UDCs: Private Investment (Hansard, 7 March 1988)

The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Caithness)
My Lords, private sector investment of more than £2.25 billion has been attracted to the two urban development corporation areas designated in 1981; and considerable private sector interest has already been stimulated by the four UDCs that my right honourable friend designated last year.

§ Baroness Lane-Fox
My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for his encouraging reply. Can he give the House some report on the urban development corporation in the Black Country?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, yes; there has been substantial progress in that area. More than 20 projects involving £2.5 million have been approved and many are for highway improvement and environmental work. I am pleased to be able to tell my noble friend that today my right honourable friend the Prime Minister announced investment of some £50 million in a spine road to open up the area further.

§ Lord Mellish
My Lords, is the Minister aware that in 1981 —the date to which he referred—when the Docklands Scheme in London was set up, it inherited eight and a half square miles of absolute complete and utter devastation? There was dereliction every-where; there was not even a toilet to be found. Furthermore, as a result of that development, there is today over £2 billion worth of private enterprise invested there because people see that it has a future. Is this not a pattern to be followed? First the Government must find money for the purchase of land and for the putting in of the infrastructure. Secondly, having done that, they should then let private enterprise have a go.

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, the noble Lord is right. He will know better than I do that after losing 10,000 jobs in the four years prior to 1981 alone, 660 companies have been attracted to the area. Thus some 10,000 jobs have been created. A considerable amount of housing work has been undertaken for people living in the area. I am pleased to tell the noble Lord that today my right honourable friend the 422 Prime Minister announced a further two UDCs. That shows how right we were to implement the programme in 1981, and furthermore what a success it has been.

§ Lord Simon of Glaisdale
My Lords, can the noble Earl give the figures for Middlesbrough?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, I must ask the noble and learned Lord which figures he has in mind.

§ Lord Simon of Glaisdale
My Lords, I want the figures concerning public investment in the Middlesbrough Urban Development Corporation. I should also like to know what private interest has been shown in consequence of that investment.

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, that is a new UDC. I understand that some £20 million has been provisionally allocated for it next year. There are already signs that the private sector is becoming interested as a result of the Government's pump priming.

§ Lord Dormand
My Lords, although the Question concerns public money, does the Minister agree that in fact none of that public money is so-called new money? I should perhaps declare that I am the Deputy Chairman of the Teesside Urban Development Corporation. While I readily acknowledge that so far there has been no restriction on the money available—although the Minister has said it is early days—does he agree that if new money was put into the urban development corporations, they would then be much more successful?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, more money is being afforded to the development corporations. As the noble Lord knows, there will be a further £20 million allocated next year for Teesside. Indeed, it is the concentration and how one spends the money that is important; that is where it has been such a success.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, does the Minister recall that a short time ago, in a debate in this House, I drew the Government's attention to the concern being expressed by private investors about the slowness in processing the scheme? At the time my information was that no additional staff had been recruited to process those schemes in a general sense; they were in fact progressing at an unbelievably slow pace. Can the Mininster give us any information as to whether additional staff have now been recruited to deal with the schemes, thus making the progress more meaningful than it has been up until now?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, I cannot give the noble Lord the answer that he requires. The question relates to private investment in the inner-city areas. However, I shall of course look into the matter for him.

§ Baroness Fisher of Rednal
My Lords, as regards the Black Country urban development, can the noble Earl tell the House whether building has already commenced under derelict steelwork sites? 423 Furthermore, are the roads that the Minister mentioned a continuation of the plans that were laid by the West Midlands county authority before abolition?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, I am afraid that I do not have the necessary details to enable me to answer the noble Baroness's last question. Perhaps I may write to her on the matter.

§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister explain, in this context, what is the distinction between the so-called new money and old money?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, the new money to which my noble friend refers is money that has been committed by the Government in their White Paper. That has been allocated and targeted to various areas, details of which were announced this morning.

§ Baroness Lane-Fox
My Lords, does the group of leading construction companies which is now forming an urban development company known as BUD count as new money?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, I do not know.

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, when responding to the question of the noble Lord, Lord Mellish, the Minister appeared to agree that the London Docklands Development Corporation was an example for all inner cities. Is it not the case that 10 per cent. only of new jobs in the Isle of Dogs, for example, have gone to people who live in the Isle of Dogs and a further 10 per cent. to those who live in Tower Hamlets? That is not an especially good example. With regard to the new urban development corporations, is it not the case that £68 million in block grant has been taken away from those areas since 1981?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, the UDCs have helped considerably within, in particular, docklands where one quarter of those who purchased homes on UDC sites were former local council tenants. They have now become owner-occupiers, which is a good thing. One third of the purchasers of homes built on LDDC sites were people from the docklands area.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, the noble Earl is very properly answering a Question on urban development corporations. As I understand it, in another place Mr. Kenneth Clarke, of the Department of Trade and Industry, will be answering a question about the plans announced this morning by the Prime Minister. Who will have responsibility for the operation of the so-called new policies announced by the Prime Minister? As I understand it, she had a large number of Cabinet Ministers surrounding her this morning. The House and the country will wish to know who will carry the can.

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, as the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition knows, interest 424 in the inner cities varies across government. The co-ordinating Minister is my right honourable friend Mr. Kenneth Clarke.

§ Lord Mellish
My Lords, further to the question asked by the Opposition Front Bench about London docklands, is the Minister aware that the trouble is that the Isle of Dogs forms only a small part of the East End of London, and it is about time some of them did their homework?