Sustainable Communities Plan (Hansard, 15 March 2004)

§ Lord Smith of Clifton
My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Greaves, and at his request, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the status and purpose of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's report Making it happen: The Northern Way.

§ The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker)
My Lords, Making it happen: The Northern Way is the second progress report on the delivery of the Sustainable Communities Plan. The document outlines the good progress that we have made to date with our partners since publication of the communities plan in February last year with a particular emphasis on the north and the Midlands.

§ Lord Smith of Clifton
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply, but does he recall the late Lord Williams of Mostyn, replying to a Question on the cessation of producing government annual reports, telling the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Croy: If the noble Lord believes that it was a waste of time and spin. he ought to rejoice, because the sinner has repented".—[Official Report, 13/3/03; col. 1480.]? Apparently not. Making it happen: the Northern Way is another fatuous glossy. I must press the Minister: what is the point of it; to whom is it being distributed; and what is it supposed to achieve?

§ Lord Rooker
Well, my Lords, I am astonished at the Question asked by the noble Lord on behalf of the noble Lord, Lord Greaves. As I said, this is the second progress report, not the first one, on delivering a £22 billion programme. As I said, most of the others have concerned the south-east. We want to make clear 8 that the sustainable communities programme is a national programme. It is not north, it is not south; it is not urban, it is not rural.
The document outlines the progress that we have made on, for example, the northern market renewal pathfinders, involving a half a billion pound programme where we have collapse of the housing market and problems of community cohesion. The document explains how the money has been spent. It contains a progress report on the coalfields community programme.
The document mainly concerns the north and the Midlands, but not exclusively. For example, it announces the setting up of the 16th urban regeneration company in Gloucester. To describe it as a fatuous glossy is quite out of order and out of proportion to its contents. I cannot respond fully in the context of this Question, but I am quite happy to have these reports debated in this House at any time that noble Lords choose.

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, I am tempted to use the same form of words to describe the document as did the noble Lord, Lord Smith, but I shall refrain. The Minister talked about creating sustainable communities costing £22 billion. How much of that will come from general taxation?

§ Lord Rooker
My Lords, the £22 billion is government expenditure. The programmes that have been carried out across the country will lever in a factor of four, five or, sometimes, up to tenfold from the private sector. Most of the investment will come from the private sector; we have made that clear. Most of our money is for remediation—getting land, especially Brownfield land, ready; opening up sites with infrastructure such as bypasses or bridges; and a whole host of work. Most of the money for investment in both the wider four growth areas of the south-east, which is what the Sustainable Communities Plan is about, and in the north and the Midlands, on which I have just touched, will be levered in from the private sector.
I challenge anyone to argue that this is not a report on progress made—as I said, a second progress report. No one seemed to criticise the first one. Perhaps that is because it was devoted exclusively to the south-east and the Members of this place, like the Members of the other place, and journalists, being London-centric, thought that that was a good idea. Because this report concentrates on the north and the Midlands, all of a sudden, it is not on.

§ Lord Woolmer of Leeds
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the north of England, with 15 million people, six major cities, three world-class national parks and several world-class universities, represents a tremendous opportunity for this country and an alternative to the continued over-expansion and investment in the south-east of England? Does he recognise that the three regional development agencies in the north of England do not regard this as a fatuous exercise, but are working extremely hard, along with 9 the Government, to ensure that not only does it receive appropriate public funds, but that it is based firmly on attracting private investment to show that the north of England is indeed a major alternative to the southeast?

§ Lord Rooker
My Lords, my noble friend is quite right. The report sets out the work that is being carried out by the three regional development agencies and the other partners, such as English Partnerships. Most people would say that the growth pressures are only in the south-east, but the potential for growth in the north, as set out in the concept of the northern growth corridor, is enormous. We dismiss that at our peril. For example, productivity in the three northern regions is not as good as in the rest of England. If they worked only to the English average, the income for those three regions would be £30 billion more. So there is enormous potential that we fail to exploit at our peril.

§ Baroness Sharples
My Lords, would the noble Lord please interpret the word "remediation"?

§ Lord Rooker
Well, my Lords, getting second-hand land use-ready is one example. It is clearing derelict sites so that the pressure is taken off the countryside and greenfield sites; it is remediating land or, in this case, buildings, that have been used for other purposes. Our objective is to make good use of the assets that we have and to ensure that we push development away from greenfield sites. For example, with the housing programme, our target is to ensure that 60 per cent of new dwellings are built on brownfield sites—either second-hand buildings or second-hand land, if I can call it that. They must be prepared. so it is more expensive to build on brownfield than on greenfield sites. So far, we are achieving a proportion of 64 per cent.

§ The Countess of Mar
My Lords, as a resident of Worcestershire, which might be called the Midlands, can the noble Lord tell me where the north begins? Is it north of Watford Gap?

§ Lord Rooker
My Lords, I am going to get into trouble here. I fear that we will have to tear up some of the old boundaries. The wider south-east, as we now talk about it, finishes at Peterborough and Corby, because they are part of the two south-east growth areas. There is then a wedge called the Midlands between what we might call the north and the southeast. I shall not get into any arguments about where the boundaries are. I have my own views about some counties being in the wrong region, but I shall not deploy them here and now.

§ Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, does the noble Lord accept that one of the strongest arguments for regional government for the north is that currently all those schemes are administered and managed by a network of agencies that it is extremely difficult for the outsider to understand? Is he further aware that I 10 attended the Yorkshire Forward annual meeting the year before last and did not understand quite a lot of the jargon used? A little more democratic power in the north and a little more simplicity in the structures might help considerably to enable the north to make its case for stronger growth against the south.

§ Lord Rooker
My Lords, the noble Lord is perfectly right. Later this year, the citizens and residents of the three northern regions will have the opportunity to decide whether they want a directly elected body. It will be for the people to choose whether they want to go down that road.