Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 13th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Prisk]

Given my right hon. Friend’s expertise in the area, I would be happy to talk not only to the Minister but to my right hon. Friend himself, in order to ensure that we get the balance right. There is a good opportunity before us, and managing the transition needs a little care and patience, so I shall be happy to work with my right hon. Friend.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

My area, in Lancashire, still does not have a local enterprise partnership. Does not that process just confirm that the Secretary of State is still losing the plot on business and growth in England’s regions? On 11 November he told the Lunar Society in Birmingham that his LEPs process was “Maoist” and “chaotic”, and he repeated that confession to reporters from The Daily Telegraph on 20 December. Meanwhile, the Department for Communities and Local Government has just put in a takeover bid for his European money, which is meant to boost regional businesses and growth. Is not his business and enterprise Minister now left like the boy standing on the burning deck, whence all but he have fled?

[Mr Prisk]

That was a very stretched literary metaphor, if I may say so. [Interruption.] No, in spite of the question, the reality is that the Government are working very closely in that area, and as we have demonstrated in the north-east, we are making good progress. I work closely with my colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government, as I do with other Ministers, and I am sorry that Opposition Front Benchers have nothing positive to say on this subject.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 18th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Prisk]

Without wishing to stretch the metaphor too far, this involves quite a long march for some. The key is business engagement; that is the crucial part. That is what we are looking for, and I am sure that that will be achieved shortly.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

My constituency, like that of my right hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw), is currently sitting in one of the Maoist black holes for local enterprise partnerships. The Department’s new skills strategy says that local enterprise partnerships will lead the transformation of their local economies, yet the Minister is so embarrassed by them that he failed to mention them once when he wound up the debate on growth last Thursday. If he really wants to help local enterprise partnerships, why will he not allow them to retain the assets of the regional development authorities?

[Mr Prisk]

As the hon. Gentleman knows all too well, the White Paper sets out a clear, sensible path for the transfer of assets, and liabilities, from the RDAs. Such transfers might in part be to the local enterprise partnerships, where they exist, and in other parts they might not. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman needs to look more closely at the White Paper; the process is crystal clear.

Historic Towns and Cities

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Tuesday 19th October 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

It is a great delight to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I warmly congratulate the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw)—a fellow Lancastrian MP—on his presentation and on securing the debate. In that welcome, I embrace all hon. Members who have contributed. If I were a tourist buff visiting from the United States or Japan, I would be absolutely gobsmacked at the cornucopia of opportunities that all hon. Members have talked about—many congratulations to all who have spoken.

I want to highlight what the hon. Gentleman said. In his typically robust and common-sense way, he laid out some of the key issues and challenges not just for Lancaster, but for many of the towns and cities that have been mentioned. Of course, Lancaster is a very fine city. Its distinctiveness reflects that of the county palatine, which was created in the 14th century and is directly linked to the royal family. That is why at dinners in the historical county, which includes Blackpool, we still end our toasts to the Queen with the words, “The Queen, the Duke of Lancaster.” In the inclusion of those words, we tend to gloss over the fact that the building up of his power by Richard II did not exactly have the results that Richard II anticipated.

In talking about the issues surrounding the shortage of retail shopping, the hon. Gentleman rightly illuminated challenges and tensions, particularly in relation to Lancaster castle, between current usage and possible future heritage usage. We must also consider the specific issue of transport access—narrow city streets—to which I will return. All those topics are very important, and he presented his case very well indeed.

There was a common theme to all today’s presentations. My colleague and hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley) talked about how strongly heritage has driven economic success and growth. The hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) discussed the very interesting issue—although it is not necessarily one for this debate—of the extent to which local authorities should be held responsible for historic assets. In respect of cathedrals, the Church of England has, of course, argued the toss with English Heritage on that for a number of years with some success.

I entirely agree with what the hon. Member for City of Chester (Stephen Mosley) said about sub-regional roles and the total mix. We cannot keep heritage in aspic or have retail that ignores the historic context in which it is delivered. That total mix is extremely important. The hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds (Mr Ruffley) gave a bravura performance in demonstrating that we can actually have a connection between the past and the future. He also made an important point about the role that local people, groups and associations play in that rich mix of regeneration. It is not just a question of top-down government. As I say, in that respect, it has been a good and enlightened debate.

