Local Regeneration: Industrial Areas
Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
It is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. I did not agree with absolutely everything she said but I welcome the fact that she has recently visited the north-east. I am glad that she gets the positive impression of the place that she has rightly conveyed to the Chamber this afternoon.
I congratulate my noble friend Lady Armstrong of Hill Top. She was possibly the first woman politician who I ever heard speak in real life and it is a privilege to join her debate today. I remember that one of the things she talked about—I hesitate to say that she repeated herself today and, rather than talking about men in the steel industry, she was talking about politicians—was how, as a young woman growing up, it was the men who did the standing up and talking and the woman who made the tea. That stuck with me and probably acted as a bit of a spur—and I do not make the tea, as my husband will tell you.
Like my noble friend, my family worked in steel at ICI on Teesside. My great uncle Ken sold veg door to door in South Bank. I have lived in what we now call the Tees Valley for 43 years. My dad was born in Pym Street in South Bank. The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, spoke about health, and as well she might because our health indicators in this part of the world have not been great over the years.
However, I reject the noble Baroness’s swipe at the previous Labour Government over this. My dad died aged 48 of a heart condition in 1994. Had he lived for maybe another five years to see the election of the Labour Government, when investment and reforms were put into the health service, there was a very good chance he would have lived. There were people dying on waiting lists in 1994, waiting for more than a year and a half for heart treatment. That stopped with the Labour Government. I am very proud of what we delivered, not just in health, but in education and in joining up public services, and in our regional development agency in the north-east during our period in government.
My children were born in Darlington, which is part of what we are now calling Tees Valley. My nana thought that moving to Darlington was the ultimate in going up in the world. That was only until she moved into sheltered accommodation in Marske, because then she had really made it. It is a great place to be from, with a globally significant contribution to the industries of the past and the potential to be the same again today.
Our devolution settlement and the election of the first Tees Valley Mayor was an opportunity to grow our local economy and invest in our people in a joined-up way. Some good things have happened. Our airport is secure, for the time being at least, and our university is thriving. But many are wondering, after six years, where the money has gone and when they and their families will begin to feel the benefit. After decades of industrial decline, unemployment rates on Teesside are among the highest in the country at 4.2%, compared with the national average of 3.7%. Child poverty is at 36%, compared with the national average of 29%. The case for regeneration of this former industrial heartland is overwhelming.
I will not go over everything my noble friend Lady Armstrong said, but we now find that we have a mayoralty—and sadly, by extension, on the world stage, the Tees Valley—that is mired in controversy. At the heart of the accusations lies the deal which saw the creation of an entity called Teesworks in July 2020. It was nominally a 50/50 joint venture partnership. You can argue about whether 50/50 was fair or right at the time the joint venture was established, but you can certainly ask questions about what happened subsequently.
This controversy will never hit our pride in our area—no political shenanigans could do that—but it harms the potential for future investment. That is why I, my noble friend, and others around this House have been repeatedly trying to get answers from Ministers about what has gone on and what the Government intend to do about it.
As my noble friend explained, the 50/50 stake in the joint venture became a 90/10 stake in favour of the businessmen investors. The Government seemed to accept that there was a case worth investigating and Michael Gove commissioned a report. It had some quite worrying findings. It found that it was clear that the Tees Valley Combined Authority had “no sight” of decisions around the joint venture,
“other than specific deals where they may act to provide financial covenants or instruments”.
According to Private Eye, the arrangement for Teesworks to buy land was also changed, and the land purchase cost was reduced by £1 per acre from the previous market value. Why did this happen? There followed a land purchasing at £1 per acre for the freehold at South Bank Quay, and preparation for this land was financed by the public, with a £107 million loan from the UK Infrastructure Bank. Other land was purchased by the developers for less—£100, with complex lease and sale arrangements. Given the complexity of all these deals, the lack of transparency, the apparent advantage shown to a handful of preferred developers and the substantial profits made, without any investment in a site of such public importance, it is absolutely right that the concerns were raised and the inquiry was called.
We find ourselves at the end of that inquiry and reading the report, with so many questions left outstanding. We are concerned about a lack of transparency, inadequate governance and financial mismanagement, as found by the report—not a good deal for the taxpayer, in my opinion. We must make sure that we get to the bottom of all this. It is only fair for the reputation of Tees Valley and for the need for taxpayers locally and nationally to get the best value for their investment. That is why we continue to call for a comprehensive and independent investigation by the National Audit Office to restore public trust and confidence in the project.
