Future of Seaside Towns
Baroness Whitaker Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Baroness Whitaker (Lab)
My Lords, under the enthusiastic and committed chairmanship of my noble friend Lord Bassam, assisted by high-calibre clerking and expert advice, this committee delivered a strong challenge to the Government to unify and target their assistance to our coastal communities. Some that we looked at, such as Brighton, Margate and Folkestone, had made a good start on reinventing themselves after the decline of their traditional tourism and other industries. But the picture was patchy and uneven, and such national and regional support as there was seemed not fully to take into account either the main potential assets of being coastal or its structural disadvantages. The seaside does indeed have unique assets, as my noble friend Lord Bassam said. The report has focused on the potential for tourism, and this is certainly one.
I recall the words of the late Lord Rees-Mogg—I do not often quote him, I know—in a seminal article in the Economist when he was editor. He said:
“The arts are to Britain as sunshine is to Spain”.
That is to say, we do not have the predictable sunshine which drew so many British tourists to the Costa Brava when cheap flights became available, fuelling much of the downturn for south-coast resorts, but we do have an asset—I say this following the inspirational remarks of my noble friend Lady Bakewell—which continues to draw visitors from all over the world: our arts and our heritage. The Arts Council is well seized of the point that enhancing the cultural offer is an ingredient of economic growth but it was our view that other public funding streams, some large, some small—arguably too small—should, apart from being better co-ordinated, take better cognisance of this element.
The sea confers other prospects for growth. I applaud the work of the noble Lord, Lord McNally, with Fleetwood. Ports and all the ancillary tasks that support shipping and sailing are key to trade. We are a trading and exporting nation and have been so since the Beaker people came over from the European mainland to contribute their desirable tools and artefacts. We have continuously evolved skills in marine cluster capacity, we are very well placed to lead in environmental energy of all kinds on our shores, and we can mine the minerals of the sea as well as fish from its depths. But we do not lead in energy nearly enough.
We have lost out to competition from nations with better-supported industries and have not targeted our economic planning to develop our coastal towns to get there. There are declining ports all over the UK, some of which combined tourism with the fascination of a working port. I think of Ramsgate, at least as charming as regency Brighton in its smaller way, which has lost much of its port capacity and not had the cultural investment which has so improved Margate and Folkestone. Yet it once combined a busy port with an active and popular visitor economy. My own nearest town, Newhaven—I declare unremunerated interests as president of the coastal communities team and patron of various local entities—was once a most fashionable departure point for the continent, as well as a busy manufacturing town. I should add that the regeneration it is now undertaking has a large, locally owned cultural element.
What is it that continues to impair the resurgence of so many coastal towns? I think there is at least one underlying answer, and several contributory ones. The underlying factor is the transport problem, referred to so eruditely by my noble friend Lord Faulkner. The seaside has only half the circumference of towns in the interior, and this has never properly been compensated for. Good connectivity of all kinds is essential for trade and optimal transport, for the movement of goods and people. Earlier Beeching cuts and omission from mainline direct routes, the decline of bus transport and insufficient broadband capacity have all contributed to decline.
Our report covers several contributory factors and of these I would single out two which would make a substantial difference, with knock-on good effects, both relating to quality: better built environments and better education. The importance of the built environment in attracting investment, as well as enhancing the lives of its inhabitants, cannot be overestimated. Our seaside towns have suffered from planning—or, rather, the hollowing-out of planning capacity—which has often made them ugly. The quality of housing has been poor and the public realm has been impoverished. The middle management and technical personnel which durable investment needs do not want to move to unattractive places, and there is a resulting lack of demand for better services.
The higher skills which could retain those advanced industries that the coast needs, and has the raw materials for, have not been made a feature in those towns where they could be of most benefit. Young people have left to pursue tertiary education for better-remunerated work and have not come back. Too many of those who remained, often fond of their seaside, have put up with lower-quality jobs or unemployment. It all adds up to a great missed opportunity. We have recommended properly targeted public support at national and local level, which recognises at last the unique potential of our seaside towns, enhances their attractiveness, and gets them growing again.
How have the Government risen to this challenge? Their response is, as far as it goes, positive. They acknowledge the potential and the missed opportunities. I think they have focused rather narrowly on the former tourist resorts, in the work on population transience, for instance. In general, there is not enough of the targeted approach which would really transform the assets and the disadvantages of being on the coast. One size does not fit all. Towns such as Whitehaven need their own kind of support, at least as much as the resorts of the south. Perhaps this will develop, as the most welcome undertakings to reinstate the cross-Whitehall meetings on coastal communities and the new high street task force get going.
Finally, the Department for Education needs to be especially welcoming to educational provision aimed at lifting those skills levels and fostering, in particular, high- level attainments which relate to maritime potential. Also, transport connectivity in and out of seaside towns needs a special analysis and action programme. This would have a ready welcome in these needlessly suffering communities. Can the Minister assure us of these measures?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Wales Office (Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con)
My Lords, I am most grateful for the many valuable contributions made today, which highlight how much we all value our coastal towns—whether those in England or more widely, as the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, has just demonstrated—how important it is to ensure that they have the ability to grow and prosper into the 21st century and how we put right some of the things that have certainly gone wrong.
