Tristram Hunt
Main Page: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Mr Foster
I congratulate my hon. Friend on his campaign to achieve that success for his constituents. The money available is £10,000, and some of the 300 successful towns have already received those funds. If the cheque is not quite in the post, I assure him that it will be fairly soon.
Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)
Are not the Government’s attempts to revive town centres undone by the appalling Growth and Infrastructure Bill, which allows major out-of-town retail parks to be designated of national significance? When will we have clear guidance and joined-up thinking on our town centres?
Mr Foster
The hon. Gentleman is simply wrong. The national planning policy framework has a clear “town centre first” policy, and the Department is putting a large amount of funding into measures such as the Portas pilots schemes—and many others—to provide support for our town centres. The Government are supporting town centres, which have experienced real problems given the disastrous situation in which this country’s economy was left.