I appreciate that some of our questions are a bit technical and detailed. We may have asked them of this Minister; we have certainly asked other Ministers. My noble friend has asked to have a response in a letter, and I add to that a request for a meeting with officials so that we can understand the Government’s reluctance to allow the NAO to investigate. My understanding is that that could be done incredibly quickly—in a matter of days, not weeks or months. It is necessary to have that investigation and a clean bill of health from the NAO so that investors can have the confidence that they need. They will be looking at reputational risk, and they need to know that their investments will be sound.
Tees Valley is a treasured home to us and a place of invention and innovation. Yes we have our challenges, but if our brightest days are to lie ahead we need to lift the lid on this. We need to find out what has happened, remove any stain of suspicion of impropriety and allow ourselves to move forward as the strong community that we are.
Baroness Swinburne (Con)
I give the noble Baroness that assurance: I will take that back to the department. It is my first week in the department, so I do not have an answer for her now, but I will speak to the civil servants and my Secretary of State.
I will continue. The settlement includes additional measures for local authorities in England, announced on 24 January, which will be worth an additional £600 million. We are trying to provide local authorities with as much bespoke support as possible, knowing that they have more jobs to do to deliver some of these programmes.
The work that we have done to create a climate for investment through the development of our freeports and investment zones programmes will drive up living standards and regenerate selected areas. Unlike the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, and some others, I think that the freeport initiative will be a source of jobs and investment. So far, we have created 12 freeports, eight of which are in former industrial areas—including in Teesside, the east Midlands, the Humber, Plymouth and the Solent—two are green freeports in Scotland and two are in Wales. All are now open for business and creating jobs.
Freeports are all about securing economic futures, and that of the UK as a whole, by reorienting regional economies towards innovative, low-carbon sectors such as renewables and advanced manufacturing. I believe that we are already seeing some movement here, with 6,000 jobs expected to be created and £2.9 billion of investment promised. They are also creating high-quality jobs across the UK, right in the communities where they are needed most.
Meanwhile, our investment zones programme recognises that the UK has underperformed in leveraging the success of key industries and certain research strengths, so they will be established in places with significant unmet productivity potential, many of which have a rich industrial history. For example, the zones in South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and the north-east of England are focusing on clusters associated with advanced manufacturing, nodding to their industrial heritage while investing further in high-potential industries of the present and the future.
The Government recognise the crucial role played by the private sector in the levelling-up agenda through schemes such as investment zones and freeports. We aim to enable and empower the private sector to increase investment, jobs and growth at a local level. Good quality, self-sustaining growth will be delivered through capitalising on the growing industries of the future. That includes manufacturing, where our funding is targeted to ensure that UK industry copes with the fundamental changes to remain at the forefront of the global transition to net zero. We are committed to growing the economy and ensuring that funding does not focus solely on the most successful sectors today but looks ahead as we keep pace internationally and build the UK’s expertise for the industries of the future.
In acknowledging many noble Lords’ close ties to the north-east region, I am delighted to draw attention to the recent announcement of a £40 million funding package to accelerate Teesside regeneration. Middlesbrough, alongside Redcar and Cleveland, will receive £20 million each—a total of £40 million—to help ramp up improvements, with targeted projects planned to revitalise high streets, healthcare, transport and education, and to create more affordable housing.
Finally, in County Durham, where I understand that the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, served as Member of Parliament, the market town of Bishop Auckland, which expanded to serve the coal industry, has been awarded £53 million from the Government’s future high streets fund and towns fund to support its development as a visitor destination of national significance. I look forward to visiting, given that my grandparents come from there. This investment will help diversify and enhance the town centre, improve transport connectivity and provide new skills and enterprise opportunities for young people. I hope noble Lords will acknowledge that that is a fitting response to celebrate the town’s proud industrial heritage.
I have a very large number of questions that I will try to zip through. My handwriting is appalling, so please forgive me if I stumble. I really empathise with the pride that the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman, has in her home area. It certainly made me think about my upbringing in my area. To date, approximately £1.4 billion in levelling-up funding has been allocated to projects in the north-east and Tees Valley. This funding covers a range of regeneration priorities, including addressing the local skills gap and developing emerging sectors in former industrial areas. Across all three rounds of the levelling up fund, the north-east has received more per capita than any other English region, alongside wider programmes including devolution deals, levelling-up partnerships and our long-term plan for towns. This shows our commitment to level up the region.
