Thurrock Development Corporation (Area and Constitution) Order 2003 (Hansard, 28 October 2003)

§ Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I can see that the Minister has taken to heart the recommendation that 10 minutes should be allotted to this order. Perhaps I may slow the procedure down for a moment. As the Minister said, this matter was raised in the Sustainable Communities Plan. The Thames Gateway has been identified as a part of that plan, and Thurrock is an important element.
It has been clear for a number of years that this part of southern England requires attention and therefore there is no objection to the principle of what is being proposed. As always, however, any concerns there may be lie in the practical application of what is to be done. That has raised a few questions which I should like to put to the Minister.
The boundaries of the UDC are to be the boundaries of Thurrock council. As the Minister mentioned, those include a substantial tranche of green belt land. While the consultation paper makes it clear that it is the Government's intention to work within Thurrock's UDC as far as protection of the green belt is concerned, it also makes it clear that not all development will be on brownfield sites, and that housing, commercial and industrial growth would be focused predominantly, but not exclusively—those are the words used in the consultation paper—on brownfield land.
Again, in the words of the consultation paper, there should be regeneration of undeveloped green belt land and the green belt should be used as a key driver for the regeneration of the borough's less attractive and under-utilised green open spaces. These words do not inspire confidence that there will be proper observance of the green belt. My first question to the Minister is this: what constraints will be laid to prevent encroachment on to green belt land?
The Minister also pointed out that the urban development corporation is expected to have planning powers. Will those planning powers include powers of compulsory purchase? If so, will they fall within the confines of the forthcoming Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill, or under the previous legislation?
The consultation paper refers to the urban development corporation having "strategic planning powers". The Minister has made it clear that these powers will be for large-scale developments only, so can we assume that the local authority will remain responsible for all other planning applications within its area? Where the UDC has planning powers, will it be required to consult in the normal way, not only with local representatives but also with those who might be affected by any planning decision—for example, local 214 people living nearby within sight of or surrounding a proposed development? Will the UDC's planning decisions be made in public? Will these be for both outline and full applications?
The local Essex Council for the Protection of Rural England has sent me its response to the document. It is anxious that the UDC should be required to produce a strategic framework and master plans for regeneration; acquire, assemble and prepare previously developed urban land and buildings on brownfield sites; promote specific regeneration opportunities on individual sites; ensure that any development is of the highest standard and quality; and regularly monitor and publicly report on performance and progress. Will these requirements be laid down within the terms of what the UDC is required to do?
The membership of the UDC, it is said, is to have a strong local representation. Who is expected to fulfil that role and from what organisations? Will they include representatives from heritage and preservation societies such as the CPRE, which has briefed me on this issue? Will the Government lay down the structure of the representation, particularly in view of their assertion that they do not believe that any one interest group should have a majority on the board of the UDC?
Finally, the UDC is required to ensure that matters of the environment, air quality, adequacy of water supplies and infrastructure are taken into account and that employment is generated. But no mention is made of a requirement to ensure that there are adequate schools, hospitals and leisure facilities in an area where it is proposed that more than 17,000 new dwellings should be provided. What is the position in regard to those issues?

§ Baroness Maddock
My Lords, I concur with many of the questions asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham. Can the Minister explain how the consultation process will operate with local people if planning powers are taken over by the urban development corporation? Many local people are concerned about that issue, although I accept that within the local area most people are in favour of the corporation going ahead.
How will the infrastructure be dealt with by the urban development corporation? As I understand it, the population of the area is approximately 170,000 people. They have no local hospital with an accident and emergency facility and they are concerned that the infrastructure should not be lost in the development. People recognise that housing is needed in the area but they are concerned that the necessary facilities will not be provided.
Some people are a little surprised that the whole of Thurrock district was included given that a high proportion of it is green belt and this is an urban development corporation. Can the Minister comment on that issue?
The consultation documents refer to the regeneration of previously underdeveloped green belt. They state that this could be utilised as a key driver for the regeneration 215 of the less attractive, under-utilised green open spaces. People are confused about precisely what that means. I hope that the Minister will be able to enlighten us on that issue and the other points I have raised.