The conversation has been frank and honest, and has given us much to consider. I will ensure that the debate is sent to all relevant departments; as is very clear, this does not just affect the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government—the Ministry of Justice was something I had not foreseen—but it affects so many departments that I will ensure it has a very wide circulation. I will also ensure that anything I am unable to cover or that I miss is covered in a letter to all Peers who have taken part in what has been an excellent debate.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, for securing this debate and enabling us to discuss this very important issue, for the obviously consensual way he has ensured that the committee has looked at these issues and for coming forward with a unanimous report, which I am sure makes it the stronger. The work that the noble Lord and his committee have undertaken has been very thorough and highlights the many challenges facing our coastal communities in the 21st century. That is not just true of England; it is equally true of Wales, and I speak with some experience. I probably do not know Burry Port quite as well as the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, but I have certainly spent time in Cliff Terrace with friends and know the town very well. The same is true for Ferryside, which was referred to as well.
The debate has examined many of the challenges and it has been encouraging to hear many positive suggestions. I will set the scene a little and then look at points made by noble Lords. First, it is true that there are, as the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, has just said, many different funds, ensuring that we have funds-a-gogo and programmes-a-gogo to make sure that they all work together, not necessarily in a competitive way but to dovetail together. It is important to have this meeting of all the relevant departments, bringing everything together to see how it all locks together.
We have the stronger towns fund, worth £1.6 billion; a prospectus on this should be available before the recess to show how that is taken forward. We also have the shared prosperity fund; the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, asked how coastal communities can be involved in that. When we take this forward there will be a wide consultation; we will want people and authorities to consult, and that will certainly include coastal funds. We have enterprise zones, of which there was mention early on. I think my noble friend Lord Smith said there was only one. I hope it was him; if it was not, I ask him to forgive me. There are in fact currently 15 coastal enterprise zones. I have the list here. Although I will refer to them in the course of this debate, rather than go through them all now I will ensure that the names and coverage of all of them are in the write-round letter. We are looking at up to another five as part of the tourism sector deal, which we have just announced. Reference was made to some of them: Berwick-upon-Tweed is covered by one of them, while at the other end of the country Falmouth, which has not been mentioned, is covered by another, and there are many inbetween.
There are local industrial strategies, framed around the work that the local enterprise partnerships are doing, first in the West Midlands and Greater Manchester—I shall ensure that more detail on that is also contained in the letter. The coastal communities fund does great work. Somebody suggested that it was not doing much but that is not true; it has spent £218 million since 2012, and we would be hearing about it if that money had not been well spent. That is in places including Whitley Bay—the Spanish City dome, to which the noble Lord, Lord Lennie, referred, has certainly been a beneficiary. I will deal with his other points later. Money has been spent in Wells-next-the-Sea on restoring the paper mill, and in Penzance on an art deco lido, and so on. There have been beneficiaries throughout the country.
The coastal revival fund is part of this mosaic; £7.5 million has been spent by that fund since 2015, including Jaywick, which the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, referred to. At the same time as he was growing up in Clacton I was growing up in Chelmsford, and we might even have been on that beach at the same time during our childhood—a frightening thought—because we often took weekend trips there. I have to say—perhaps to the shame of my parents, although climate change was not so apparent then—that we certainly used the car; presumably the train service was available, but it would have taken a while. Some of this was at least before the Beeching report, let alone the Beeching cuts. Similarly, money has been spent in Watchet in Somerset, where I hope to go this summer as a private citizen—this is not government business—as I want to use the heritage railway there, which runs from just outside Taunton to Minehead. There are many of these railways, which I may refer to later; I share many of the views of the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, on that issue.
Town deals have been referred to. Grimsby has had a town deal since July 2018 and is a beneficiary, with money spent on the waterfront. Much has been made, quite rightly, of Blackpool, which perhaps presents some unique challenges. It is perhaps worth restating that our coastal towns all differ from each other. They are not all facing the challenges that Blackpool faces—in fact, only Blackpool is facing those challenges. Many of our coastal towns are thriving. To hear comments about them you would not think that, or would think that they had been ignored. St Ives, Padstow and many of the Cornwall resorts face challenges, but very different ones. They are not challenges of the sort we have seen around housing, and so on, but they are certainly challenges. However, perhaps we have not heard so much about those places, for reasons I can understand. Weymouth and Torbay, as well as Blackpool, are the subject of discussions on strategy and taking things forward. I will come to Weymouth in more detail later. Reference has been made to Margate, which is a bit of a success story, with the Turner gallery and work being done on the harbour area, where the gallery is.
