City and Town Centres: Regeneration

Baggy Shanker Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Alex Norris)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Roger, and to speak for the Government in the debate, which I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) on securing. She can tell by the attendance and enthusiasm of hon. Members that she has clearly struck a nerve. I support much of what she said, particularly her passion for the regeneration of our towns and cities to create safe and flourishing local communities.

I represent a Nottingham constituency, so although I will endeavour to get through the rest of the debate without making a Derby joke, that will be very difficult given our important local rivalries—if you see me starting to dance on the spot, Sir Roger, that is why. My hon. Friend’s points about pride, safety and vacancy are at the nub of the debate. I will cover them, as well as a number of contributions from other hon. Members, in my remarks.

Localism is important, and it was mentioned by the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds), the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Vikki Slade), and many other hon. Members. The hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole characterised it as an “intensely local” debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Luton South and South Bedfordshire (Rachel Hopkins) talked about giving communities the tools. My hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Frith), who I know is now participating in the debate in the main Chamber, talked about local people being the real experts, and I totally agree with that. We made a clear commitment in our manifesto to work closely in a new partnership approach with local authorities and elected mayors to stabilise the funding system and build a new one.

The shadow Minister rightly talked about the previous Government’s efforts: the future high streets fund, town deals, levelling-up fund, community ownership fund, UK shared prosperity fund, and long-term plan for towns—lots of different interventions. He has heard me say this before, but my analysis is that they are less than the sum of their parts. It is our job, as a new Government, to make good on our commitment to introduce a more allocative model, perhaps on a longer-term basis, with less central direction and more local decision making.

[Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Despite successive challenges from devastating local government cuts, the impact of lockdowns during the covid pandemic, and 14 years of under-investment from the last Government, we are fighting back in Derby. We have turned a corner, and I would say that we are actually on the up. We now have a Labour Government, a Labour East Midlands Mayor—who is key to this solution—and a Labour council.

Importantly, we have a really strong private-public sector partnership trying to deliver a cleaner, safer and more prosperous Derby, but there is lots more to do. Does the Minister agree that there is more scope to regenerate our city centres with a forward-thinking, collaborative Government who work with the private sector, but put working people at the forefront?

[Sir Roger Gale (in the Chair)]

Order. The Minister has a very limited amount of time to wind up. I appreciate that there will be hon. Members who have not said everything that they want to, but I ask them to resist the temptation of doing so if the Minister is to respond to the debate.