§ Lord Rooker
My Lords. I am grateful to the noble Baronesses and I shall do my best to answer their questions.
On the issue of compulsory purchase, I presume that the urban development corporation will have the same compulsory purchase powers as other development corporations have had in the past. The legislation vehicle is exactly the same. As with all compulsory purchase authorities—that is, local authorities—there will be changes under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill, but that Bill will not become an Act for some months to come. I cannot be certain when the new powers for compulsory purchase will come in but they will affect all relevant authorities at the time Royal Assent is given and the Act comes into being.
The normal rules will apply. There has been no attempt to short-cut the rules. All other planning applications in Thurrock—for house extensions and so on—will be a matter for the local planning authority, which is the local council.
As part of the overall sustainable community plan for the Thames Gateway, Thurrock Borough Council looked at the situation, as did other authorities, and said, "We would like a UDC operation in our area". It was not a question of imposition. The normal rules will apply for treating planning applications by the urban development corporation. It will be required to consult in the normal way a local authority would, using powers of public consultation and written notices, with nothing behind closed doors in the sense of circumventing the normal planning rules. It is not our intention to do that.
I realise that the green belt is a sensitive issue. I was at a meeting in the east Midlands today on the sustainable communities plan and was questioned by a member of the Council for the Protection of Rural England. It is an organisation that I support—I have no intention of ripping up rural England. But I have to repeat that the green belt has a purpose. It is not to do with areas of outstanding natural beauty or national parks. They are quite separate. The green belt is around the urban fringe to stop towns joining up. It therefore tends to be a much less environmentally pretty amenity than areas of outstanding natural beauty and national parks. That is not an excuse for building on green belt land—its purpose is to stop towns joining up and urban sprawl.
We have said repeatedly, as part of the plan for the Thames Gateway, that it is highly likely that more statutory green belt land will be made through the years to stop the new settlements and communities becoming a 40-mile mini-city, because that is not our intention. Our intention is to put the green belt and countryside into the gateway.
To give a fuller answer, I will put the paragraph I have in front of me on the record, because I do not want there to be any misunderstanding. While there is 216 likely to be some re-examination of the green belt, the urban development corporation will maintain the purpose and integrity of the green belt. The focus of any development within the green belt will be on existing settlements, where in some cases there is a need to achieve a critical mass that will help create more balanced, rounded and sustainable communities. By including Thurrock's green belt within the urban development corporation's operational boundary, the UDC will also be in a better position to protect and conserve the countryside and enhance its civic function as the borough's green lung. I hope that makes it absolutely clear that it is very restrictive, narrow and specific but it made sense, looking at it in the round, to use the UDC boundary as the borough boundary rather than leaving a part out of it.
On representation, we have made it clear there will be no overall majority of any group in particular. I cannot give details; we have appointed the chairman designate. If this House approves the order, the UDC comes into force tomorrow. The other House has already approved it. It will be useful to have the chairman in place for appointing the rest; it will be done by normal Nolan rules for everybody concerned.
The proposals have been welcomed by Thurrock council. It recognises that the delivery of regeneration and development in the borough relies on a powerful, focused delivery mechanism. The UDC will, in any case, work closely with the council and Thurrock's local strategic partnership. Four of the 13 seats on the UDC board will be filled by elected council members, but no one section or group will have a majority on the board. It will take time and obviously the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. We are not planning that many UDCs—we have already highlighted one in the Northamptonshire area and another one in the London area. Some delivery mechanisms will be led by English Partnerships while others, as in Ashford, will be led by the local authority.
On infrastructure, I can only state what has been repeatedly said. There will be no sustainable growth or sustainable communities unless the infrastructure—by which I mean the social, economic and transport infrastructure—is dealt with. Therefore, education, health and transport mechanisms need to be part and parcel of the whole of the development, otherwise the private sector will not invest, because most of the investment will come from the private sector, people will not move there and it will not be sustainable. The whole genesis of the sustainable communities plan published last February depends on that, and we are determined to bring that about by the way in which we are operating in the department and driving forward the communities plan.
This is a cross-government plan, not an ODPM plan. It is led by a Cabinet Committee and teams of civil servants across Whitehall so that we can get other departments bending into the mechanism of the communities plan in their own planning. They need to know we are trying to take this forward in as co-ordinated a way as possible, otherwise we will not fulfil the aim of the plan and the department, which is to 217 create sustainable communities. We are desperately trying to indicate that we have learnt the lessons of the past.
Only last week, along with Keith Hill, the Minister for London and for the gateway, former members of urban development corporations—which are non-existent, obviously, as they have all been wound up— shared with us their various experiences of starting them up, running them and even winding them down. We want the best possible experience to hand for carrying out this operation. If the infrastructure is not put in place, we will have failed; without the infrastructure, we will not get the growth and it will not be sustainable. We stand to be tested and judged by that commitment.