§ Mr. Anthony Grantasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish in the Official Report the areas that have become assisted areas for the purposes of regional policy or whose status has been raised to that of development areas or special development areas since 1964, and the estimated population involved in each case.
§ Mr. CryerThe Industrial Development Act 1966 replaced the former relatively small development districts by wider, continuous development areas. Initially they covered most of Scotland, most of Wales, the Northern Region, North Yorkshire, Furness, Merseyside, most of Cornwall and North Devon. Special development areas were first introduced administratively in 1967 and on a statutory basis in 1972; intermediate498W areas were established in 1970 following the report of the Hunt Committee. The assisted areas designated since 1966 have been:
1970: Intermediate Areas (1)
North-East Lancashire, Yorkshire coalfield, North Humberside, Notts/Derby coalfield, South-East Wales, Plymouth, Leith.1971: Intermediate Areas (1)
Bridlington and Filey, Edinburgh and Portobello, Okehampton and Tavistock, Oswestry.1972: Intermediate Areas (1)
The rest of the Yorkshire and Humberside Region. The rest of the North-West Region. North Wales. Extension of South-East Wales intermediate area.Special Development Areas (2)
Parts of Scotland, Wales, North-East England and West Cumberland.1974: Intermediate Areas (1)
Chesterfield travel to work area (TTWA)Development Areas (3)
Edinburgh, Leith and Portobello, Cardiff TTWA.Special Development Areas (4)
Merseyside, North-West Wales.
- (1) Formerly non-assisted areas.
- (2) Formerly development areas in receipt of additional assistance and known administratively as special development areas.
- (3) Formerly intermediate areas.
- (4) Formerly development areas.
I regret that the statistical information requested is not available except at a disproportionate cost.
The numbers of employees affected by the changes in 1974 were:
EMPLOYEES IN AREA (EMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYED Mid 1975 Nos.('000s) Chesterfield TTWA 80 Edinburgh 234* Leith 234* Portobello 234* Cardiff TTWA 182 Merseyside Special Development Area 757† North West Wales Special Development Area 46 Total 1,299 * Mid 1974 figure. † Excludes Skelmersdale New Town as, although it is included in the special development area, it forms part of the Ormskirk TTWA, the rest of which is within the North-West intermediate area.
§ Mr. Anthony Grantasked the Secretary of State for Industry what was the population in (a) special development areas and development areas, and (b) intermediate areas in 1976, 1970 and 1964, respectively; and if he will show 499W the figures as percentages of the total population in the years in question.
§ Mr. CryerI regret that it is not possible to provide estimates of population except at disproportionate cost, but the table below shows the numbers of employees
EMPLOYEES (EMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYED) IN THE ASSISTED AREAS AT MID-YEAR* 1966† 1970† 1975† 000s 000s 000s Development and Special Development Areas Number of employees … … … 4,943‡ 4,861 5,366 (Percentage of Great Britain total) … (21.0) (21.2) (23.3) Intermediate Areas§ Number of employees … … … — 1,503 4,640 (Percentage of Great Britain total) … — (6.6) (20.2) * Boundaries as at mid-year in the specified year. † Statistics for 1966 and 1970 are based on insurance card counts; those for 1975 on the Census of Employment. ‡ Relates to development areas only, as the special development areas had not then been introduced. § First created in 1970.