I will make some general comments on housing. I understand the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Best, who understands these things. However, I slightly disagree with him when he says that rogue landlords are essentially reactive. In one sense they are, but if a clear message goes out that we are going to deal with rogue landlords, it becomes proactive, so it depends on which end of the telescope you are looking through. Therefore, I do not entirely agree with his point. Housing zones beneficiaries are Poole, Weston-super-Mare and Thurrock, which covers Tilbury, and North East Lincolnshire, which covers Grimsby and Wirral.
Planning and flooding have been referred to. Beneficiaries of work on this include Newhaven, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker referred. LEPs have been working on this with government money in Snape Maltings, the Fylde peninsula and in the Blackpool area.
Education was generally referred to and we have 12 opportunity areas, specifically targeting policies relating to social mobility. I think that that includes Blackpool—if I am mistaken I will correct it in the write-round letter—but it certainly includes West Somerset, Scarborough and Hastings.
Transport was a common theme. I accept its importance and will come to that when I turn to specific comments, if I may.
Some noble Lords, but not many—the noble Lord, Lord Knight, did—mentioned the need to adapt and change. Perhaps this is agreed by all noble Lords, but it did not come across quite like that; it is no good trying to turn the clock back and recreate Blackpool as it was in the 1970s or, as I think a noble Lord said, the 1950s. That will not work. We must take it forward and think about what Blackpool needs to look like in the middle of this century.
Let me try to deal with some of the points made. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, for his general comments about the Government, at least in part, being supportive. On the cross-Whitehall front, I do not yet have a date for the first meeting, but I will try to nail that down in the letter, because it is important that cross-Whitehall meetings happen frequently.
My noble friend Lord Smith referred to the importance of the tourism sector and tourism enterprise zones, and I hope that I touched on that. He highlighted the importance of New Brighton, which has indeed received some money—for the lighthouse, if I am not mistaken—from the coastal communities fund. I will confirm that in the letter.
The noble Lord, Lord McNally, spoke of the importance of Blackpool and Fleetwood, and I agree with both those points. He talked about transformative actions such as the Turner gallery in Margate, flood defences in Clacton, the Tate in St Ives and the need for public-private partnerships. I agree with all that: this is the only way this will work. I take very seriously his admonition for action this day—that is absolutely right.
The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, talked about the importance of education. I quite agree. She talked about Skegness and the importance of transport. We have given £4 million-worth of government money to enhance bus services, and I shall provide details in the letter. She also rightly talked about the importance of wi-fi. I know from the Welsh experience how important that is. I know the success in Cornwall and have often said: “Why don’t we just do what Cornwall has done?” There they have spent money and it has worked. I hope that some of the shared prosperity money will be used for that. Specifically, some money is being used and I will come to that later.
The noble Baroness spoke about the Pier of Year—as in a pier that goes into the sea rather than a Peer from this House. I absolutely agree with the points she made about Clevedon; I will also put in a plea for Cromer and Great Yarmouth, which are also very good. There are piers around the country. Indeed, there is a book on British piers which is well worth reading and having as a guide to those that may have been missed.
On art galleries, I agree. There is a string of them on the south coast. Something that occurs to me, to which I do not have the answer because it occurred to me only this morning, but I have asked civil servants to look at this, is that these days, because it is very important, we have arts festivals around the country. If I am not mistaken, nearly all seem to be inland, such as in Cheltenham, Oxford or Hay. I am obviously not right. I have asked civil servants to look at this. There may be opportunities for others. I can think of some smaller ones.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
I thank the noble Baroness, but I was not saying that in the hope of getting an invitation. It is most kind. If I am able to come, I will be there—and if any other invitations are forthcoming, I will look at them in the same positive spirit. I apologise to any towns that may be offended by my missing their coastal arts festivals. I was aware that there are festivals in other parts of the country, such as Whitby and Brighton, although perhaps they are not as all-encompassing as those of Cheltenham, Chalke Valley and so on.
I have already referred to a point where I am not in total agreement with the noble Lord, Lord Best. He quite fairly said, though, that we have been taking action against rogue landlords: bad landlords are now subject to the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act. That was the Karen Buck legislation, which was taken forward with government support and all-party approval. I will ask officials to look at the specific point he made about Blackpool. I can see the challenge, there, if it takes in areas that are perhaps wealthier, such as Lytham.
The noble Lord, Lord Knight, referred to Fergus’s school reunion—or non-school reunion, as it turned out. As somebody who has holidayed in Weymouth, I was a little surprised—but perhaps I have been seeing it in warm weather, which always makes a difference. When I was there for a few days last summer, the harbour area seemed to be full of young people. I made use of the walk along the disused railway that goes down to Portland Bill, and the place seemed to be thriving; but obviously, I have seen only a snapshot. Perhaps I will have a chance for a longer chat with the noble Lord. I agree with his points about education and the importance of skills. It occurred to me that we do not do enough in this country on the transferability of credits, when compared with the USA—or, indeed, credits for work, which make a difference too. There is perhaps more to be done there. I agree with the noble Lord about the importance of a place-based approach.