I turn to some of the remarks that many noble Baronesses and noble Lords made with respect to the Teesworks controversy. Following the concerns raised about Teesworks and the actions of the Tees Valley Combined Authority, we commissioned an independent external review, which was published on Monday 29 January. This found no evidence of corruption or illegality but made a series of constructive recommendations regarding the governance and transparency of the project. For the two recommendations relevant to central government, we will carefully consider how to support the continued success of the mayoral development corporation across the country and the recommendations regarding the landfill tax. The Secretary of State made a written request to the Tees Valley mayor, asking him to set out how he intends to respond to the panel’s recommendations by 8 March. This has already been done, and we hope to publish all this in a very short time.
I have been asked why the National Audit Office should not examine this. I have a note here to tell me that the NAO’s role is not to audit or examine individual local authorities, and its powers would not normally be used for that purpose. It would therefore be inappropriate to expand its role so significantly by asking it to lead this inquiry.
The panel that did this investigation was made up of individuals with significant experience in assurance and local government. The panel spent months investigating thoroughly, and found no evidence of corruption or fraud. Its report has been published; I am sure noble Lords have all read it, as they have alluded to. It was published a week after we received it. We welcome the constructive recommendations and are actively considering the way in which these relate to central government.
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
I in no way wish to besmirch those on the panel that conducted the report—they did what they were asked to do—but the report has raised more questions than it has answered and leaves an awful lot still in doubt. It says that
“the governance and financial management arrangements are not of themselves sufficiently robust or transparent to evidence value for money”.
I completely accept what the Minister says about corruption—I have never made an allegation of corruption—but we deserve better in Teesside than, “At least it’s not corrupt”. We wanted an NAO investigation; my understanding is that the NAO has offered to conduct such a review, so I am slightly confused about what the Minister just said, which she has obviously been advised to say. Can she confirm that she will write to us with detailed responses to the questions we have raised? Can we please have a meeting with her or an appropriate Minister and officials?
Baroness Swinburne (Con)
I will certainly commit to making sure we follow up on this in detail to the noble Baroness. Given that publication is imminent, I hope we can follow up as and when that happens.
Teesworks Joint Venture
Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts(10 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Baroness Penn (Con)
I agree with my noble friend that it is a matter of regret that those allegations were made, in the terms that they were made. It is incredibly serious to allege corruption and illegality. The findings of the review are absolutely clear on this; the review found no evidence of corruption or illegality.
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
My Lords, I am afraid that allegations of illegality and corruption were not the only allegations that led to this review. There were also allegations of a lack of transparency and—as a taxpayer in Tees Valley myself; my family have lived there for generations—there is a great deal of concern about a lack of value for money for taxpayers. Those complaints have been upheld by this report. On various occasions in the run-up to this review, the Mayor of Tees Valley asserted that there could not have been any wrongdoing because an official from the Government was involved in the decisions that were found so lacking by this review. Would the Minister like to comment on that?
Baroness Penn (Con)
As I said in my original response, the Government welcome the recommendations on strengthening governance and transparency. We welcome the oversight that this review has provided in those terms. I think the noble Baroness might be referring to the fact that the government official is a member of the board of the development authority. When a government official is a member on a board, in examples such as this, their role is as an observer. In this case, however, the panel noted examples of questions being raised by that government member as part of that review.
Baroness Penn (Con)
I do not believe that there are any further plans to cover any further reviews.
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
My Lords, the report says clearly that the measures in place
“do not meet the standards expected when managing public funds”.
I have read the recommendations and I look forward to the mayor’s response to them. Does the Minister think that, outside of the mayor’s response, the Government have a duty to ensure that this kind of practice does not continue and that there is training or perhaps some intervention from the Government? The Government have to take some of the responsibility here, because they have allowed a situation to evolve where the standards that we would expect for managing public funds have not been met. For all we know, because of the lack of transparency, this situation could be replicated in other areas.
Baroness Penn (Con)
I say to the noble Baroness that we have considered the panel’s findings against the draft best value guidance, which was published in July 2023, and concluded that they do not meet the test for urgent intervention. The panel makes a number of recommendations for the combined authority, the development corporation and other partners, and some for government. We are now giving the mayor and partners time to reflect on the panel’s report. We have asked him to write to us and set out his action plan for responding to the recommendations within six weeks. One of the recommendations for government was around the clarity of legislation in this area and oversight arrangements. We will take that away and look at it carefully, because that is an area, for example, that could have read- across to other development corporations or combined authorities.
Redcar Steelworks
Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)
I do not think I need to repeat it, but the Mayor of Tees Valley has said that he is very happy for an independent review. Whether that is an independent review or the National Audit Office doing a full review, I think he is quite happy. The department is looking into that and will reply to him shortly. I do not think I can add any more. Nobody is stopping a full review if that is necessary, but what is important is that we have millions of pounds of private sector investment in an area that desperately needs it, for jobs and for the people of Teesside. That is levelling up; that is the important bit of this.
