HL Deb 14 December 1995 vol 567 cc1387-9

4.8 p.m.

The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Earl Ferrers) rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 15th November be approved [1st Report from the Joint Committee].

The noble Earl said: My Lords, the order is required in order to wind up the Bristol Development Corporation. It revokes the 1988 order which designated the urban development area and which established the development corporation. The order will take effect in two stages. First, that part of the 1988 order, which is designated the urban development area, is to be revoked on 1st January 1996. Secondly, that part of the order which established the corporation is to be revoked on 1st April 1996.

The reason for having two stages is that on 1st January the corporation will cease to exercise any operational functions. It is, therefore, quite proper that the urban development area status should be removed on that date. The corporation will then have three months in which to produce its annual report and accounts and to wind up its affairs. On 1st April next year, therefore, the corporation will finally be dissolved.

All development corporations were intended from the outset to be limited-life bodies. They were set up in order to deal with the physical and economic regeneration of various inner-city areas. The Bristol Development Corporation has largely done what it set out to do, and that is why we are able to wind it up.

The area which the Bristol Development Corporation inherited lies to the east of the city centre. For a variety of reasons it had declined for over 40 years. The city council's own figures showed a five-fold increase in the amount of land which had been designated as derelict or underused during the period from 1965 to 1988.

The main project which the corporation had to undertake was to build a new two kilometre spine road linking the M32 and the A4. In the process of doing this, various pieces of land were "unlocked" which had been previously inaccessible and they have attracted over£200 million of private investment in the process. The road carried 22,000 vehicles a day which before had either used small, residential streets as a short cut or had crawled through the congested city centre. The road was built in record time and under budget. It caused minimal disturbance to business and none to residential properties.

Among the new developments which have been made possible by the new road is a highly successful leisure and retail complex at Avon Meads, which has brought a new lease of life to the area. A recent survey showed that 92 per cent. of visitors thought that the development was something of which Bristol could be justly proud. In the Avon Valley, the corporation has established an urban village of nearly 700 houses—many for first time buyers—with shops and a doctors' surgery. Another 400 houses are planned and are under construction. This riverside setting has been transformed from a derelict eyesore into the largest residential development in Bristol.

Several new business parks have been developed which have provided much needed employment. These are now places to move into, and not out of. The corporation has also laid the foundation for the future regeneration of the important Quay Point site, which is next to Temple Meads station. It has now sold the site to English Partnerships who will try to secure a development scheme which will revitalise this part of the city. By the end of this year the corporation will have reclaimed 64 hectares of previously derelict land and it will have provided 6.4 kilometres of road. It will have provided 116,000 square metres of new commercial floorspace which will have been developed. Nearly 700 houses will have been built and 4,600 jobs will have been created. For every£1 of public money which will have been invested, the private sector will have invested £3.

I think that that is a record of which the corporation can be quite rightly proud, and I congratulate its board and officials for their achievements over the past seven years.

Having created the framework for the continuing resurgence of east Bristol, it is right to wind up the corporation. It is now for others to carry on the work and to build upon the achievements which have been made by the corporation. The order is necessary in order to wind up the corporation, and I commend it to your Lordships. I beg to move.

Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 15th November be approved.[1st Report from the Joint Committee.]—(Earl Ferrers.)

Lord Williams of Elvel

My Lords, the House will be grateful to the noble Earl for introducing this order. It is a very rare occasion on which I find myself able to support Government legislation, let alone Government subordinate legislation, but in this case we welcome the order. I do not go along wholly with the noble Earl in his description of the triumphs of the Bristol Development Corporation because, as he will be aware from debates which have taken place in another place, there are two points of view on its achievements. Nevertheless, it is right at the present time for the activities of the development corporation to be transferred partly, as I understand it—perhaps the noble Earl can answer this rather small point—to English Partnerships, but mainly to the local authorities in question. If the noble Earl can say what will be the role of English Partnerships in the future I shall be most grateful and we need not worry your Lordships any longer on this particular order.

Lord Brightman

My Lords, I had the privilege and pleasure of chairing the committee which originally considered the order which established the scheme. When I saw the Motion on the Order Paper I felt some alarm because I did not know whether the order was being revoked because the scheme had successfully served its purpose or whether the scheme was terminally ill. I was delighted to hear that the scheme has succeeded, as I am certain will be all the other Members of your Lordships' House who served on that committee.

Your Lordships cannot imagine the devastation which this area of Bristol presented when we first saw it on a bleak October day in 1988. There were abandoned factory sites and land so fouled by tar products that it could not safely be built upon. There was a railway line snaking over empty fields on which reposed abandoned railway trucks through which the bindweed grew profusely. There was a totally inadequate infrastructure to support any redevelopment. In the previous century Bristol was the second city in England after London. If this scheme has revived the fortunes of Bristol I for my part think that the greatest credit is due to the development corporation, to the local authority, to businesses which have migrated there and to all others concerned.

Earl Ferrers

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Williams, for saying that he supports the Government. He said that was a rare event but even rare events are greatly appreciated when they occur. Perhaps it will be the start of many. The noble Lord said that that did not represent a change of heart because he had various concerns about the measure. I knew that he would say something like that because it was incumbent upon him to do so as some members of his party are concerned about the Bristol Development Corporation. However, I consider that that body has done a wonderful job of work and has achieved all that I tried to explain to your Lordships. When it is wound up, the property which has been left—most of that is on the Quay Point project—will go to English Partnerships. The Bristol City Council will take on the planning matters on 18th December and the Secretary of State will assume responsibility for any remaining assets or liabilities on 19th December.

I was concerned that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brightman, should have been worried when he saw the order on the Order Paper. I am quite delighted that I was able to remove his worries. I agree with the noble and learned Lord that the Bristol Development Corporation has achieved a great deal. That has not been easy for the corporation. It has turned a large area of derelict land into successful usable land. As I said, it has attracted private investment to the order of£3 for every£1 of government money. The result is that areas which were formerly derelict are now thriving and have modern houses and businesses. That has been a great success. The corporation's task has been completed and it falls to others to continue that task. I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord for his approval of this measure and for what the Bristol Development Corporation has done. I am also grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Williams, for his encouragement.

On Question, Motion agreed to.