Have a look below at the full text of Gordon's debate in Parliament on Blackpool's economic regeneration:
Economic Regeneration (Blackpool)
Mr. Gordon Marsden (Blackpool, South) (Lab): It is a great pleasure to be here and to speak under your chairmanship, Dr. McCrea, and I look forward to the
debate.
I always think that I am extremely fortunate to be one of the Members of Parliament for Blackpool and one of the four Members of Parliament for the Fylde
coast. Blackpool has been at the centre of this country’s tourism and popular culture for the best part of a century and a half. Wherever in the country I go to meetings or meet people, virtually
everybody has heard of Blackpool and virtually everybody has an opinion about it—those opinions may vary, but they are intense.Seldom, however, has Blackpool been more in the
news than in the past year. Our present regeneration predicament and our future hopes—like those of seaside and coastal towns in general—have taken centre stage in a national debate about
regeneration. The casino advisory panel’s controversial recommendation in January that east Manchester should be the site for the super-casino sparked an extraordinary chain reaction and campaign
of support. That was true not only in Blackpool and across the north-west, with an 11,000-signature petition being handed in on the steps of No. 10, but in both Houses of Parliament. That
culminated in the House of Lords’ rejection of the panel’s recommendation at the end of March, and the momentum of debate and argument on the subject has scarcely slackened since.
There was a major Select Committee report on seaside and coastal towns in the spring calling for new Government initiatives, which was followed by a
Westminster Hall debate. There were the Prime Minister’s remarks at Prime Minister’s questions in the summer, which spurred the major review of regeneration needs that is now under way at the
Department for Communities and Local Government. There is also the report by the Blackpool taskforce, which involves all the local and regional agencies and which was set up as a result of the then
Secretary of State’s concession in the heated Commons debate on the issues raised by the casino order that was published last month. In September, we also had the survey report on gambling issues
in the United Kingdom over the past 10 years. In addition, we will shortly have a major English Heritage conference on regenerating seaside towns. Finally, of course, we are having this
hour-and-a-half debate.
My comments today are made on the basis not only of my 10 years’ experience as a Blackpool MP and my nearly 18 years’ involvement with the town, its issues and
arguments, but of my role as the honorary president of the British Resorts and Destinations Association and the chairman of a Back-Bench group of Labour seaside MPs. Over the past 10 years, I have
seen that the economic regeneration problems that Blackpool faces are unique and great. Blackpool’s contribution to tourism and leisure in this
country has been great, but our problems, difficulties and opportunities echo what other seaside and coastal towns need. Coming from such a town himself, the Minister will well understand that, and
I am delighted to see other Members from other seaside and coastal towns here today.
Let me emphasise straight away that there is no churlishness in my introducing this debate. I recognise that there has been significant central and regional
government support for Blackpool’s regeneration over the past seven years and I am grateful for that. It is worth briefly reminding people of what that support has included. Some £15 million went
into work on phase 1 of Blackpool’s central corridor, and those who come to the town today will see a regenerated and imaginative central corridor, with its famous climbing towers. We have had
seafront reconstruction, with £68 million—a major sum—from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs now being spent on renewing the sea wall and offering other opportunities. We have
received significant funding of £10.8 million under the local enterprise growth initiative. There has been money for the new urban regeneration company, which will receive £7 million gross in year
1 and £17 million in year 2, and, of course, there are moneys under the single regeneration budget programme. I might also add, although this is not strictly Government funding, that we have
received welcome funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to regenerate Stanley park, which is one of Blackpool’s major assets, although it has been underused and underexploited in recent years.
Finally, the Government announced only last week that they would completely renew and support the development of the lighting programme across Blackpool, which involves £30 million to £31
million.
As I say, I am therefore not at all curmudgeonly about what has been done—indeed, I very much welcome it—but the problem in Blackpool is daunting in scale,
systemic and has developed over three decades, if not longer, as Professor Fothergill and others have documented. One could spend an enormous amount of time talking about the process that has
brought us to the difficulties that we have today, but I just want to pick out one or two fairly obvious points.