The Government can play a key role, which does not have to be overbearing, in the economic development of our historic towns and cities. The previous Government had a decent track record on the matter, and many of our historic towns and cities, whether it is Liverpool in the north-west or Hastings in the south-east, have experienced a renaissance in recent years. Much of that was helped by targeted support from the previous Government, which meant that existing buildings were preserved and adapted to become cutting-edge new venues. That has often been linked to the economic renewal of many historic cities and initiatives—none more so than the recent initiatives in Liverpool, when it was the city of culture. I want to mention briefly the Bluecoat theatre in Liverpool, which was first built in 1708 as a charity school. It was reopened in March 2008 after a £14 million redevelopment in which Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the regional development agency, the European regional development fund, trusts, foundations and private donors all played a part.

I would like to add a couple of points about that project that are relevant to this morning’s discussion. The project involved adapting a traditional building to 21st-century local economy needs to showcase visual art, music, live art and literature. Incidentally, the project built on a tradition that has ranged from showing the post-modernists in 1911 to Yoko Ono in 1967—she came back in 2008 for a reunion. The project was completed with a mixture of private funding and public funding from the Government and other bodies.

Looking around the Chamber, it is interesting to note that the contributions have not come from Members representing major cities; they have come from what I describe—I do not do so in a disparaging way because I include my own town of Blackpool—as second-level towns and cities. Those towns and cities are just as key to economic development and renewal as big cities and rural areas. Many second-level towns and cities are also seaside and coastal towns.

The Sea Change programme was and continues to be delivered through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. I had a modest role in encouraging the programme when it was set up under the previous Government. It has helped to boost the economic development of a number of historic coastal towns and cities. A series of grants in excess of £38 million have helped to fund regeneration projects in some 32 resorts. In passing, I would like to mention the town of Blackpool in my constituency. Under that funding, Blackpool tower will benefit from a tower headland—a major new space stretching out into the Irish sea. It will be themed according to the rich history of variety in Blackpool, with a so-called comedy carpet and all sorts of pyrotechnic wonders.

It is not just seaside towns that have benefited from the programme. Coastal towns have also benefited. For example, Dover received £4 million, which allowed the restoration and enhancement of the great tower, which has resulted in a surge in visitor numbers. The remainder of the money is helping with Dover’s ambitious regeneration plans, including a sea-front development and a cable car project linking the town centre to the castle.

It is not just seaside towns that have an historic aspect to them; historic cities that attract large numbers of tourists are also important. Norwich is good example, as a private charitable trust has been set up to help develop 12 iconic buildings into an integrated group of heritage attractions. The overarching framework means that Norwich’s unique assessment of its heritage buildings can function as a catalyst for wider economic regeneration across the area.

The work of non-governmental organisations, such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, must be recognised as helping to develop many of our historic towns and cities. For example, the Townscape Heritage initiative provided £7.5 million of funding, which was matched by the same amount from the European regional development fund, to help redevelop the Ropewalks area of Liverpool. The scheme has also provided money for projects in my constituency of Blackpool, including the revitalisation of St John’s square.

English Heritage has been mentioned in the debate by hon. Members—although not always with approval for what it has done. Nevertheless, it has done some very good things, particularly in the north-west. The hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood might wish to discuss that at another time and place. In particular, in Blackpool it helped to alert us all to the importance of a major regeneration of the winter gardens and the tower, which was a catalyst for the £40 million package of support that was put together earlier this year and which has enabled Blackpool council to take control and offer direction, along with Merlin Entertainments, in those areas. I pay tribute to all those involved, because it provides a strong business case for us in Blackpool. I could cite many other examples, such as the restoration of the traditional covered market in Stockport, the town I grew up in, which has brought an important part of the town centre back to life.

