HC Deb 25 November 1952 vol 508 cc27-8W
67. Mr. J. T. Price

asked the President of the Board of Trade what plans his Department have drawn up for building Government-sponsored factories in the new North-East Lancashire Development Area or in other scheduled Development Areas of Lancashire, including West-houghton, which are desperately in need of a wider range of industry.

Mr. H. Strauss

We wish to secure new industries for the proposed Development Area in North-East Lancashire and some preliminary inquiries have already been received. We shall continue to do our utmost to attract suitable projects to this area and to the other Development Areas. When the Order has been made adding the new area to the Schedule, we shall have the power to build Government financed factories.

If suitable applications are made by industrialists for such factories to be provided either in North-East Lancashire or in any of the Development Areas where additional employment is much needed, we shall consider them sympathetically on their merits. North-Western Industrial Estates, Limited, will act as agents of the Board of Trade in the proposed new area.