First, there is the systematic decay of Blackpool’s late 19th and early 20th-century infrastructure. I am talking not only about the infrastructure of
significant public buildings or areas such as the Winter gardens or the piers, but about promenade and street features, for which it is difficult to obtain lottery grants and which often do not
fall within a particular remit. Later, I will talk a little about the trams, and I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) will want to say more about
them. For the best part of 50 years, however, no money whatever was put into the infrastructure for Blackpool’s trams.
Of course, other, more powerful forces have driven Blackpool’s decline and problems. Perhaps the major one, which has affected other seaside and coastal towns,
has been the loss of the solid one or two-week holiday market. The change in holiday patterns is well understood. I have used this analogy before, and I hope that I am not wearying those hon.
Members who have heard it before, but Dean Acheson once said that Britain after Suez had lost an empire but not yet found a role. Blackpool and many other seaside towns
have obviously lost the empire of solid one or two-week holidays, and it will not come back, at least not in the same format. At the same time, although it is not a question of such towns’ not yet
having found roles—indeed, they are all energetically looking for them—the challenge in terms of Government funding and support is great.
One thing that is not often understood is the impact of skewed demography on Blackpool’s services for residents and visitors. Like many seaside and coastal
towns, we have higher-than-average numbers of younger and older people, and that puts a particular strain on what the town can spend on those people. The influx of 10 million to 11 million visitors
a year also puts an enormous strain on services. Incidentally, the Government do not yet recognise the need for additional formula funding, and that is certainly true of health spending. Such
pressure on local authority funding reduces the amount that local authorities, including those outside Blackpool, can spend on renewing infrastructure and promoting tourism.
Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab): I thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and pay tribute to his work in securing the debate, and for his work with the Labour group of
seaside MPs. Is he arguing for ring-fenced funding from central Government, similar to what was made available to steel and coal communities, and rural and inner city communities?
Mr. Marsden: I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I pay tribute to him, also, for his work in highlighting the similar problems of Welsh seaside towns. The
situation is different from what he referred to, in the sense that the coalfield and steel areas were affected by the fairly immediate and dramatic loss of a mono-industry. However, there are
similarities. I know that the Government have thus far found it difficult to find an appropriate ring-fenced formula, but there are merits in considering some elements of what was done in relation
to the coalfields taskforce. I certainly think that the Minister’s Department needs to look more positively at the issue of an overall regeneration taskforce than its response to the relevant
Select Committee report suggested.The final point that I want to make about funding—I do not want to be too technical—is that seaside towns such
as Blackpool suffer from the so-called pepper-pot principle of deprivation. We have severe deprivation in certain areas of Blackpool, but it is in pockets. One of the problems with Government and
European funding and grants is that, historically, because of the practice of averaging out across a borough or larger area, we have not attracted the sort of funding that we need in that respect.