The noble Lord, Lord Beith, is a great advocate for his home town, which he represented, along with other towns, for so long. He is quite right that this is not just about tourism. He talked about the lack of a university in Berwick, which is certainly true. There are no perfect parallels, but it occurs to me that it may be worth looking at the university in Falmouth, which operates partly alongside the University of Exeter. It has been a university since 2012 and has really made a big difference to Falmouth. I will be there later this week when I go down to Cornwall. The noble Lord is also right about the issues of remoteness, hospitals and so on.
My noble friend Lady Wyld spoke once again about Blackpool and, indeed, Fleetwood. She made a point which is really important—that what we should be doing is looking at doers, not the done-to. I think that is the governmental approach: it is the approach on neighbourhood planning, and we should be carrying that forward here. Governments should be enabling: they should be setting a framework and providing finance to people locally who are trusted—and then we should step back. There may be occasions when things go wrong, but they are going wrong with people who are expert and know what they are doing locally, and I think that that is important. We should be empowering, not micromanaging.
The noble Lord, Lord Pendry, spoke about Broadstairs and Ramsgate—a somewhat remote part of Kent, although Broadstairs has Dickens connections, so some ideas may already have been taken up locally there. He talked about the challenge of overseas travel, which certainly made a difference to the traditional seaside holidays that we can probably all remember from our younger days. Now we are much more widely travelled in Europe, which has made a big difference to the normal holiday—although people do go for long weekends, particularly in the winter months. We need to look at that particular point. The noble Lord, Lord Pendry, also raised the issue of a Cabinet post for tourism. It is well above my pay grade to opine on that, especially at the moment, but I will take the point back: I can see that it was a serious and valid one.
The noble Lord, Lord Mawson, also referred to the doers and not the done-to, and the importance of the Government being enablers. He referred to Skegness, Butlins and the seasonal nature of much of the work. I agree that that is a challenge that we have got to deal with: it has got to be fundamental to the way we take this forward. The noble Lord talked about Ferryside in Wales; I am sorry to spoil the point about Burry Port being such a success, but I should say that, although the Coastal Communities Fund is a national fund, the parts of it that apply to Wales are administered not from here but from Cardiff, just as they would be administered from Edinburgh in Scotland. He said, “Trust them and back them”, and I quite agree.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner of Worcester. I found myself in almost total agreement with him, as I often do, about Beecham. When one is asked about who one would invite to a dinner party, I often think that I would ask Lord Beecham just to find out what possessed him to come up with his cuts.
National Policy for the Built Environment
Baroness Whitaker Excerpts(7 years, 3 months ago)
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Baroness Whitaker (Lab)
My Lords, with the experienced and patient chairmanship of the noble Baroness, Lady O’Cathain, who is not able to be in her place, and the expertise of our two clerks, Matthew Smith and Simon Keal, and their team, as well as the expert steer of our distinguished adviser, Professor Carmona, to whom I am also personally grateful for recent advice, this committee tackled a huge subject, untouched by Parliament in its entirety since the great Town and Country Planning Act 1947.
Underlying our recommendations was the point that as a nation we have not recognised the power of a good place; that is, its landscape and setting, its services and amenities, its transport and communications, its infrastructure, including green infrastructure, as well as its buildings—all the elements of the built environment which conduce to well-being, prosperity, health and social cohesion. The Government say they acknowledge this but their response does not reflect it. Basically their view is that either they are doing what we ask already or that it does not need to be done. It is a piecemeal late response.
That response characterises the background to the need for our inquiry largely in terms of the housing shortage. We did not intend to duplicate the many studies of housing problems. We looked at housing as one part of what a national policy for the built environment should be. Of course, it is a crucial part, and we acknowledge the Government’s prioritisation of housing, but we were after a larger vision.
An integrated approach to the whole of the built environment has been made urgent by the housing crisis and the need for infrastructure investment, all against our harsh economic climate. But our key recommendation, a chief adviser for the built environment, is reduced in the Government’s response to a beefing-up of the post of chief planning adviser. This completely ignores the pivotal point of our recommendation, that the chief built environment adviser should stand above and bring together all relevant departments in pursuing a coherent place-based vision for our built environment. This would produce far better co-ordination between departments, under the leadership of a chief built environment adviser who would champion quality, commission research, recommend policy, and promote and share good practice across and beyond government—not in planning alone, not in housing alone, but spanning the full remit of the built environment. This emphatically is not the same as the job of the chief planning officer located squarely in the DCLG.
The support of a Cabinet Office housing task force, as my noble friend Lady Andrews has said, is not an adequate response to this proposal. Among other deficits, it ignores the small strategic research unit, which would enable the chief built environment adviser to ensure that their guidance was leading-edge and evidence-based, and took account of innovations elsewhere. Nor does it take in the need for an annual report to Parliament and wide consultation on high-level policy for architecture and place quality, or for monitoring and review.
