Urban Regeneration (England)

Marcus Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2015 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

I am delighted to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Main. I thank the hon. Member for Wirral South (Alison McGovern) for securing this important debate and giving me this opportunity to set out the Government’s vision for the future of our towns and cities.

I am passionate about high streets and town centres and their importance to our communities and local economies, so I was delighted to take on the portfolio for high streets, town centres and markets. We are at a critical moment for our town centres, and I am dedicated to giving local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and local communities access to the tools that they need to transform their local areas. The Government have made it clear that we wish to empower towns and cities to become real engines of growth, unleashing their full potential by placing power to make decisions locally in the hands of people who know those local areas best, and we have certainly started to do that. We have created 39 local enterprise partnerships, chaired by business leaders, covering the whole of England. We have delivered 28 city deals, which are revitalising the English regions by enabling private sector growth. And now we have the Chancellor’s vision for a northern powerhouse that will raise the growth rate of the north, which could be worth an extra £44 billion for the north by 2030. Clearly, the Wirral and Liverpool have a vital role to play in that vision.

There has been significant investment in the Wirral, which I will touch on when I answer some of the hon. Lady’s questions. There has been significant progress, because five years ago more than 1,300 people in the Wirral were claiming jobseeker’s allowance. That figure has now fallen to less than 700, which is less than half the number we inherited. We are not complacent, but that reduction represents significant progress.

High streets and town centres play a crucial role in our areas. They create future jobs and nurture small businesses. A recent Association of Town Centre Management report shows that town centres contribute nearly £600 billion to UK plc each year. Recent news has shown that high streets across the country are fighting back valiantly following the great recession. Recent data show positive footfall trends in most locations, and the national town centre vacancy rate fell to 9.8% in July 2015, which is the lowest reported since records began in July 2011. Year-on-year sales have increased for 28 consecutive months, which is the longest sustained period since 2008.

Where empty shops stubbornly remain, I recognise that they can blight town centres and bring down the general appearance, which is why I urge local authorities and landlords to think innovatively and look for meanwhile uses for such properties. Pop-up shops have provided a great stimulus in many towns and high streets, not only enabling entrepreneurs to get going but bringing people into town centres who are keen to see new, innovative traders. The Government have taken significant action to support town centres to weather the storm. Since 2010, the Government have helped to create 300 town teams and have given more than £18 million to towns, which includes funding and practical support in New Ferry in the hon. Lady’s constituency.

[Alison McGovern]

I think that the Minister is about to make my point for me. We had pop-up shops in New Ferry, and they did not work; we have a town team, and it does not work. What we need is capital, because the market in New Ferry is failing. Will the Minister please help us with resources?

[Mr Jones]

I am coming on to those points. I am well aware that there are many structural issues facing many town centres, and there are many areas where, as the hon. Lady identifies, the stock of property is not conducive to 21st century use. There are many challenges, so this is probably a good point for me to address her questions. First, she mentioned the national planning policy framework. There is a strong “town centre first” policy in the NPPF, and areas such as Croydon, Swindon and Southampton are doing extremely well in ensuring that they are strong in relation to the “town centre first” policy. The chief planning officer wrote to all local authorities in February 2015 to reiterate the “town centre first” policy and to remind councils that they should pay due deference to this important policy.

The hon. Lady also mentioned the views of the Association of Convenience Stores. The association is extremely important, and I am meeting it this Friday, which I am sure she will be glad to hear. She made a fair point on out-of-town stores, but she and her fellow Opposition Members failed to mention online retailing, which has had a significant effect on town centres. She made an important point on regeneration.

[Dr Huq]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Jones]

Just bear with me, because I have very little time. The hon. Member for Wirral South made some important points, and I am doing an awful lot of work to try to introduce proposals on the issues that she mentioned. The structural problems faced by many areas, not just in the north but in pockets across the country, are significant. We need to look at those problems carefully, but we should not go back to the days of the failed regional development agencies. In my region—the west midlands—the RDA failed significantly, with fewer people employed in the private sector after the RDA finished than before it started. Gloucester is a good example of an area where the LEP is embracing its town and city centres. Gloucester city centre is benefiting from the LEP’s work, but we need to encourage the LEPs to take on board the challenges in our towns and city centres and work to support them.

The shadow Minister mentioned Government support, and Wirral South has had significant Government support. There was an £8.5 million investment in the Unilever Port Sunlight research and development project, and there is also the Wirral Waters enterprise zone, which I understand will be the largest regeneration project in the UK. Some Opposition Members fail to understand that these issues are complex. Although money is important in many situations, it is not the only solution. I am looking into the many challenges and working through the different issues that affect our town centres, and I am working with partners to try to secure solutions.

It was good to hear from the hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans), who mentioned Cardiff. It would be good one day to go to see the regeneration that happened as a result of the work of Mrs Thatcher and Lord Heseltine back in the 1980s. The comments of the hon. Member for Ealing Central and Acton (Dr Huq) were reasonably negative, but I note that Pitshanger Lane in Ealing has been entered into the great British high street competition, which I welcome. I wish its supporters well in their efforts. The hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) made the important point that the UK Government and the devolved Administrations need to work together on what works well and on best practice.

I find it difficult to accept the shadow Minister’s view on cuts. Before the general election, the Labour party said that it was going to cut local government, so it is difficult for him to say now that the Labour party would not do so. On spending power, the authorities that he mentioned generally have higher spending power than authorities such as the one in the area that I represent. I certainly do not want to go back from LEPs to RDAs, as he mentioned.