The balance to be struck between conservation and development and regeneration is a subtle one, and it requires the input of statutory bodies, regional and European funding, heritage bodies such as the National Trust and English Heritage and, often, the initiatives of locally based heritage and environmental development groups. How, then, can heritage create the sort of economic activity to which my hon. Friend the Member for York Central referred? English Heritage’s report, “Heritage Counts 2010”, which was published last week, demonstrates in part how that works. New research, commissioned by English Heritage and the National Trust, has looked at the economic impact of investments totalling £23 million at five heritage tourist attractions across the country. Interestingly, half of all jobs generated by such attractions were in the wider community, in local bars, restaurants, hotels and shops. In fact, it was found that every pound invested generated an additional £1.70 for the local economy.

Regional development agencies were mentioned in the debate, not always supportively, but as my hon. Friend said, they provided significant funds for the development of our historic towns and cities in recent years. The East of England Development Agency invested more than £86 million in areas such as Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Southend, and I have already referred to the key role of the RDA in regeneration in Blackpool. Incidentally, Blackpool is also on the list for a world heritage bid, and English Heritage has been playing a key role in that.

The Opposition are concerned about the impact that the abolition of the RDAs might have on the future economic development of historic towns and cities, given the strong role that they have played in the past 10 years. The regional growth fund, which will total only £1 billion over two years, is not a substitute for the budgets that RDAs had for leading regeneration projects in many of our historic towns and cities. As Members will know, some of the funding we are talking about was dependent on match funding from the European regional development fund. That has been put on ice until the status and role of the new local enterprise partnerships are decided. There are real concerns that if that is not done quickly the money will go out the window. I know that that is not the Minister’s direct responsibility, but I ask him to urge his colleagues in the Departments for Business, Innovation and Skills and for Communities and Local Government to come to some conclusion on that matter as quickly as possible.

Governments must recognise that there should be no doctrinaire approach on public and private initiatives in that area, and that cuts both ways. I cite the famous words of Deng Xiaoping, who is not necessarily the greatest advocate for regenerating democracy, but who did lay the foundations of China’s economic success in the 1980s. He is supposed to have said, “It does not matter whether the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.” My assertion is that the cat has caught a significant number of mice over recent years, largely because public, private and local groups have worked together.

Transport is of key importance in balancing conservation and development. I ask the Minister gently, where is the strategy for including transport planning in any successor bodies to the RDAs, particularly local enterprise partnerships? We have seen the development of light rail and tram systems in many of our historic towns and cities; Manchester is a particularly good example of where that has enabled the local council to free up, develop and sustain tight historic areas, such as those around the canal and the village, and to link up with towns and areas outside.

The Government are abolishing the Government office network, which will inevitably remove a key repository of knowledge and, to some extent, a co-ordinating body. Will big infrastructure projects, which could be catalysts for economic growth in historic towns and cities, get the same level of support and co-ordination from civil servants based in Whitehall? That is an important matter in areas where the travel-to-work area is larger than the area of the local authority that controls an historic town or city.

In conclusion, although it was inevitable that public sector-led projects for boosting the economic development of our historic places would be squeezed in difficult times, some of the proposed changes and the way in which the Government are pushing ahead with them could make it harder for major projects to get off the ground. Many of the projects that I and other Members have mentioned today have been multi-agency and have needed considerable co-ordination between national and local statutory organisations and third sector and local groups. I urge the Government merely to recognise that as they develop their policies, because the successes in historic renewal and economic regeneration that we have heard about today must not be stymied by that process.

[The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)]

The pleasure in serving under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone, is matched by the pleasure of facing the hon. Member for Blackpool South (Mr Marsden) for the first time in his new Opposition role. We are old friends, and I am delighted that he has been able to contribute to the debate. I am conscious that I am here with an enormous task; I gather from the debate so far that I must draw together Government policies on cities, towns, growth, planning, historic buildings, transport, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Roman history, tourism, Victorian architecture, prisons and nursery rhymes. Ever mindful of the fate of the three blind mice, Humpty Dumpty and the cat in the well, here is my best shot.

My hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw) has done the House a service in securing the debate. He made a powerful case for the balance, as the hon. Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley) put it, between the historic character of his constituency and the need for change, a point to which I will return later. He is right that economic development is of central importance in ensuring the future well-being of our historic towns and cities across the country, including those in his fine constituency.

