Manufacturing

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Lord Evans of Rainow

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. At the beginning of my speech, I made the point that all Governments of all political persuasions have contributed to the overall decline. I take on board the closures in his constituency. All Governments need to learn the lessons of the past, but that does not mean that we should underestimate the problem.

Let us consider energy-intensive manufacturing sectors, which include the chemical, steel, glass and paper production industries among others. The chemical industry is of particular importance in my constituency, where Tata and INEOS Chlor are still major employers in Northwich and Runcorn. According to Waters Wye Consulting, policies such as the EU’s emissions trading scheme and the unilateral carbon price floor mean that the average energy-intensive company’s energy bill will rise from £3 million now to £17 million in 2020—an untenable level for the majority of these firms, which simply cannot afford to continue production in the UK. Proponents of these policies argue that energy-intensive sectors account for only 1% of GDP and so do not matter. If we quantify that figure, it equates to a potential loss to the UK economy of £15 billion and 290,000 jobs. More widely, the Royal Society of Chemistry claims that £220 billion of GDP and 5.1 million jobs are partly reliant on UK chemical research alone. Clearly, the visible threat to UK manufacturing is only the tip of the iceberg, but the problem is that most people do not realise that.

British industrial decline, relatively speaking, is in sharp contrast to the experiences of our neighbours—in particular, Germany. German long-term support for manufacturing means that it now possesses the economic clout to dominate Europe. Given the UK’s and Germany’s widely different starting positions 60 years ago, it is clear that it has done something that we have not, and that something is valuing industry. From post-war restructuring to reunification, Germany has always recognised that manufacturing was the backbone of its economy and therefore never enacted policies that would endanger it. Indeed, political infrastructures were set up to nurture industry, especially mittelstand—or, as we refer to them, small and medium-sized companies or SMEs. Foremost among those tools stands KfW, the state-backed bank that ensures that mittelstand can access funding even when the commercial banks are unwilling to lend. The value of such an institution was seen in the financial crisis. According to its accounts, in 2010 KfW financed a record €28.5 billion for SMEs, amounting to approximately 94% of all its commitments for the year. Without KfW, the potential for many extra jobs and exports would have never been realised for Germany.

It is hard to understand how far the value of German industry goes. Youngsters are encouraged from an early age to appreciate the importance of making things.

[Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the key elements of Germany’s success is its investment in research and development? We need to be encouraging that. Jaguar Land Rover is building a new factory in my constituency and investing in R and D, and the Government could go a long way towards helping that by reviewing R and D tax credits, which the Treasury is considering at the moment.

Gypsy and Traveller Sites

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Lord Evans of Rainow

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Westminster Hall

[Gavin Williamson]

No. I am talking about certain areas where a flawed regional spatial strategy was previously in place. In my constituency, and in the wider west midlands, the University of Salford was commissioned to carry out a survey. It involved someone going with a clipboard to all existing Gypsy and Traveller sites and asking, “Do you think you might require extra accommodation?” Oddly enough, the result was, “Yes, we do.” Local authorities were then set targets that they had to meet.

The flaw in such a policy is that it did not look at changes in the population. It meant that if a constituency, district or borough council already had an existing Gypsy and Traveller population, there was an expectation for provision to increase dramatically. If there was no Gypsy or Traveller population already in an area, there was rarely an expectation for any provision to be made. Therefore, local authorities that had already made provision and looked after a Gypsy and Traveller population were penalised for that. I hope that the Minister will provide reassurances that those who make provision that, as has been said, is needed in certain areas of the country, are rewarded for doing so. However, it should not be mandatory or expected that those who have already done a lot should do ever more and more. In South Staffordshire—I speak only for South Staffordshire—such provision is there, but it is not being used; the sites are empty.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate, and I reassure him that what he said about South Staffordshire also applies to Cheshire. Since I have become involved in this issue, I have noticed a lot of smoke and mirrors and red herrings. Behind the developments in my constituency—which sound very similar to those in South Staffordshire—are individual businessmen. This is a business opportunity for certain individuals to buy green belt land for cash and start developing a Gypsy and Traveller site. The moment they make it a Gypsy and Traveller site, things come into play and the issue becomes emotive. There is a lack of will by the local authorities.

[Graham Evans]

I am sorry, Mr Howarth; I am new to this game, but I appreciate what you say. I conclude by asking whether my hon. Friend agrees that much of this matter is about an opportunity for businessmen, rather than for individual Gypsies and Travellers.

[Gavin Williamson]

Very much so; that is precisely the case. Often, a distorting factor is created in the local agricultural market, and small pockets of land that could be purchased for about £4,000 to £6,000 per acre suddenly have an inflated value. One part of the population can increase the value of a development by turning it into a Gypsy and Traveller site. Unfortunately, in some areas that I have seen proposed for development, people seek to get planning permission to create a Gypsy and Traveller site and then, at a later stage, apply for a change of use or another potential form of development. That is a real concern. It will not happen over the next one or two years, but that is the route that people seem to be taking in the medium to long term.