Shortly after our report was published, the Government published a new construction strategy—an improvement, but one which still falls short of the national leadership we asked for. We wanted planners and policymakers to take more systematic account of health impacts. Here, it is fair to say that the Government have taken much on board, but again they slide back from showing real national leadership, leaving improvements to a “locally led approach”.
One note of hope is struck by the Government’s assurance of continuing discussion of,
“the future resourcing of planning services”.
What more can the Minister tell us about this? The lack of capacity among planning authorities is, after the lack of explicit national leadership, the greatest obstacle we have to creating better places. We took some very penetrating and important evidence from Finn Williams, among others, on this point. I have seen a recent report on the recruitment and retention of planners in one region which calls attention to a quite alarming lack of essential skills. I echo my noble friend Lady Andrews’s view of the key role of the planner—once honoured, now degraded.
The Government pretty much ignored our recommendation on the better integration of transport in the work of the National Infrastructure Commission, and other recommendations on its work. Before its establishment as an executive agency, what consideration have the Government given to our recommendations as they prepare its public remit letter? I remind your Lordships that the Government’s National Infrastructure Delivery Plan 2016-21 is so far completely unrelated to any vision of towns, cities or places in general. It is an example of the lack of joined-up thinking we deplored. There are whole areas where the Government have seemingly ignored the weight of the evidence we produced: for instance on the need to improve the operation of article 4 directions, in order to safeguard employment, to make it easier for people to live near their work and to integrate local economies.
There are others where the Government are on the same wavelength as our recommendations: the provision of homes for our increasing older population; accessibility for them and for people with disabilities; the review of CIL; the importance of vibrant streets, especially high streets; a proactive strategy for making the most of the historic environment, so cherished by local people; and the excellent Great Place scheme. We are encouraged that the Government intend to take our views into account in their response to the consultation on permission in principle. But even here, the Government’s own warm words do not amount to a coherent vision within which policies could be ordered and prioritised. And not enough of the measures we thought essential to improve housing policy have been taken seriously. What, for instance, has happened to the better operation of viability assessments for the affordable proportion of new housing? The RTPI’s report last May on place, poverty and inequality points the way to energising the relationship of good places to social regeneration through housing policy, and this is what the Government really do not get the measure of in their responses. They would have done better to pay attention to the distinguished institutions which signed the Place Alliance commentary on our report.
I have only been able to touch on a few of the extensive areas we surveyed, with the help of brilliant and authoritative evidence; but under them all lies the key recommendation for national leadership in the design of place-making. The Government have missed the opportunity to do something imaginative about this, to our national detriment.
Lord Framlingham (Con)
My Lords, I want to say a few words about something that nobody has so far mentioned, and that is trees. I want to say a few words about the balance between the built environment and the green environment, between buildings and trees. I appreciate that the committee’s brief was to examine the built environment, but given the importance of trees, I am surprised that they received so little attention.
I do not blame the members of the committee; I suspect the problem arises from their terms of reference. Perhaps we need a Select Committee on Trees in the Built Environment—it would make more sense, I think, to me. In the committee’s summary, neither the word “tree” nor the word “green” appear. It does, however, recommend that we appoint a chief built environment adviser. I suggest that perhaps we need a chief green environment adviser.
This is much more than a matter of emphasis on the relative importance of soft and hard landscapes. Trees are not just an optional adornment but must be seen as an integral part of the whole planning process, from start to finish. A big, concentrated push is needed to turn the general acknowledgment by everyone now that trees are vital to our health and well-being into a reality, and to give trees and the professionals who understand them the recognition and standing they deserve. There is no shortage of organisations and individuals with the knowledge and experience to bring this about. I was surprised by how few of these were called to give evidence and, to be frank, how many environmentally related organisations—
Baroness Whitaker
I hesitate to interrupt the noble Lord, since what he says is extremely congenial, but I would like to draw his attention to our slightly jargonistic term “green infrastructure”, dealt with at paragraph 217, which is emphatically meant to include trees. I could not agree more with what he said, but we did look at it.
Lord Framlingham
If I erred, I apologise hugely, but I was looking at the summary that the committee produced and there is no mention of it there. But I take the point that the noble Baroness makes. I was surprised by how few of these experts were called to give evidence and, to be frank, how many environmentally related organisations which could have mentioned the importance of trees failed to do so.
It can be done. Long before I became a Member of Parliament, which was a long time ago, I was involved with the building of Milton Keynes. There great trouble was taken to identify any trees that should be kept and looked after properly during construction, and a massive tree-planting scheme was planned and carried out on completion. On a smaller scale, when the Clore extension was added to the Tate Gallery, I was retained to ensure that no damage was done to the London plane trees nearby. They are still there, and they are as healthy as ever.
