§ Mr. Thorntonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he has approved any plans by the English Industrial Estates Corporation for further public investment in the assisted areas of England, or elsewhere, during the current financial year.
§ Mr. TrippierMy right hon. Friend has approved provisional proposals by the corporation for allocating £30.9 million grant-in-aid to the travel-to-work areas in the assisted areas of England where new industrial and commercial devlopment is needed to help reduce unemployment. In addition, provision has been made for EIEC to spend up to £6.9 million on the initiatives in the west midlands and Chatham which were announced early last year. Provisional allocation of resources for the assisted area programme is as follows:
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English Industrial Estates Corporation 1984–85 Planned Resources Allocation Region TTWA £'000 North West Birkenhead 2,150 Blackpool 237 Bolton 645 Lancaster 86 Leigh 301 Liverpool 5,698 Northwich 194 Rochdale 538 Rossendale 86 St. Helens 430 Southport 366 Whitehaven 215 Widnes 946 Wigan 860 Workington 323 North East Central Durham 215 Consett* 1,260 Darlington and South West Durham 301 Hartlepool 753 Morpeth 172 North Tyne 387 South Tyne 1,935 Teesside 2,688 Wearside 2,150 Yorkshire and Humberside Barnsley 323 Bradford 774 Bridlington 86 Doncaster 968 Goole 86 Grimsby 280 Hull 1,075 Maltby 108 Mexborough 495 Rotherham 968
Region TTWA £000 Scarborough 108 Scunthorpe* 840 Whitby 108 South West Bideford 86 Falmouth 129 Helston 86 Liskeard 86 Newquay 172 Penzance 129 Plymouth 323 Redruth 108 Torbay 323 East Midlands Gainsborough 86 Mablethorpe 86 Skegness 151 Total 30,920 * Steel closure area. The corporation intends to spend this money on developments which provide the most effective means of reducing unemployment, and, in addition to building advance factories, it will consider projects for derelict land clearance, site preparation, workshop units, buildings for high technology industries and office accommodation. Detailed announcements about specific projects will be made by the corporation as appropriate.
The corporation will, as before, be required to make every effort to reduce the net cost of its activities to the Exchequer by selling off existing assets at current market value and placing the proceeds in the Consolidated Fund.