§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he wilt make a statement on his recent visit to Liverpool.
§ Mr. HeseltineI chaired the inner city partnership meeting on Monday 12 January and the forward programme for 1981–82 was agreed. The emphasis of the programme will be support for private sector led economic regeneration, related job opportunities, environmental improvement, bringing vacant land into use and support for the voluntary sector. The partnership agreed to continue the emphasis on capital rather than current spending. We also discussed the independent review team's report and the reed to involve the private sector in decisions on the thrust of the partnership's programme through the Chamber of Commerce. I briefly toured several disused sites in the inner area to see what progress was being made in overcoming the problems of releasing vacant land. It is essential that such land is brought into productive use as quickly as possible.
I also toured the South Docks, which is within the proposed UDC area, where the problems of getting land 67W developed are considerable, but where the need for successful regeneration to make a major contribution to the Merseyside economy is obvious.