The coalition Government inherited a record public sector deficit—you would expect me to say that the day before the comprehensive spending review, Mr Hollobone, but it is relevant to the debate because, as well as being about history, the debate is about economic growth, regeneration and the opportunities that come from investment in the towns and cities that have been so well represented by those who have spoken in the debate.

The hon. Member for York Central, an old friend and sparring partner, spoke with typical eloquence and passion about York. I know what a dedicated servant of that great city he is, and he will know that I holidayed there recently and so can give testament to all that he says about the balance between a modern, thriving York, and its rich architectural and other history. He was right to say that heritage generates employment. The hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell), whom I shall ever after think of as twinkling like a diamond in the Essex sky, made a strong case for both the history and modern profile of his town, which I also know well. Like York, it is a diverse place with a rich history, but one with modern challenges, and he articulated them today, as he always does, with commitment.

Chester is another city that I know well. My hon. Friend the Member for City of Chester (Stephen Mosley) spoke about holistically integrating the needs of local businesses, infrastructure requirements for transport and issues around planning. He spoke about the threat of out-of-town development, and I shall try to cover that in the brief time that I have to contribute to the debate.

In essence, my hon. Friend showed a humility in recognising that Chester can do more, be better and learn from other examples. Sometimes in drawing together the outcomes of these debates, what we can glean from them is as much about sharing good practice drawn from our constituency experience as anything that the Minister or shadow Minister can say, and my hon. Friend did a service to the House in that regard.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds (Mr Ruffley), whom I am delighted to see—I have welcomed him twice, now in Westminster Hall and previously on the Floor of the House—also made a point about holistic development. I was interested particularly in what he said about Sir Michael Hopkins’s mixed development, which combines residential provision, retail business and transport. The assumption that those things should be separated has done immense damage to many of our towns and cities, for the idea that one can compartmentalise those requirements is unhelpful. His example was of the opposite, of how those things can be drawn together in a development which delivers aesthetically as well as in terms of its utility. Again, I shall say more about that.

The hon. Member for Blackpool South spoke of the need for co-ordination. He is right to say that the Government should play a role, but sometimes the Government need to step back as well as forward. This is about getting the Government off people’s backs and on their side. It is about understanding that what the Government do matters, but that what we do not do matters, too; about the balance between local action and Government intervention, and understanding the advantages of the discretion which should and could be exercised by local people and the diversity that springs from that; and about the need to ensure that where co-ordination is required, where some overarching view is needed to pull together transport investment or direct economic activity, the Government should play a part. All this is at the heart of this debate. Let me try in the time I have available to outline how we think that can work.

I mentioned that the CSR will come to its exciting culmination tomorrow. Essential to developing our town and cities and to promoting economic growth is economic well-being. The Chancellor will set out in the spending review detailed policy proposals to promote economic development and spread economic opportunity.

The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has made it clear that we believe that functions such as inward investment, sector leadership, innovation, responsibility for business support and access to finance are best led nationally, but that much is best decided locally: for example, planning and housing policies, creating the right local environment for business to grow, and tackling issues such as employment and enterprise.

[Mr Marsden]

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way—I know that he does not have a great deal of time. He and others spoke about transport. Is he able to confirm that it remains the view of Ministers in his Department that, in some cases, transport needs infrastructure planning over and above sub-regional planning?

[Mr Hayes]

It is true that the Government need to set national priorities for transport infrastructure, but if those priorities are set outside the assumptions and wishes of local communities at sub-regional or local level, they will be frustrated. They will be unpopular at best, and undeliverable at worst, so getting a better balance between local wishes, sensitivities and understanding of economic need, and Government priorities, is at the heart of what we hope to do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 14th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Prisk]

One of the great advantages of moving away from the one-size-fits-all general regional development agencies is that local enterprise partnerships can respond to local needs. I know that my hon. Friend, who fights her corner for her constituents well, will make sure that that happens.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

Yesterday, PricewaterhouseCoopers warned of half a million lost private sector jobs with the Government’s scrapping of schools, hospitals and road contracts. Meanwhile, Ministers from the Departments for Business, Innovation and Skills and for Communities and Local Government continue squabbling about what local enterprise partnerships can do, blocking resources that the private sector says it needs now. Why should businesses believe that the Minister and his colleagues have any plan for local growth or jobs when they are in such a shambles and chaos over LEPs?