That is an important issue.The scale of the challenge is identified by Blackpool council in its response of 5 September about the taskforce to the Minister’s
Department. The executive director of regeneration, Jackie Potter, said that, unlike other areas, which are often struggling with single industrial market failures, Blackpool’s case is more complex
as it is the compound effect of coastal resort decline and socio-economic and housing market failures. She went on to
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say that the action plan was therefore designed to tackle these failures and drive regenerations on multiple fronts, based on an understanding that investment solely in developing the economy would
not deliver the change required, and that a programme of housing renewal in isolation would not address the underlying causes of market failure. Likewise, she said that it would be crucial to
reshape the town’s image to attract a more dynamic population and labour force. She went on to say that that means renewal of the town as a resort, with conferences, attractions, accommodation and
infrastructure, regeneration of the town centre as a strong sub-regional centre—that involves retail, education and commerce—and intervention in the housing market.As I
have already said, a problem in the past has been that figures have not picked up the deprivation. However, one or two snapshot figures will remind the Minister and colleagues of the scale of the
problem. Official figures describe 29,000 of Blackpool’s residents—a fifth of the population, and obviously a larger proportion in relation to the working population—as income deprived. Three of
Blackpool’s assessment zones, which are smaller sub-ward zones, for elderly people’s living standards, are within the most deprived 3 per cent. nationally; 29 of the 94 sub-ward areas in Blackpool,
amounting to almost a third of the whole, are within the 10 per cent. of most deprived areas nationally. Blackpool is rated by the Minister’s Department as the 24th most deprived English local
authority out of 358. My final statistic is that all 94 of Blackpool’s sub-ward classes are within the most deprived 40 per cent. for ill health and premature deaths
nationally.The challenge of sustaining and building a community is also affected by transience. I do not have much time to talk about transience
today. It is a major issue in other seaside and coastal towns. I shall give one example. In schools in two or three of my wards in the centre of Blackpool, the turnover on the school roll can be
between 30 and 40 per cent. a year. That is the result of internal transience—people moving around within the town—as well as people coming from outside. One might say, “Well, that is very bad, but
how does it affect economic activity and regeneration?” It affects them substantially because it builds up pressure on schools and teachers, and historically it has tended to lead to low skill
levels, lower than average achievement and low levels of economic activity. Whatever we do in Blackpool, we need to get the balance right between civic renewal and the needs of the visitor economy
and local economy.There have been major steps in the past 10 years—I pay tribute to the previous Labour administration of Blackpool for this—by way of a new
sports centre, a new business enterprise centre, and the building up of local institutions, such as area forums and police and community together meetings. Blackpool has won a series of awards,
culminating three or four years ago in an award from the Minister’s predecessor Department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, for the top sustainable community in the country, Grange
Park.Mr. Michael Jack (Fylde) (Con): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, my near neighbour, for giving way, and I apologise for
the fact that owing to Select Committee duties I shall not, sadly, be able to stay to the end of the debate. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, given the scope and scale of the problems that
he
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has so eloquently outlined this morning, and the impact that Blackpool has on the whole Fylde coast economy, it will require the concerted effort not just of Blackpool council but of the councils
of Wyre and Fylde, working together, to try to reach a genuinely lasting solution?Mr. Marsden: The right hon.
Gentleman is right and, in a spirit of cross-party consensus, I pay tribute to the support that he and his colleague, the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre (Mr. Wallace), have given me and my hon.
Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood on this issue. Of course, what affects Blackpool affects the whole of the Fylde coast. The good news, as the right hon. Gentleman has suggested,
is that co-operation is developing between the councils in the area.What I have described is the reason why, since 2000, debate in Blackpool on how
to become a strong, viable, sustainable economy has been a central issue, from the first suggestions of a casino development that were put forward by Marc Etches, the former managing director of
Leisure Parcs—to whom I pay tribute for his sustained interest in the regeneration process—to the ideas coming forward for future use of the three piers and the Winter gardens and, finally, the
major master plan that was produced in 2003, designed to address so many of the issues, which was instrumental in the setting up of ReBlackpool, the urban regeneration company. That has the