We really need to think about what we are doing to London. If you stand by the Tate Gallery, admire the balance between the Tate and its surrounding trees and then look across the river at what is being built there, I am sure that, like me, you will be filled with trepidation and concern. The Woodland Trust is one of the organisations deeply concerned about these issues and I can do no better at this stage than to finish by quoting at some length from its briefing for today’s debate:
“Central to the Woodland Trust’s submission and the subsequent report was that a more coordinated, cross government approach is needed on the built environment. The Government’s response fails to recognise this and persists in … continuing the business as usual approach through the Cabinet Office despite mounting evidence that this is not working for the built environment … Environmental matters should be firmly embedded into the built environment as well as the natural environment so it is critical that every opportunity is taken to ensure cross departmental cohesion”.
It goes on to say:
“Of particular disappointment to the Trust is the Government’s insistence that it is not appropriate to set minimum standards for green infrastructure provision. This is despite the recommendations of the Lords Select Committee and mounting evidence showing that access to the natural environment is critical for everyone’s wellbeing”.
Finally, it says:
“In not accepting the thrust of this very well evidenced report the Government response is missing the opportunity to improve the wellbeing of over 80 percent of the UK’s population who already live in the urban environment. We hope that the Housing White Paper demonstrates that further thought has been given to its recommendations”.
I hope the Government will listen to those points and, having listened to them, will act.
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill
Baroness Whitaker Excerpts(12 years, 3 months ago)
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Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, has set out very clearly and powerfully the way this group of amendments would work. I will briefly give noble Lords a couple of examples to flesh out what they mean in real cases.
For instance, there are two Gypsies on different plots, both facing injunctions to make them leave their own land because they have not yet obtained planning permission—notoriously low down on most local authorities’ to-do lists. With legal aid, lawyers managed to hold off the injunctions on the basis that there were reasonable prospects of success in their planning appeals. One of them has now obtained permanent planning permission and the other has obtained temporary permission for three years—of importance when there are school-age children in the family. The point is that these two would have been homeless without legally aided assistance, but these cases would not qualify for legal aid.
I should just add that the other Minister’s amendments to the previous group of housing clauses, offered in the witching hour last Wednesday, are welcome, but they are not nearly bewitching enough. They do not materially alter the unfair situation that Gypsies and Travellers will find themselves in if the Bill becomes law.
I also cite the case of a family on a private caravan site, protected by the Mobile Homes Act 1983—unless this Bill becomes law—but facing harassment by their landlord. The harassment was clearly intended to force them to leave the site. Their legal aid lawyer obtained an injunction to stop the harassment. One of the victims said, “Without a solicitor acting for us, they would have got us out by now”—again, they would have been homeless. As the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, said, Gypsies and Travellers are often illiterate and harassment can be very complex in legal terms.
Gypsies and Travellers are often illiterate because that is what happens when you are moved on all the time as a child. Is it any wonder that our Gypsy and Traveller children have the lowest attainment rates in school, are more likely to die in infancy and have mothers who are more likely to die in childbirth? These are the consequences of constant eviction and moving on. The reason for even more moving on will still be the lack of legal sites, but added to an overwhelmingly unmet need—if the Bill becomes law—for legal advice and assistance in establishing such entitlement as exists.
Of course, the costs of unnecessary evictions are huge, but the most important disbenefit, if some form of these amendments is not accepted, will be to the ordinary human rights accepted for all other citizens not to be made homeless. As it stands, this Bill discriminates against a defined minority-ethnic group—whatever previous government letters to me have said—and I hope the noble and learned Lord can provide a more positive attitude.
The Earl of Listowel
My Lords, I, too, support Amendment 79, to which my name is added, and I declare my interest as a landowner. I am most grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, and my noble friend Lord Avebury, for drawing my attention to these amendments. All children need a degree of stability in their lives if they are to do well. Instability for Traveller children arising from repeated displacements—the “churning” to which my noble friend referred—impacts particularly adversely on their educational outcomes. Displacement risks undermining the education of Traveller children, excluding them from society and contributing to a cycle of generational failure. I would encourage the Minister to accept this amendment as a means of improving educational outcomes for Traveller children and of promoting their inclusion in society.
I should like to pray in aid two documents; namely, My Dream Site, which includes research with Traveller children and is published by the Children’s Society, and a 2003 Ofsted report, Provision and Support for Traveller Pupils. The Ofsted report states:
“The average attendance rate for Traveller pupils is around 75%. This figure is well below the national average and is the worst attendance profile of any minority ethnic group … The 1996 Ofsted report The education of Travelling children estimated that at least 10,000 Traveller pupils of secondary age were not registered at school. This survey”—
the 2003 survey—
“indicates no decrease in these numbers and estimates that the figure could now be closer to 12,000. Despite examples of success by some services, the picture at the secondary phase remains a matter of very serious concern. Not enough Traveller pupils attend or stay on at secondary school … The vast majority of Traveller pupils linger on the periphery of the education system. The situation has persisted for too long and the alarm bells rung in earlier reports have yet to be heeded”.
