preparing it for redevelopment.

78 I am most grateful to the local authorities and other public bodies involved in these orders for the constructive approach they have taken which will allow the land to be transferred without delay. I am also grateful to my right honourable friends the Secretaries of State for Energy, Trade and Industry and Transport who are the co-signatories to the orders relating to the statutory undertakings they sponsor.

Perhaps it would help your Lordships if I outlined briefly the problems which the Tyne and Wear and Black Country development corporations have been asked to address and also if I summarised the orders before us. The Tyne and Wear Development Corporation is located along the banks of the two rivers from which it takes its name. Its area has experienced the decline of traditional heavy industry and has been left with a legacy of industrial dereliction. Of the orders before the House three relate to land owned by local authorities. These orders cover 104 hectares of land owned by Newcastle City Council, North and South Tyneside borough councils and the Borough of Sunderland. The other four orders deal with a total of 17 hectares of land owned by the Port of Tyne Authority, British Coal, British Steel, British Shipbuilders and the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive.

The Black Country Development Corporation also faces similar problems of dereliction and decline. Its area was once dominated by metal-based manufacturing industry, but the product of 200 years of industrialisation is an abandoned and neglected landscape. Much of the land is polluted and is pitted with mineshafts. Of the Black Country orders, three relate to land owned by Sandwell and Walsall metropolitan borough councils, and one of these orders also includes some land owned by the British Waterways Board and the Severn Trent Water Authority. Together the three orders cover around 105 hectares in 68 individual plots of substantially derelict contaminated or unused land. The remaining Black Country orders include 13.5 hectares of land owned by British Rail, British Steel and the Central Electricity Generating Board.

In conclusion, both the Tyne and Wear and the Black Country development corporations have made an impressive start to the job of regenerating their areas. Projects are coming forward that will bring jobs, homes, leisure facilities and a general improvement of the environment. The prospects for both corporations are good. The vesting orders we are considering will, if approved by this House, provide the UDCs with the working capital which will help them do their job more effectively. If this House approves them this evening they will come into force tomorrow. I commend each of the orders to the House. I beg to move.

Moved, That the Black Country Development Corporation (Vesting of Land) (British Steel Corporation) Order 1988 laid before the House on 29th June [33rd Report from the Joint Committee]; the Black Country Development Corporation (Vesting of Land) (British Railways Board) Order 1988 laid before the House on 1st July [33rd Report from the Joint Committee]; the Black Country Development 79 Corporation (Vesting of Land) (Central Electricity Generating Board) Order 1988 laid before the House on 4th July [33rd Report from the Joint Committee]; the Black Country Development Corporation (Vesting of Land) (General) Order 1988 laid before the House on 1st July [33rd Report from the Joint Committee]; the Black Country Development Corporation (Vesting of Land) (Borough of Sandwell) Order 1988 laid before the House on 1st July [33rd Report from the Joint Committee]; and the Black Country Development Corporation (Vesting of Land) (Borough of Walsall) Order 1988 laid before the House on 1st July [33rd Report from the Joint Committee] be approved.—(Lord Hesketh.)