New Towns (Hansard, 25 May 1988)

§ Mr. Lang

[holding answer 28 April 1988]: The information requested is as follows:

A. Hectares and population within the designated area.

Table 1 shows population for each of the towns as at 31 March each year and is based on figures supplied to the Industry Department for Scotland by the development corporations. Table 2 details the designated areas as at 31 March for 1974, 1975, 1986 and 1987; no detailed information is available for the years 1976–85 inclusive, or for 1988–90.

B. Hectares and population of the "host" district councils.

Table 1 gives the Registrar General's mid-year estimates of population for the "host" district councils. Table 2 details the area in hectares of the host district councils for the years shown; information for other years between 1974 and 1988 is not available.

193W

Town	"Host" district	¹1975	1980	1985	1988
Irvine	Cunninghame	63,345	87,859	87,859	87,859
Livingston	West Lothian	42,230	42,305	42,305	42,305

Source: Municipal Year Book

¹1975 was the year in which the reforms embodied in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 were implemented.

C. Numbers of employed persons within the designated area.

Up to 1981 the Census of Employment was based on the Department of Employment's Local Employment Office Areas (LEOA's). These correspond quite closely to the designated areas of the New Towns but are not precisely comparable. Irvine New Town covers 2 LEOA's, namely Irvine and Kilwinning. The 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1981 Census of Employment data is shown in Table 1; no Census was conducted in 1979, 1980, 1982 or 1983. The Livingston LEOA includes Mid Calder in 1981. The 1984 and 1987 Census of Employment data is based on travel to work areas, which do not correspond to New Town designated areas [eg East Kilbride lies within the Glasgow travel to work area]. No Census of Employment

Table 1
Numbers of employed persons within new town designated areas
Local employment office area	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1981
Cumbernauld	11,873	12,167	12,088	11,244	11,458	11,579
East Kilbride	29,246	29,137	30,904	29,790	28,728	26,094
Glenrothes	19,189	16,725	18,999	18,881	19,946	18,858
Irvine	22,192	22,013	23,086	23,356	22,258	18,715
Livingston	8,546	8,771	9,722	9,641	11,551	13,145
Total	91,046	88,813	94,799	92,912	93,941	88,391

Note: The figures relate to persons in employment and do not distinguish between full and part time employment.

D. Numbers of employed persons within the area of the district council.

Census of Employment data for local government districts is only readily available for 1981 and 1984 and is reproduced below.

Table 1
Scottish new towns' population 1974–87
	Cumbernauld	East Kilbride	Glenrothes	Irvine	Livingston
1974	36,800	69,540	31,500	47,600	20,938
1975	39,810	71,830	31,100	48,700	22,459
1976	43,418	74,800	32,500	50,700	25,117
1977	44,709	76,250	33,900	53,800	30,600
1978	47,111	76,100	35,100	58,000	33,864
1979	49,406	75,850	35,650	59,000	35,294
1980	50,433	75,800	37,000	58,700	37,064
1981	50,748	76,100	37,000	58,900	38,677
1982	50,812	71,000	37,500	57,300	37,295
1983	49,216	70,600	36,500	56,300	38,828
1984	49,469	70,500	37,500	57,150	39,300
1985	49,739	70,200	38,000	57,500	39,550
1986	50,308	70,000	38,000	58,000	40,380
1987	48,839	69,700	38,400	58,600	40,500

Table 2
Scottish new towns' designated areas 1974–1987 (hectares)
	1974	1975	1986	1987
Cumbernauld	3,115.2	3,115.2	3,154	3,154
East Kilbride	4,100	4,100	4,151	4,151
Glenrothes	2,292	2,292	2,321	2,321
Irvine	4,976	4,976	5,038	5,038
Livingston	2,676	2,676	2,780	2,780

194W

took place in 1985 or 1986 and none is planned for 1988. The results from the 1987 Census of Employment are not yet available; there are no forecasts of employment for the years 1989–90.

The New Town Development Corporations conduct regular surveys of employment within their areas. These surveys employ different definitions and methods of data collection as between Towns and the resultant figures are not necessarily consistent with official sources. These figures were collated and replicated as Appendix 2 in the National Audit Office Report no. 276, "Industry Department for Scotland: Review of Scottish new Towns", published on 22 January 1988; copies of that Report are available in the Library.

New town	District council	1981	1984
Cumbernauld	Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	14,180	14,603
East Kilbride	East Kilbride	28,303	29,772
Glenrothes	Kirkcaldy	58,059	56,019
Irvine	Cunninghame	36,949	37,042
Livingston	West Lothian	42,186	43,607

Note: The figures relate to numbers of employed persons and do not distinguish between full and part-time employees.