That 2003 report highlights our failure to educate secondary-school-age Traveller children in particular.
The Children’s Society report indicates the connection between stability and school success for Traveller children. It states:
“More than any other amenity school raised a range of emotions.
‘It’s good for your education but it’s hard to get in because you’re travellers and that, so you get a lot of hassle at school.’ Johnny aged 12 years.
Other children’s experiences at school were similar, as they had also experienced bullying because of their traveller status.
‘The only reason a lot of people do it is because they don’t understand. I tell the teachers but they don’t do anything.’ Daisy aged 12 years.
There was a marked difference in attitude towards school from the children who had been settled on a site for a stable period of time. These children had an opportunity to settle into a school routine and knew what was expected from them in a school setting. The opportunity to build up a relationship with staff and with other children seemed to make attending school a far easier experience. They appeared to have less of a problem with being bullied because of living a nomadic lifestyle. Some of the children no longer identified themselves as travellers but saw themselves more as settlers. These children had been able to attend one school and had lived in one place for most of their lives”.
To conclude, all children need a degree of stability. The education of Traveller children is likely to be significantly impaired by continued upheavals, which can lead to their exclusion from society and failure for successive generations of Traveller children. I support this amendment because it may contribute to improved stability for Traveller children and I look forward to the Minister’s response.
The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Wallace of Tankerness)
My Lords, we have had an important debate. As the noble Lord, Lord Alton, said, it is no surprise that the amendment was moved by my noble friend Lord Avebury, whose record over the best part of half a century in standing up for the rights of Gypsies and Travelling people is well recorded. As I understand it, he continues to be the secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gypsy Roma Travellers. I understand that the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, is vice-chairman of that group. We have heard important views on wider issues, not exclusively on legal aid. The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, raised the important educational issues relating to Gypsies and Travelling people.
I will focus on the amendments and the impact on legal aid. Amendments 73, 74, 75 and 76 go together as a package. They would ensure that legal aid remains available in relation to possession and eviction matters for persons who are clearly trespassers on the property or land where they reside. As has been pointed out, the Bill currently excludes such persons from receiving legal aid under paragraph 28.
While we are generally retaining legal aid where a person is at immediate risk of losing their home, the Government do not consider it appropriate for the taxpayer to provide funding for individuals to try to resist removal where they unarguably entered and have remained on the property or site as a trespasser. On a point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, paragraph 28 states:
“if there are no grounds on which it can be argued … that the individual is occupying the vehicle or structure otherwise than as a trespasser, and … that the individual’s occupation of the vehicle or structure began otherwise than as a trespasser”.
I hope the noble Lord will be reassured that Gypsies and Travellers will have access to legal aid under paragraph 28 in relation to loss of home if there are any grounds to argue that they are not trespassers. That is certainly the intention. It is quite clear that that is what will be delivered.
I emphasise again that legal aid will remain available for eviction and possession cases where there are any grounds to argue that the client has not entered and remained as a trespasser. On the other point, we are also retaining legal aid for most judicial review cases as set in out the Bill, and also—as the noble Lord asked—with regard to breach of convention rights by public authorities. I can confirm that Gypsies and Travellers will continue to have access to legal aid in terms of that particular paragraph of the schedule, along with others.
My noble friend also referred in his amendment to the Mobile Homes Act cases. Amendment 77 seeks to bring into scope legally aided advice for all matters arising from the Mobile Homes Act 1983. That Act gives rights to residents who have agreements with site owners to live in their own mobile homes on site. As I have explained, we have generally retained legal aid where the individual is at immediate risk of homelessness. This includes possession and eviction from a mobile home site. However, the consequence of the amendment would be to extend legal aid to cover all matters under the Mobile Homes Act 1983. It would make legal aid available for what we regard as lower priority matters where legal aid is not in our view justified, for example disputes about the sale or inheritance of mobile homes.
The point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, was on the more important issue of harassment. I hope I can reassure her that legal aid is available for harassment injunctions under Sections 3 or 3A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and, by extension, under paragraph 32 of Part 1 of the schedule.
Baroness Whitaker
I am grateful to the Minister for that point, but perhaps I may refer back to his remarks about judicial review, in response to the noble Lord, Lord Pannick. I am still not exactly clear what happens when it is not quite an eviction but a matter that would lead to an eviction. For instance, would judicial review be available to defend a county court possession action or a failure by a local authority to follow or have regard to relevant government guidance? It is those cases that lead to eviction but are not exactly eviction actions—and indeed the Gypsy is a trespasser on the prima facie case but, after judicial review, might be found not to be a trespasser.
Lord Wallace of Tankerness
My Lords, I will double-check on that. I would in no way wish to mislead, but on judicial review paragraph 17 indicates that,
“civil legal services are to be provided in respect of an enactment, decision, act or omission”.
