Lord TAYLORasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the machinery of the New Towns Acts, wich has been so successful in creating diversified industrial communities, can be used to bring a range of diversified industries to those areas which have only one major industry and have been seriously hit by unemployment.
§ The PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE, DEPARTMENT of the ENVIRONMENT (Baroness Birk)Each case for the use of the machinery of the New Towns Acts must be considered on its overall merits and the local employment needs would be among the factors taken into account. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has no immediate plans for new designations, but he would, of course, be ready to consider workable-looking proposals in the light of national interest.
In his consideration of the needs of individual places for industrial development, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Industry does, of course, have regard to the existing industrial structure.