distinguished international planner Sir Peter Hall as its chair, and an energetic chief executive in Doug Garrett.We realised from the beginning that
infrastructure investment alone was only a means to an end, and that is where the casinos came in. There was a need for an economic motor. Whatever people’s views are on casinos and where we now go
with that issue, the means-to-an-end argument must be clearly understood. The renewal of Blackpool involves, at its heart, the search for a new force—the development of an adequate and sustainable
economic generator that will not just initiate but also maintain a virtuous circle of investment, profit, skills and jobs. Without it, even the most visionary schemes of design and planning cannot
deliver the full and final renewal that 21st century Blackpool needs.Blackpool has had a glorious past because its energetic
and innovative inhabitants understood better than almost anyone else the business of mass leisure, but we can have a glorious future only if the new forms of leisure and attraction have a viable
business sense behind them. That, and no other reason, is why my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood and I, the members of Blackpool council—nearly all the town’s councillors
of all political parties—and most of the major business organisations in the town, supported the idea of casino-led regeneration; it was the only big enough project in the past six years to be
potentially on the table with guaranteed bids from multi-million pound enterprises, and the resources to make it happen. However, that that does not rule out, nor has it ever ruled out, the options
of alternatives or additions to the project, as long as those pass muster in the down-to-earth and pragmatic arena in which Blackpool’s entrepreneurs have always had to
contend.That is why the casino advisory panel’s comments and recommendations were wrong in January, and why its report was shredded by the House
of Lords Merits
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of Statutory Instruments Committee. Outside observers, including Rachel Cooke and James Collard, who wrote excellent articles in The Observer and The Times respectively last
August, have understood that if there were to be such a regenerative force, Blackpool would be the place for it. That is why the people of Blackpool were not prepared to take the decision lying
down and why we received such a strength of support in the Lords and in the House. Again, I wish to pay tribute to Lord McNally of Blackpool, who led so ably our views and who has been a tireless
representative of the town in the Lords and elsewhere.I do not expect the Minister to go beyond what the Government have already said on the issue, or to offer a review
on the issue of the casino regeneration, but he needs to understand the passion and determination that united all but one council member and the vast majority of people in Blackpool, and which
brought 11,000 signatures to Downing street. Those signatures were of people not only from Blackpool, but around the north-west. A recent poll in the Blackpool Gazette, which has been
tireless in arguing the case for regeneration, showed that the majority still believe that casino-led regeneration might have an important part to play. The Government have a job to convince us
that there are alternatives.The Government have responded to the controversy. The previous Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport set up a taskforce an 25
March. The Prime Minister understands our problems, as do others. He gave a personal commitment to finding a solution as recently as the press conference on Monday. The regeneration review set up
on 11 July as a response is in the Department for Communities and Local Government. The taskforce to which I referred presented a series of options to the Minister at the beginning of August—I am
sure that he will mention that in his speech.The Minister needs to understand that there is frustration and anxiety resulting from the fact that progress on the
matter has been slow. It is now six months since the super-casino debate and three months since the Prime Minister’s announcement. The council has received detailed written requests from and has
provided information and background to the Department for Communities and Local Government, but no meeting with officials or the Secretary of State has been fixed. My hon. Friend the Member for
Blackpool, North and Fleetwood and I wrote to the Secretary of State in August. The message to the Minister from the people of Blackpool and the broader north-west area is that we urgently need
some movement on the issue.I shall give one example of why that is so. The best part of three years ago, we submitted a bid for the major renewal of the tramway—I am
sure that my hon. Friend will say more on that issue. We have jumped through various hoops and we have had some funding for the tramway’s basic renewal, but we have not had a decision from the
Department for Transport. Council officials now say that the delays have affected their ability to complete the project on budget and on time. If a decision is not made by that Department soon, the
funding schedule might slide, and the project might not be completed until 2012. I appreciate that that is not within the Minister’s or his Department’s direct competence, but it indicates the need
for it to liaise with other Departments to look at what can be done.