It is certainly my understanding that that is the case, but I shall conclude my speech and double-check that. That paragraph of Schedule 1 will apply and entitle Gypsies and Travellers in the same way as it entitles others. I am as certain as I can be that that is the case, but the noble Baroness gave some very specific examples. Perhaps the best thing for me to do would be to set out in writing to her, and circulate it to those who have taken part in our debate, precisely the position in regard to the very specific cases that she raised in her intervention. I hope that she will accept that. There is certainly a general power or provision to bring within scope judicial review cases, and I believe that that addresses the point, but I want to be absolutely certain with regard to the specific issues that she raised. Obviously, other Members of the Committee who have contributed to the debate will be copied into that letter.
Amendment 79 relates to this and brings in issues of planning. I hope that I can reassure the Committee, and my noble friend in particular, that it is unnecessary. Planning matters that concern eviction from home will remain in scope under paragraph 28 of Part 1 of Schedule 1. Accordingly, legal aid will, for example, remain available to defend an application for an injunction to evict a person from a site under Section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 or for a planning appeal under Sections 288 and 289 that might result in the individual being legally required to leave their home, including the land where the home is located.
The noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool, and my noble friend in moving his amendment raised the Dale Farm-type situations. To look at the legal issue that arises in relation to the amendment, we are retaining legal aid for eviction cases, including eviction from a mobile home or a caravan site. Legal aid will remain available for eviction from an unauthorised development, subject to the means and merits tests, as apply in other cases. It is important to distinguish those cases from situations where people have set up unauthorised encampments. So there is a difference between an unauthorised development and an unauthorised encampment on a site that they neither own nor have permission to enter. In these circumstances, they would be outwith the scope, as I have indicated; but if the issue is one of an unauthorised development on property that they own and have a legitimate right to be there, legal aid would be available.
Amendments 87 and 88 refer to “trespass to land” in Part 2 of Schedule 1. Amendment 88 concerns cases where the client is trespassing on land, including land surrounding a building, but is not trespassing in the building itself. I recall in a debate that we had last week under an amendment moved by my noble friend Lord Carlile of Berriew that we sought to reiterate that the reference in this part of Schedule 1, specifically to “trespass to land”, is not intended to generally exclude matters falling within Part 1 of Schedule 1 that involve trespass to land but to generally prevent funding for the tort of trespass to land. I indicated during last week’s Committee debate that we are giving active consideration to the exclusions in Part 2 of Schedule 1 generally to ensure that the drafting fully delivers on that particular intention. Clearly, we will look at the particular issue raised in regard to the specifics of trespass to land in this context when looking at whether the Bill as drafted delivers what is intended.
Part 2 of Schedule 1 generally excludes funding for tort claims, because they are primarily concerned with money and alternative funding arrangements can be made available through conditional fee agreements. However, tort claims for trespass to land are not excluded under the Bill where they concern allegations of the abuse of position or power or a significant breach of human rights by a public authority.
The debate has ranged more widely, and I am sure that if the House has not debated the wider issues in recent times, they merit a debate sooner rather than later. The Government understand the issues here and consulted on their new draft planning policy for Traveller sites over last summer. The Department for Communities and Local Government is considering all the consultation responses and intends to publish the new policy as soon as possible. Let me just put on the record that the Government are taking measures to ensure fair and effective provision of authorised sites for Travellers more generally, which seemed to be one of the issues being raised, including providing £60 million in England over the current spending period to help local authorities and other registered providers to build new Traveller sites in consultation with local communities. Councils will also be given incentives to deliver new housing, including Traveller sites, through the new homes bonus scheme.
For the reasons given, and with some of the reassurances that I have given on the scope being not quite as narrow as has perhaps been thought, I hope that my noble friend will agree to withdraw his amendment. As I have indicated, I will certainly respond—
Crime: Rape
Baroness Whitaker Excerpts(13 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Wallace of Tankerness
I am grateful to my noble friend for his welcome. I certainly share the view, which is not specific to this case, that evidence-based legislation, particularly in relation to criminal matters, is almost invariably the best way forward. That is why we have said we will consider options and that any option we bring forward will be based on considerable debate and, I hope, evidence. Indeed, in another place Ministers have called for and welcomed evidence that will be given by people with expertise in this matter. I very much hope that in this House noble Lords who have expertise will be willing to share their views and any evidence which would help us to arrive at a proper option.
Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, will the noble and learned Lord explain exactly why those accused of rape should be entitled to greater protection than those accused of other serious crimes?
Lord Wallace of Tankerness
That question is sometimes raised. As I indicated earlier, the issue has been debated for some considerable time. It is a realisation of the severity of the stigma that is attached to rape. It is a unique crime, inasmuch as the victim has anonymity. In terms of its apparent uniqueness, perhaps I may draw attention to the fact that in the coalition Government’s programme for government we are also considering proposals that would give anonymity to teachers who are falsely accused by pupils. Where professional and personal reputation is at stake, we want to look at these issues with a proper degree of sensitivity.