Coastal Towns (Government Policy)

Tony Baldry Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Westminster Hall

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

I will try to be brief and not to repeat what other hon. Members have said. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) because he hit the nail on the head in terms of my responsibilities in the town of Fleetwood. However, I should add that, although a recent study somehow missed Fleetwood off and instead included it in something called Greater Blackpool, anyone who has ever been to Fleetwood will know that Mr and Mrs Fleetwood do not regard Blackpool as either greater or a part of them. That, however, goes to the core of the issue.

Fleetwood is a 19th century town. It was once at the end of the west coast main line, and we actually have a North Euston hotel. The main line train from London used to come to Fleetwood to take the fish back to Billingsgate. The fishing industry was knocked out in the ’60s and ’70s. Since then, the town has somehow lost its heart. Today, what is left of the fishing industry—the inshore boats that face problems in other hon. Members’ constituencies, too—faces the consequences of the difficult balance that the Government will have to strike in terms of renewable energy. The fishing boats of Fleetwood are being laid up as a result of an increase in the number of wind farms on their territory. There is also a lack of any statutory compensation, and I find it incredible in this day and age that, even though fishermen are usually a one-man business, they have to negotiate compensation themselves when wind farms go up on their fishing grounds. I hope that that will be addressed nationally, and I know that other hon. Members feel the same way.

My hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mark Simmonds) raised other issues. There is real potential in coastal towns. For example, Fisherman’s Friend is an internationally recognised company in Fleetwood that exports to more than 100 countries. We also have a fish processing industry. Believe it or not, great articulated lorries come to Fleetwood from Hull, Brixham and all around the country night after night because of the skills of certain processing families, whose products are then transported out of Fleetwood to major hotels and restaurants. Those companies could expand and they say that they could take on more work.

Do hon. Members realise that we export 50 tonnes of whelks to Korea every year? Apparently, whelks are an aphrodisiac in Korea, and I would ask hon. Members to try them. [Interruption.] My experience of whelks is not too happy, I must say.

[Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

Were you successful?

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

There was certainly a lack of success.

I disagree to some extent with my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart), who talked about freeing up businesses and deregulation. All of that will help, but even though our businesses can take on new people, we do not have the transport system. A railway line still exists, but there is no railway service on it. We have one major road—the A585—which is not dualled. We have actually got a tram and we are the end of the tram line from Blackpool, but the tram is not working at the moment because it is being upgraded to a supertram. The supertram may help with some aspects of tourism in the town, but there are inevitably delays to major projects and the repeated delays to the scheme—I hope that the Minister will take a look at it—have led to businesses closing down. They cannot wait that long.

What we need is, I think, the same for many coastal towns. The projects in question are not big infrastructure deals such as high-speed rail. Small investment is needed, but that small investment could in some towns—particularly, as the hon. Member for Southport (Dr Pugh) said, when it is for transport—bring extra jobs and release potential.