National Infrastructure Projects (Local Development)

Kris Hopkins Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2015 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Kris Hopkins)]

I thank the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter) for highlighting such an important area of work. Infrastructure investment is a critical building block of the Government’s long-term economic plan. I share his determination to see maximum benefits for local people as a result of our investments.

I have observed the hon. Gentleman in the debates we have had and he has never been a “glass half full” man. I have to say that I do not share his dark, bleak, depressing and negative interpretation of what is being proposed and driven through. After that bleakness, the right hon. Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Frank Dobson) lifted us with his contribution. I will add a little light, understanding and clarity on what is being proposed and the outcome being sought. Importantly, I will make sure that the democratic process behind it is understood as well as the role of the residents and their confidence in a journey that, it is proposed, will last some decades; they have a full role to play in the process.

Let us take one nationally significant infrastructure project, Crossrail, as an example. We can clearly see why there is so much focus on ensuring successful economic outcomes for both the local area and the wider economy. Although located in London and the south-east, Crossrail is generating jobs and business opportunities around the country. Europe’s biggest construction project, it is providing a boost to a whole range of UK industries. Over the course of the project, we expect at least 75,000 opportunities for businesses, and 97% of the £6.5 billion in contracts let by Crossrail to date has gone to contractors based in the UK; 62% of that has gone to firms outside London and 58% to small and medium-sized businesses.

This Government have made improvements to the planning regime for significant infrastructure projects. The bespoke regime ensures faster decisions on national infrastructure projects, and gives much needed certainty to developers and investors. The system is working well, with a number of notable decisions taken to date, including on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in March 2013 and on the Thames tideway tunnel in September 2014, which was mentioned earlier. Hinkley in particular highlights how well the system is working: the planning consent was granted just 17 months after application, compared with the over six years it took to grant consent for the Sizewell B facility under the old system.

Making decisions quickly is not the only priority, however. Local people must have the chance to influence decisions on national infrastructure where it affects their area. The nationally significant infrastructure projects regime ensures that that happens, through pre-application public events, local authority statements on public consultation and formal representations during the inspection process. To return to the example of Hinkley, when seeking consent for the project, the developer held 37 public exhibitions and 67 stakeholder meetings, engaging with almost 6,500 consultees. The story does not end there: as the hon. Member for Hammersmith has highlighted, it is not only the national infrastructure itself that is important, but what is done around it to support it, link it to local people and ensure the maximum positive benefits for businesses and local communities.

The economic potential of the Old Oak and Park Royal development area has been catalysed by Government investments in High Speed 2 and Crossrail, and is huge. Current estimates from the Greater London authority are that the area has the potential for 24,000 homes and 55,000 jobs. Over a 30-year period, the development would ensure economic regeneration worth some £15.5 billion to the UK economy. I am sure that everyone recognises that that level of investment and outcome for our country is extremely important, and we need to seize the opportunity with both hands.

How do we do that? Local leadership is key. The Greater London authority, working with local partners, including the three London boroughs in the area, has proposed a mayoral development corporation for the Old Oak and Park Royal area to ensure that growth happens in the best way for the local community. I welcome that move. To support delivery on the scale required, the MDC will provide leadership for a single, robust plan with clear direction. The MDC will bring together transport agencies, local authorities, developers, landowners, local businesses and, crucially, local communities around a common goal of ensuring that the redevelopment is a success. Rather than individual developers coming forward with competing proposals for the area, the MDC will draw together the strategy and engage developers in its delivery. That leadership is crucial for success.

My Department is working well with the Greater London authority to ensure that the MDC is established in good time. As a result, I am pleased to say that the statutory instrument required to establish the MDC has now been laid before Parliament, and the MDC will be established on 1 April this year.

I know that the hon. Member for Hammersmith has raised concerns regarding the MDC. He is right to make people aware of his concerns through this debate, and to ensure that his constituents have had the opportunity to challenge. Many concerns, such as those about membership of the MDC board and its planning committee, are matters for local agreement. But we should note that the boroughs will be represented on both the board and planning committee, and I am particularly pleased that, as a result of public consultation, the board will also include local business and community representatives. It is also good to see that the MDC is planning wider community engagement, including proposals for a community charter to be prepared and agreed in collaboration with local groups, and that the Greater London authority is ambitious about maximising affordable housing provision across the site.

[Mr Slaughter]

I have represented my own views, but I quoted extensively from all three boroughs for the area, the residents associations, groups such as the Grand Union Alliance and GLA members because they all share my concerns. All the groups that the Minister has mentioned—democratically elected bodies, residents’ groups and umbrella groups—have the same concerns. They are all in one basket and the Mayor is in the other.

[Kris Hopkins]

There is a difference between our two approaches. I am not saying that the hon. Gentleman should not challenge things—if I were the MP for the area, I would as well. But I have more confidence, because I have been in local government—I know he has been as well—and I have never met a group of councillors that simply sat back and let themselves be manipulated by another party.

