Local Growth Deals

Debate between Greg Clark and Eric Ollerenshaw

Monday 7th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

That is the great advantage of these investments: investment in transport can have other consequences for regeneration. It is one of the big reasons why taking things out of Whitehall silos and making decisions in the round is so much more effective. I will certainly talk to my hon. Friend about that outside the Chamber.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

I thank the Minister for the care he has taken over the detail of the bids, and particularly for backing the winner in respect of Lancaster university’s innovations park and the £17 million of real money coming to Lancashire to support it. I remind him that there was also a proposal to move junction 33 of the M6, which was also part and parcel of this growth bid.

[Greg Clark]

The good news is that when the negotiations open, that proposal can be considered, and I am sure that my hon. Friend will want to persuade his area’s local enterprise partnership to put it forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and Eric Ollerenshaw

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I will certainly pay tribute to Andy Wood. He is the chief executive of Adnams, one of the biggest and most prestigious businesses in East Anglia, and he has done a fantastic job, not only in negotiating two city deals but in laying the foundations for what is—having discussed it with him—a very ambitious local growth deal that will build on the success that the economy is experiencing in East Anglia and create many more jobs and apprenticeships.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

2. What support the Government are giving to business growth in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Greg Clark)]

I visited Lancashire twice in recent weeks and met with Edwin Booth, the Lancashire local enterprise partnership chair, to discuss its emerging strategic economic plan. Through the Government’s decentralisation agenda, we are giving local leaders the tools and resources they need to drive local growth. As my hon. Friend will know, in Fleetwood for example, we are supporting the creation and safeguarding of over 400 jobs through investment in the seaside regeneration scheme.

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

Fleetwood has a number of thriving fish processing businesses but needs modern buildings and a complicated land swap to allow them to expand to get a form of northern Billingsgate. Given that we have limited capital resources, is there any chance of some kind of national competition for local authorities to bring forward their most difficult regeneration schemes, which potentially could be the most rewarding if they are unlocked?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right and the local growth deals proposed by Michael Heseltine afford precisely that opportunity. I know, having discussed the matter in Lancashire with Lancashire LEP, that it will have a keen eye on that particular proposal. The revival of the economy along the Fylde coast and in the rest of Lancashire is very much in all our interests and I know that it has my hon. Friend’s strong support.