10 Oct 2007 : Column 75WHThe taskforce submitted a broad range of
proposals. It said at the beginning, and rightly so, that the existing plans would not on their own be enough to provide comprehensive regeneration. In fact, it produced a range of alternative
plans and suggestions, including investment in higher education and the housing market, which could go a significant way to addressing some of the regeneration issues. However, at the heart of the
matter is the need to give top priority to increasing visitor numbers and to the regeneration of the tourism economy. Blackpool could diversify but, like other seaside towns, its peripherality of
180° means that it will always have greater challenges. A Communities and Local Government Committee report—I pay tribute to that Committee’s Chairman, my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes,
South-West (Dr. Starkey)—made many of those points and they were debated in the House in May.The Government need a greater sense of co-ordination on such matters. I am not
in favour of setting up meetings with civil servants for the sake of it, but I shall repeat what I said in this Chamber four months ago: without some form of co-ordination between Departments—it is
currently led by the Department for Communities and Local Government—and without a sense that people are getting out of their silos, we will not make the progress that we need to
make.Some things have been done. I pay tribute to the Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the
Member for Barking (Margaret Hodge), who in her previous ministerial post brought together groups of civil servants from the various Departments concerned, but we need a more sustained mechanism,
not only for Blackpool, but other seaside towns.Blackpool’s regeneration must involve making it an attractive town for people to live in as
well as for visitors. It includes getting the townscape right and valuing its heritage. I put forward a number of ideas on how we could do that in a speech to the civic trust in August. I am
repeating what I have said on various occasions when I say that an imaginative Government approach to lowering VAT on repair and restoration, and an imaginative package of incentives for businesses
to free up space above their premises for low-cost, low-rent accommodation, would make a big impact. Those things are in the air and, as I mentioned, next week an English Heritage coastal towns
conference will look at the options open to towns such as Blackpool and at the issues of sustainable heritage, community and economy, which are linked.At the end of
the day, we come back to the question of the economic motor. We need to have one to sustain the virtuous circle. In practical terms, we in Blackpool are in little doubt about what we need. We need
a new conference centre, an upgraded tramway system and better direct transport links, an upgraded skills base, and significant retail and new enterprise investment. They are all urgent priorities.
We might be able to build a conference centre, but we will not be able to sustain it without income and investment. The question of how and from where we get those things takes us back to the
reason why there was such passion and interest in the idea of a super-casino.10 Oct 2007 : Column 76WHMr. Jack: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is still more than a glimmer of hope and that Blackpool can remain attractive? The pleasure beach
attracts some 7 million people a year, which should give hope to any other enterprise that wants to be a part of Blackpool’s regeneration plans that there are still a reasonable number of people
around to participate.Mr. Marsden: The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right and has given me the cue for
what I was about to say. People in Blackpool are not sitting back passively and do not simply expect sums of money or master plans to descend from Government. We have imaginative ideas for retail
outlets, restaurants and entertainments, and we have submitted an imaginative bid to a lottery fund with the aim of building the people’s playground along the seafront, but we need some form of
incentive to bring in outside investment. That is why the Government need to take seriously the idea of Blackpool having some sort of special status as an investment zone.We are not passively sitting back. For the past seven years, my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood and I, the other Fylde MPs and many others have been at the heart
of the debate and plans. I am proud of the passion, enthusiasm and dogged insistence of the people of Blackpool. Those things are reflected in the work of ReBlackpool, the regeneration company, the
hoteliers and the StayBlackpool organisation, and of the pleasure beach, which has an amazing family history featuring 100 years of investment and innovation in the town. An active civic trust
promotes heritage trails and conservation, and the heads of sixth forms and of the Blackpool and the Fylde college are fully aware of the crucial role that further and higher education expansion
can play in Blackpool.We have the support of the Northwest Development Agency. We have a commitment to raising quality among the hoteliers—the No. 1 guesthouse
in Blackpool was recently named the top bed and breakfast in the country. We have a bid in for the theatre museum from the Victoria and Albert museum to come to Blackpool, with exciting ideas to
put it in the Winter gardens. There is the people’s playground project. We are not just waiting for the lottery decision; we are going ahead with the St. Chad’s headland. Those who know of them may
be interested to know that we recently had a highly successful one-off free concert by the Kaiser Chiefs, and what is still the greatest light show on earth—the illuminations—will be packing people
in as a result of a combination of the activities of Dr. Who and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.Blackpool has always had to renew itself. It had to
renew itself in the early 20th century to meet changing tourism and other patterns. It did so then through a combination of enlightened public funding, local government funding and private
entrepreneurship. That model is still relevant for the 21st century. Blackpool is not looking for a handout from Government or a succession of subsidies, but we are looking for a leg up. We are not
looking just for warm words; we are looking for proper liaison, proper co-ordination, a proper response to the taskforce report and a sense of urgency at the heart of Government about how that
needs to be addressed. I look to my hon. Friend the Minister and his Department to be at the centre of that argument and to begin to provide some of the solutions.