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
My Lords, as someone who lives on Teesside, I respectfully tell the Minister that doubt over this site will damage future investment. It is already making people ask questions. The mayor has said that he wants an investigation and voices in this Chamber are clearly calling for one. I have not heard anybody here or in Teesside oppose an investigation. It is important that it is done quickly and it should be the fullest possible type of investigation that the NAO can offer, to regain the confidence that we need to enable more investment in the Tees Valley.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)
I have to ask those opposite who is creating this uncertainty. It is certainly not the Government, who have invested in this area. Once more, the mayor is very happy for any type of review.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)
I am sorry; I do not have an answer to that question, but I will take it forward to Defra and we will get an answer.
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
The Minister said the Government will consider whether they will ask the NAO to conduct a further investigation, and we are grateful for that. We are very concerned, but perhaps it would help us to be bit calmer if the Minister could indicate when that might be decided upon.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)
I said the mayor had written to us, saying that he was happy to take part in a review, and we are looking to respond to that. Of course it is an important issue, but public money has been quite rightly invested in an area that desperately needs it after the steel industry left. There are opportunities for modern technology industries to come in—we are hearing about wind farm factories, et cetera—and we must keep this steady and online so that it can be delivered and we do not lose the investment we have.
Bird Nesting Sites: Protection
Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts(5 years, 7 months ago)
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Jenny Chapman (Darlington) (Lab)
My hon. Friend mentions an important aspect of this issue. Netting is being used more and more, almost as a safeguard—just in case—but it ought not to be. It should really be installed by an ecologist and checked several times a day to ensure that nothing is trapped inside. Developers are far too relaxed in their use of the procedure. It seems to me that there is very little regulation, inspection or checking.
Mike Hill
I thank the right hon. Lady for her contribution. It shocked me that this was happening on a Government-led scheme, and that the contractors were working to Government directives on this matter. I hope that is a wake-up call for the management of any future projects of such scale.
In response to the HS2 netting, the RSPB acknowledged that the practice was not illegal, but it said that
“careful consideration will be needed to develop rules around netting that really help birds, and allow legitimate activity to continue. But we cannot stand by and let the current practices spread unchallenged.”
Jenny Chapman
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way again. I should probably declare that I am a member of the RSPB. Part of the issue is that the use of netting is voluntary, and we use it because we wish to develop. It should be used only when absolutely necessary—when there is no other option and it is in the best interests of wildlife—but almost every time it is used, that is not the case.
Mike Hill
Again, I agree with my hon. Friend. I will come on to the way forward, as the industry describes it, but she is absolutely correct.
Although it is an offence to destroy an active nest, there are currently no laws to prevent the installation of netting. The RSPB and other charities, such as the Woodland Trust, propose changes to current practice and the introduction of laws that commit the Government to ensuring the recovery and protection of nature and wildlife, which would cause practices such as netting to come under much closer scrutiny.
The RSPB went on to say:
“We all need nature in our lives–which means giving birds and other wildlife, more, not less room to breed, feed and sing.”
Dame Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McDonagh. Once again, I congratulate the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mike Hill) on opening the debate so well and referring to my main bugbear: HS2.
When I looked at the petition, of the 355,631 signatures, 1,162 came from my constituency, and 5,454 people from an area covering Aylesbury, Buckingham, Wycombe and Beaconsfield signed the petition to express their concern about netting and protecting birds. That is a sizeable number of people and reflects the great concern that is shown for our environment in Buckinghamshire.
When I was young, I spent a lot of time on my uncle’s farm in south Wales. One of the great joys was to go around the farm and pick up the egg shells after the birds had hatched—I used to save them. There were always a multitude of different birds nesting around the farm site. Over the years, living in the countryside, I have noticed a reduction in bird life, not least among small hedgerow birds and birds that were very common in my youth. There used to be an abundance of sparrows, but in my back garden I do not see as many sparrows as I used to see 40 or 50 years ago. The RSPB says that, over the last 50 years we have lost over 40 million birds in the UK; that is a great loss that cannot be replaced.
As the hon. Member for Hartlepool said, it is an offence to destroy an active nest but there are no laws to prevent the installation of nets. The Government need to look at that and regulate for it, because it is not necessary to leave this to the market. We need to have a positive intervention that will make some difference. The RSPB spokesperson said:
“We cannot keep trying to squeeze nature into smaller and smaller spaces or demanding it fits in with our plans. This is an issue we are talking to the Government about as they look at what needs to happen over the next 25 years to stop our wildlife from continuing to vanish at an alarming rate.”