The hon. Gentleman should have some confidence. There are three authorities involved, all of which happen to be Labour-led, and I am sure that they will not sit back but will make sure that there is a role played by local authorities in the delivery. The terms and conditions and the outcomes sought by the MDC can come about only through negotiation between the local authorities and the GLA. Those negotiations have not concluded yet.

Issues such as housing and transport provision will be determined in the local plan, which will be delivered in 18 months’ time, after the mayoral elections. My own experience with a local plan in my constituency has shown me that that is the time for residents to participate in the process and for locally elected representatives to play a full role in making sure that they can shape the outcomes.

It is not the case, as has been suggested, that the Mayor will just roll forward with his own ambitions, along with greedy developers. If the plan is not appropriate, the inspector will reject it. If there is not sufficient affordable housing, there is an opportunity for the inspector to reject the plan on those grounds. If a future Mayor decides that they want to put more housing into the offer, they will have the opportunity to review the plan and put that in. To suggest that there is no affordable housing is wrong.

The Government’s track record on delivering affordable housing far exceeds that of the previous Labour Administration. I remind Members that more council houses have been delivered in the nearly five years of this Administration than were delivered in the 13 years of the Labour Administration. Tom Copley said that he is embarrassed that Margaret Thatcher delivered more council houses and flats in one year than the Labour Administration delivered in 13 years. I hear the right hon. and hon. Members’ lectures and rhetoric about there being no affordable housing. They say that it is appalling and that we have let people down, but I know, as a former Housing Minister, that there were 425,000 fewer affordable homes in 2010 than there were in 1997. It is the Labour party that has failed people who want secure homes.

[Mr Slaughter]

I am not going to rise to the Minister’s bait, because he is getting somewhat off the subject. For eight years we had a Tory council, for six we have had a Tory Mayor and we have a Tory Government, and our direct local experience is that 500 council houses have been sold off, council houses have been demolished and whole estates have been scheduled for demolition, all with the active collusion of the Mayor. That is what has led to the suspicion of and the complete lack of confidence in this proposal. I am not going to get into a joust about the national figures, because I dispute what the Minister says. He is asking us to trust City hall to deliver, but our local experience tells us that we should do the opposite.

[Kris Hopkins]

All that demonstrates is the fact that the hon. Gentleman does not understand the process. I am concerned that residents may be listening to the hon. Gentleman when he says that in the future affordable housing will not be delivered. The local plan and localist policies are giving members of the public and elected representatives the opportunity to determine where affordable housing is built. It is not in the hands of the Mayor. The hon. Gentleman said that the previous Conservative council did not deliver. He has now got three Labour councils, and he seems to have no confidence in their delivering.

[Frank Dobson]

The best prospect for relieving the pressure on Camden’s housing was the Mount Pleasant Post Office site, but the Mayor has given full-scale approval, using his existing powers, for what can be described only as a speculative housing development. He said that there will be some social housing, but it will be at 80% of market rent. He is cracking a pretty good joke, because in that area 80% of market rent is £30,000 per year.

[Kris Hopkins]

We need to place this issue in context. The right hon. Gentleman has complained about the delivery of houses, and said that he does not like the formula. However, he makes no reference to the fact that one of the reasons why residents in London are struggling to find houses is that the Government of whom he was part failed to deliver housing. The Mayor of London has delivered 23,000 affordable homes, and he is on track to deliver another 15,000 before the end of the year. We asked him to deliver that, and he was confident that he could do it. He is also going to deliver another £1.1 billion of affordable homes in the future.

[Frank Dobson]

Most Londoners cannot afford 80% of market rents. A newly appointed consultant surgeon at Great Ormond Street hospital would not be able to afford rent of £30,000 a year. If it is not affordable for a new consultant surgeon, who is it affordable for?

[Kris Hopkins]

There are too few houses, which has forced up rents over a long time. It is important that we build houses, whether by building social housing or private rental housing, or asking councils to utilise some of the £300 million-worth of resources to build council houses themselves. The Government have delivered what we promised on affordable housing, and our record will be compared with the previous Government’s absolute failure to deliver over 13 years. A Labour elected representative has recognised with embarrassment that the Labour Administration failed to deliver in 13 years what Margaret Thatcher delivered in one. I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s concern, but he must reflect on his party’s failure before pointing the finger.

Before I conclude, I want to pick up on some of the issues that have been raised, and to give some reassurances. The local plan will be delivered over the next 18 months, and it will set out our expectations on affordable housing. It will be subject to the rigorous examination that we would all expect. The MDC plans will also set out important safeguards to existing assets in the area, including the Park Royal industrial area and Wormwood Scrubs. That is key to ensuring that development happens in the right way for the local people in the area.

Old Oak and Park Royal is just one example of the impact national infrastructure has on local growth. By definition, national infrastructure projects have the potential to create benefits across the country, and there are examples of that along the whole length of the proposed High Speed 2 route. I realise that the right hon. Gentleman has been a ferocious opponent of that project. We both served on the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill Committee, and I completely respect the stance that he has taken, but as a northern Member of Parliament, I recognise that it is extremely important that we make use of the opportunity to increase our connectivity and capacity to ensure that the whole of the country grows as a consequence of High Speed 2. That does not mitigate all the individual challenges that the right hon. Gentleman has raised today and in the past.