10 Oct 2007 : Column 77WHDr. William McCrea (in the
Chair): It may be helpful if I say to hon. Members that I am minded to commence the winding-up speeches no later than 10.30 am.10.1 amGeraldine Smith (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab): I welcome the opportunity to make a brief contribution to this important debate and, indeed, to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for
Blackpool, South (Mr. Marsden) on securing it. May I also take the opportunity to say how hard he and my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) have worked on
behalf of the residents of Blackpool? It has been a pleasure to work with them over the past 10 years on the Labour seaside group, which lobbies for Government funding for coastal resorts. I hope
that we can work together for many more years.As a near-neighbour of the Blackpool constituencies—I am just a bit further up the coast—I am well aware of the
problems that Blackpool faces. Morecambe, like Blackpool, suffered greatly in the 1980s owing to British people taking foreign holidays rather than holidaying in our seaside towns as they had
previously done. Guest houses fell out of holiday use and became surplus to requirements. The run-down properties were often purchased by absentee landlords who looked for tenants wherever they
could find them. Probation services, social services and mental health agencies saw opportunities to house their clients cheaply, especially with council housing being sold off at that time and in
short supply.Chris Ruane: My hon. Friend has hit on a key point for seaside regeneration, which is
housing. Our Government, the Labour Government, have introduced a national licensing scheme, which has cut down on the ability of slum landlords to make money out of misery. What does my hon.
Friend think the impact would have been if such a scheme had been introduced 20 years ago? Would it have halted the decline of slum properties in seaside towns?Geraldine Smith: Of course such a scheme would have made a huge difference, but there was a lack of interest and investment in coastal towns
throughout that period and pockets of deprivation developed that could match anything in our inner cities. Towns such as Blackpool and Morecambe did not wish to advertise their problems too widely,
as they were, and still are, in the business of attracting tourists.Although it is true that the tourism market has changed, with many British
people taking their main holiday abroad, there is still huge scope for growth in the short break market and in relation to second holidays. However, to attract tourists, infrastructure needs to be
improved greatly. We can see at a glance the difference that a Labour Government have made to our inner cities—I am thinking of cities such as Manchester and Liverpool—with fantastic regeneration
projects going ahead, costing tens of millions of pounds in some cases. It is time for the Government to make the same commitment to coastal towns regarding regeneration.Although I fully accept that people living in seaside towns, in common with the rest of the country, have benefited from the investment in health, education, extra policing, a stable
economy and so on that a
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Labour Government have provided, much nevertheless remains to be done in our resorts, not least to tackle the enormous amount of sub-standard housing that still exists.My own local council, along with English Partnerships, is well aware of the problems and is examining ways of dealing with them. I ask my hon. Friend the Minister whether he could in the
near future visit Morecambe—Chris Ruane: And Rhyl.Geraldine Smith: And Rhyl, to see some of the important work that is taking place and some of the things that we have already done to turn run-down former guest houses in a state of
dereliction into fantastic homes for families in a shared-ownership scheme, which fits so well with Government policies.I place on the record my thanks to Stephen
Matthews, the project director for urban renewal on Lancaster city council, and to Paul Spooner of English Partnerships for their hard work, vision and commitment to addressing these very difficult
issues.If I may, I would like to refer to a letter that I have received from Stephen Matthews that sums up the problems that exist not only in
Morecambe but in our resorts generally and on a very large scale in Blackpool. He informs me that“English Partnerships have made a submission to the Central Programme Review Group at the Treasury in respect of
their proposed investment in Chatsworth Gardens in Morecambe’s West End.As you know, the West End suffers from a complex range of socio-economic issues including extreme unemployment, low incomes and the
highest crime levels in the District of Lancaster. The Chatsworth Gardens site area falls within the 0.5 per cent. most deprived Super Output Areas...across England. It is clear that there is a
relationship between the socio-economic decline and the housing stock that is typical of the legacy commonly left in declining coastal resorts. The site contains 3-5 storey former bed and breakfast
