§ Mr. TippingTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what job-creation measures were introduced following the announcement of the closure of the Chatham dockyards, the Corby steelworks and the Ravenscraig steelworks; what was the total cost of these measures; and how many new jobs have been created.
§ Mr. SainsburyFollowing the Chatham dockyard closure in 1984, remedial measures included the designation of an enterprise zone by the then Secretary of State for the Environment and activity by English Estates to clear dereliction, provide new infrastructure and market the reclaimed dockyard site under a co-ordinated development plan. Total net expenditure by English Estates to date has been £69 million, but the eventual level of receipts from the project is expected to broadly balance out expenditure. The English Estates site is expected to provide some 5,000 jobs and housing for 5,000 people.
The Corby steelworks closed during 1980, and remedial measures included development area status in 1979, designation as a European Coal and Steel Community—ECSC—steel closure area in 1980, the setting up of the Corby development corporation in 1980 and an enterprise zone in 1981. Expenditure on regional grants—regional 470W development grants, regional selective assistance and regional enterprise grants—to date has been £51.4 million: not all of this has been directly job related, but that which was resulted in the creation of 5,195 jobs and the safeguarding of a further 113.
Figures about ECSC loans for all areas are held by the European Commission. Questions about development corporations and enterprise zones are a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, and those about Ravenscraig for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.