[Mr Prisk]

We have inherited a situation in which the funds have run out, as the Labour party has said. That is why we are focusing on the things that really matter—tackling the public deficit to keep interest rates lower for longer, making sure that small businesses see their corporation tax go down and tackling red tape. The Labour party failed to deal with all that, but we will.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Monday 11th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gibb]

It is a concern when any particular group is significantly underperforming compared with the national average. One big priority for the Government is to close the attainment gap between those from the wealthiest and the poorest backgrounds. We are focusing on that in a range of education policies from academies to free schools, and also in our focus on improving behaviour in schools and reviewing the curriculum.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

17. What recent assessment he has made of the merits of year 3 play pathfinder projects in Blackpool.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Tim Loughton)]

All local authorities, including Blackpool, have provided financial information on their 2010-11 play programmes and this is being considered by our Department. However, as I said earlier, the Department is not making judgments on the relative merits of individual sites, and does not hold this information. Local authorities will be notified within the next month of their revised play capital allocations. It will then be for local authorities to decide which play areas go ahead, based on local needs.

[Mr Marsden]

Eleven play pathfinder projects in Blackpool are waiting with bated breath for those allocations. That includes the Fishers Field project in my constituency, which is a highly imaginative but complex project involving new playing fields and a natural park. I hear what the Minister says, but his colleague the Secretary of State, in reply to me earlier in the summer, said he was clear about the needs of Blackpool in terms of deprivation, mobility and general problems in that area. Will the Minister pass on the message that the people of Blackpool would like to see such projects go ahead?

[Tim Loughton]

As I said before and as the hon. Gentleman would have heard, we are very much in favour of promoting play as much as possible because of the many social health benefits that it brings. When the allocations are determined after the spending review coming up, I hope the local authority in Blackpool will decide its priorities according to local needs—we have given local authorities that power—and proceed to promote the play schemes that it considers most appropriate for the local area.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tim Loughton]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Of course, the big increase in the number of children coming into care in the aftermath of the baby Peter case was alarming. It is therefore absolutely right that the ongoing Munro review makes suggestions for freeing up the bureaucracy, which holds back social workers from doing the sort of preventive work—keeping families together when possible and working with other professionals on an early intervention basis—that can be so profitable financially, but, more important, socially, for those families later.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has just said that he is keen to promote initiatives in the study of history in schools. Does he remember the rather sterile debate in 1990, when Lord Baker introduced the national curriculum, between skills and content? Does he agree that skills Learned in the study of history are as important as narrative? We cannot have one or the other—we need both.

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s point. He was a distinguished editor of History Today, and his voice in these debates is important. It is critical that we ensure that every child has a proper spine of knowledge—the narrative of the history of these islands. Without that, the skills of comparison and of examining primary and secondary sources and drawing the appropriate conclusions, are meaningless. Without that spine, history cannot stand up and take its place properly in the national curriculum. One of the problems in the past 13 years—indeed, since 1990—is that national history has not been taught as it should be in our schools. Under the coalition Government, that will change.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Monday 12th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. One of the demographic changes to which the previous Government did not pay sufficient heed was the increase in the number of pupils arriving at primary schools, particularly in London and the south-east. That growth in basic need is our first priority.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

T10. The Secretary of State has already spoken of his great concern about special schools. Has he done any cumulative assessment of the impact on special schools of his BSF cuts last week? The programme for all three such schools in Blackpool—Woodlands, Park and Highfurlong—will be affected and stopped, because they were co-operating with other secondary schools. What assurance will he give the House that he will consider the cumulative impact on special schools, and what assurance will he give me that he will look at the problems in Blackpool in particular?

[Michael Gove]

I am very sensitive to the problems in Blackpool. I had the opportunity to visit one of the schools that the hon. Gentleman mentions—Highfurlong—with my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard). I appreciate the problems on that site and want to do everything possible to ensure that our capital review guarantees that children attending special schools get the money that they need for the facilities that are crucial to their education, as quickly and efficiently as possible.