What do I want to hear from the Minister? I could give him a long list of issues. There have been many positive words from the Department for Communities and Local Government about recognising localism. There have been warm words suggesting that the Department understands people’s concerns, and positive responses to show that it understands the problem in the community. I have heard a lot, but I have seen little done.

I am sure that the Minister has, in his briefing papers, news of an awful lot that is about to be done. However, in late August, just before the debate secured by my hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire, it was announced that planning circulars 01/2006 and 04/2007 were to be changed and new policies put in place. Unfortunately, everything seems to have gone quiet since then, although the announcement has encouraged a large number of people to make applications before there is a change in the planning circulars. In my constituency alone, there have been 13 applications, including in the villages of Hatherton and Coven Heath. Those people recognise that the loophole may be closed, but although there has been an announcement from the Department, I have not yet seen any action, and people are rushing to take the opportunity to get applications through the loophole.

--- Later in debate ---

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Howarth. I am new to this, so I am not quite clear about the procedure in this debating Chamber.

I want to make a brief contribution about my constituency in mid-Cheshire, which faces a lot of the issues that my hon. Friend the Member for South Staffordshire (Gavin Williamson) outlined so well. The fundamental issue for our constituents is fairness. Is it fair that most ordinary citizens have to go through the planning process, while others do not? I recently had to apply for a change of use of premises for a new constituency office, and it was really quite amusing to see what hoops I had to jump through just to get a change of use from a taxi office to an ordinary office.

In the six months that I have been a Member of Parliament, I have learned how people can buy a strip of green belt land and transform it. If I wanted to become a landlord, it would be quite simple. I would buy a strip of green belt land and say that I wanted to build stables, for example. I would start to build a stable block, but with no intention of putting horses in it; in fact, I would put in toilets and showers. That would be done without planning permission. I would then install utilities, including water, waste water utilities, and a septic tank. Again, I would do that without planning permission. I would then leave it a few months before inviting people to pitch up and put their caravans on my land. Again, there would be no planning permission.

That is all done in the face of the local community. When the community notifies the local authorities, the authorities seem unwilling, although I believe they are able, to take those responsible to task. In my earlier, lengthy intervention, the point I was getting at was that we are talking about business men who see an opportunity to become landlords. They can have several pitches and they can charge rent for them. These are not Gypsy and Traveller sites in the sense that members of the travelling community come, spend sometime at the site and move on; these are semi-permanent pitches. A coach and horses can be driven through green belt legislation by turning a stable block into a toilet block and putting utilities on the land. That can be done over a weekend.

When I was campaigning before the general election, a lot of residents contacted me on the Thursday evening before the Easter bank holiday to say that people were planning to move on to a site with concrete mixers and tarmac to put in hard-standing alongside the utilities—the utilities were already there, but the site was going to be turned into a permanent fixture. We notified the local authorities on the Thursday that that was going to happen. The people went on to the site on the bank holiday Friday, but no local government officers were there, despite the notification. Over the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, those involved were able to secure the pitches and make them semi-permanent.

Most ordinary people are not legal beagles, and they do not know the complexity of the legal system, but lay people like me know when something that is about to happen is wrong. Local authorities and their legal departments seem unwilling to enforce the existing law. Daresbury is a classic example from my constituency of what happens with Gypsy and Traveller sites. The people concerned see an opportunity to have a brand new Traveller site, although I use the term loosely, because the sites are semi-permanent, with all the utilities. An extensive legal process is now under way; it is taking months, which will soon turn to years. The business men in question seem able to recruit and pay the best legal advisers and barristers, who in court run rings round the local authority legal departments. I am aghast at the lack of will or ability on the part of local authority planning departments.

[Gavin Williamson]

Does my hon. Friend think that part of the reason for that is that there is such financial gain to be had from securing those planning permissions that an awful lot of money can be ploughed into securing them in the first place? That is why the applicants can afford such expensive legal teams.

[Graham Evans]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, with which I agree. We are talking about business men capitalising on a business opportunity; the matter has very little to do with the travelling community. Although those business men may be connected to the travelling community, they live in fixed abodes. The hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George), who is no longer in his place, alluded to the travelling community, but I do not believe that this matter is totally about that community. It is about a business opportunity that is very well executed. As my hon. Friend the Member for South Staffordshire said, it is so profitable that it is worth employing the best barristers to run rings round the local authority representatives.

In my constituency there are two such sites. Towers lane is an area of outstanding beauty. Ancient hedgerows were dug up on a bank holiday and the whole area has been tarmacked. There are utilities, so the people there are paying for gas and electricity, and water rates. Those sites are therefore now semi-permanent, and are legal in the sense that the bills are being paid. I presume rent is being paid to the landlord. Yet there is no planning permission, in green belt, in some of Cheshire’s most outstanding areas of beauty. It is a fantastic business model for those who can get away with it—and the people in question are getting away with it. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s comments, because the scam must come to an end. It is not about human rights; it is about fairness and ensuring that the constituents of many hon. Members have their voices heard.