As I said in my intervention, the trouble is that the Government are just as big an offender as any housing developer; they need to take that on board. The route chosen for HS2 passes through irreplaceable natural habitats and unspoiled ecosystems. Constructing a railway line with a land-take equivalent to a four-lane motorway will have a devastating effect on the natural environment in these areas. Over 130 wildlife sites on the first stage alone will be directly affected, including 10 sites of special scientific interest, an area of outstanding natural beauty and 50 ancient woodlands. That is in my backyard.
HS2 will cause an unacceptable level of damage to European, national and county-important species. A number of European protected species are present within the proposed HS2 route corridor, including the otter, the great crested newt and several species of bats. In addition, nationally protected species such as freshwater crayfish, stag beetle, smooth newt, great crested newt, common frog, slowworm, common lizard, European water vole, Eurasian badger, rare butterflies and breeding birds are known to be present in the impact zone.
The HS2 Action Alliance believes that insufficient regard has been paid to the impact of HS2 on biodiversity. Specific concerns about the risks facing wildlife include where the HS2 route is likely to cause direct loss or damage to the wildlife site through the land-take. This leads to the severance of habitats, causing fragmentation; reduction in the size of habitat areas; direct impacts on vegetation and on sedentary animal populations, for example in woodland and ponds; and/or the creation of barriers that affect the behaviour of species on a site, such as foraging.
The further environmental impact on ancient woodlands—areas that have been covered by woods for over 400 years—is alarming. Their biodiversity value cannot be recreated by replacement planting; nor can the habitats for birds be replaced, because birds return to the same site, and their behaviour will not always coincide with the marvellous plantation that has been created by the developer in another area, in another place. HS2 is systematically destroying a large corridor of the countryside through the centre of Buckinghamshire, and elsewhere, to make way for a railway that is literally costing the earth.
As the hon. Gentleman said, HS2 says that while the work is being carried out, it is using an ecologist to monitor events; that includes the netting being used to prevent birds from using their regular nesting sites, which is monitored daily. I decided to test the water by putting in a written question asking who the ecologists monitoring the sites are, how often they visit—how many times a day—and how many birds or how much other wildlife they have found dead or dying, or have released. Without digging into the detail, it is easy to state that the work is being done under the guidance of ecologists, when what is happening on the ground could be completely different. I look to the Minister to encourage the Department for Transport to give me not one of its brush-off answers to the question, but a detailed one, so that we can be reassured that where the Government are in charge, they are keeping up with their responsibilities.
Jenny Chapman
I cannot remember whether it is the RSPB or Natural England that says the nets need to be checked three times a day by people who know what they are doing. I do not believe that that is happening. Was the right hon. Lady able to glean any more information about that when she did her research?
Dame Cheryl Gillan
The hon. Lady will know that I often have a great deal of difficulty getting any information about HS2 out of the powers that be, but I continue to press because I do not believe we should give up. I have only been at it 10 years, trying to scrutinise the project. I hope I have another 10 years to go.
HS2 was clear in its statement about the bird netting:
“The netting was installed under the direction of a suitably experienced ecologist and is monitored daily”,
but I want further and better particulars, as they say. I am not entirely convinced that those nets will be monitored on a daily basis. Perhaps I will be called cynical, but I want to check. It is important, particularly in the light of the number of people showing great concern about what is a relatively new development, in terms of trying to get rid of some of our wildlife and bird species.
Windrush
Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts(6 years, 7 months ago)
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Jenny Chapman (Darlington) (Lab)
Some people think that there is a link between political rhetoric that is hostile to migrants and hate crime. What does the Home Secretary believe?
Sajid Javid
I have seen no evidence of such a link. If the hon. Lady thinks there is and has some evidence, I will happily look at it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts(6 years, 11 months ago)
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Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
Jenny Chapman (Darlington) (Lab)
Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)
Jenny Chapman
The number of rough sleepers in Darlington has doubled since 2010. Is that caused by: (a), a reduction in council budgets; (b), more than £5 million of cuts to housing benefit; (c), the bedroom tax; (d), the lack of affordable housing; (e), universal credit—I could go to (z), Mr Speaker—or the Minister’s failure to tackle soaring rents in the private sector?
Mrs Wheeler
I thank the hon. Lady for her question but, frankly, this is not a laughing matter. The Government are clear that one person without a home is too many. We have already taken steps towards combating rough sleeping and homelessness. For instance, we have implemented the most ambitious legislative reform in decades through the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which comes into force this April. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for all his hard work on that Act. We will ensure that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.