[Frank Dobson]

The main objective of High Speed 2 is to promote economic development in five cities—Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester—but if the £50 billion were broken up into five nuggets of £10 billion and offered to each of those cities to promote economic development, does the Minister think that the first thing they would do is to club together to buy a railway?

[Kris Hopkins]

I have heard the right hon. Gentleman pose that question several times before, but that is not how the project should be interpreted. Actually, it will benefit eight out of Britain’s 10 largest cities, linking them together and delivering a significant economic contribution to each of them. Journey times to London, and from London to other places, will be reduced, and the economic opportunities will be absolutely massive. However, as in London, the key to success across the country will be local leadership. Local enterprise partnerships will bring together elected individuals and businesses to work with the Government, agencies and other regeneration organisations.

It is important that we harness this opportunity. I recognise the challenge that elected representatives in London face, but there is a broader issue to be addressed. We are also delivering a comprehensive northern transport strategy that will complement High Speed 2 and set out the priority corridors and areas for investment and infrastructure across the north of England, which will drive economic growth and deliver the vision of the northern powerhouse. It is important to recognise that the infrastructure investment and changes that are going on at this end of High Speed 2 are connected to other parts of the country.

[Mr Slaughter]

Apart from his frolic on council housing, I appreciate the tone of the Minister’s response. The purpose of the debate is to help not only to achieve those national objectives, but to take into account local considerations. Will the Minister deal with two points, which are not party political? Will he look again, as the Save Our Scrubs organisation and many others have asked, at Wormwood Scrubs being taken out of the area covered? There is no logic to it being included. Will he also encourage the railway companies and Transport Ministers to meet with the West London Line Group to look at its innovative and detailed proposal for the better integration of rail in that area? Surely the Government and Mayor keeping an open mind on both those issues cannot do any harm.

[Kris Hopkins]

In his speech, the hon. Gentleman asked how all these difficult things would be led and delivered. The fact that there are three council representatives, three local community representatives, and the rest of it is made up of independent individuals who have no financial determination or interest associated with the planning committee is important. As far as the board is concerned, the fact that there are players there who will be in charge of that particular part of that process and be at the helm, driving the outcome, is also extremely important. The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, though. The negotiations between local authorities and the GLA are continuing, and I am certainly prepared to write a note on the observation that he has raised, which is that different groups would like to participate and understand how the process works.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods]

The “benefits” to the north-east that we anticipate from HS2, HS3 or HS4, as it might be then, are likely to come in something like 2035, and we have a real need for infrastructure investment now that is not being delivered.

[Kris Hopkins]

I am sorry to contradict the hon. Lady, but only a few days ago, the Chancellor announced massive investment in the east coast line for new stock to be delivered as soon as possible. She is right that an infrastructure development the size of High Speed 2 or High Speed 3 is a generational process. As far as the east coast line is concerned, we already have the infrastructure there, and there is massive investment in transport through this Government.

Before I move on to the issue of localism, let me reiterate a point, so people can hear it in the Minister’s voice, because I know that some out there will be concerned about some interpretations that were given earlier. Wormwood Scrubs is protected by the trust. Nothing will happen unless the trust agrees to that intervention, or whatever it is—and I have no idea that there is to be any intervention. However, it is important that the trust is part of the process; that they are there inside, driving that. There is suspicion and the idea that there is some ulterior motive associated with this, but the trust is in control and the trust—not any other person outside that—will make the determination.

The hon. Lady talked about localism and about a mechanism. I am sorry to be critical in response to the points she made, but I worked in and represented a large metropolitan authority. I sat on some of the leaders boards in the north-east as well, and I know that the historical machine of a Labour Administration had nothing to do with localism. Now, four years later, they have not had a road to Damascus moment and forgotten about their regional strategies and regional government and the power that was taken out of local authorities and given to RDAs, which were driving political decisions from the centre, and the fact that outcomes were driven by centrally located targets. I am not quite sure of the details, but I am sure that the Labour Members voted against nearly all the provisions laid out in the Localism Bill, so heaven forbid that a Labour Administration come back and change some of the powers that we have given to local authorities.

The reality is that local authorities, regardless of their political colour, will be empowered to have that strong relationship in driving forward the day-to-day planning activities associated with the MDC. Local residents can be confident that it will be their representatives doing that, regardless of the political party. It may be Labour Members who are out there arguing that, and I will champion them if that is the case and that is what they need to do. However, there is no removal of the democratic process in this.

The fundamental bit, which completely contradicts the argument made by Labour Members, is that the Mayor is elected and is up for election in a year’s time or so. Individuals will be able to challenge the new candidates about what is on offer and the outcomes that will be determined, but the local plan, the engagement of local authorities, the role of the Mayor, the fundamental role of the representative, and the fundamental role of the citizen are all actually empowered by this process.