guesthouses which are now used as poor quality privately rented Houses in Multiple Occupation...These currently generate substantial returns for landlords in the West End with ‘high yields’. At the
same time they are fuelling social, economic and environmental deprivation and decline and continuing the negative image that currently exists of Morecambe.The project involves removing around 70 poor
quality and inappropriate properties, providing 172 residential units and redeveloping with an innovative new build scheme of 101 purpose-built high quality homes including family housing. All of
the new housing will be for private sale not renting. The project will reduce HMO’s and private renting and will bring about a completely different type of housing choice for owner occupiers that
would not be delivered without public intervention. In simple terms the project is about taking out inappropriate housing supply that is driving decline and putting back new modern quality homes
that will help to stabilise the local community and encourage further private sector investment.Because of the significant cost of site assembly due mainly to the need to acquire private and often high yield
properties, there is a significant cost-value gap on the entire project. This makes the scheme look expensive when considered in purely unit cost terms. The Council and”—Dr. William McCrea (in the Chair): Order. May I gently remind the hon. Lady that the debate is directly on the economic regeneration of Blackpool and
that although there are wider issues and certainly there is
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reference to Blackpool, other hon. Members also want to speak? Therefore, I just gently ask the hon. Lady to remember the time.Geraldine Smith: I was making the point that the same problems exist in Blackpool and in other seaside resorts with the poor housing stock, but of course I will take advice and move
on.Referring back to the scheme that I mentioned, I sincerely hope that it is allocated the necessary funding and is rolled out both in other parts of my constituency and in
other resorts such as Blackpool.Finally, to end on a high, I am pleased to congratulate one of my constituents, Mr. Ian Hughes, who has produced a national-award-winning
design for a 21st-century pier. His concept is called the Beachcomber. It is a marina development with numerous attractions and facilities for locals and visitors. The award will be presented at
the British Urban Regeneration Association conference in Blackpool on 31 October. I wish him every success with that exciting and innovative project, and I wish my colleagues in Blackpool every
success in their quest to bring about the regeneration of what is still Britain’s premier seaside resort.10.10 amMrs. Joan Humble (Blackpool,
North and Fleetwood) (Lab): I say to my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Geraldine Smith) that I remember spending holidays in Morecambe as a child. I understand her concerns and
welcome her support for Blackpool in this debate.I congratulate my hon. Friend and neighbour the Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Marsden) on securing this debate,
which is important. He and I have spoken in the House on many occasions on behalf of our town. The regeneration of Blackpool is vital to those of us who live there, as well as to our visitors, and
it sends a signal to seaside resorts throughout the country. Although it is about Blackpool, this debate has wider ramifications.I live in Blackpool. I love
living in Blackpool. It is an exciting place—that is why people come to visit and to live there. My hon. Friend and I must maintain a delicate balance between recognising that the town has problems
and saying that it is also a smashing place with lots of really nice parts. He and I represent residential suburbia—1920s and 1930s houses. Many people either choose not to work in Blackpool or
cannot find jobs there—they travel down to Preston and Manchester, and all over the place—but come back to Blackpool to live by the sea. It is lovely. A couple of weeks ago, I was on North pier
watching the final of the international fireworks competition. It was brilliant. Walking back home along the promenade with the illuminations shining amid hundreds of people was a marvellous
experience for me, as I live in the town, and equally so for the many visitors.A lot of exciting developments have taken place in Blackpool recently, most of
them funded by central Government and most—in fact, I think all of them—in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Can I put in a plea for my constituency as a postscript to this debate? However, the
developments in the town centre and in Blackpool,
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South benefit my constituency as well—for instance, the Government’s investment in our sea defences and the promenade. South beach is beautiful now. The central promenade is being developed, and
exciting proposals have been made for a people’s playground. The central gateway for people driving into the town from the motorway opens up Blackpool and makes it much more pleasant for them, and
the Hounds Hill shopping centre is being redeveloped.For me, one of the most exciting proposals is the Talbot gateway development, which will reconfigure the railway
and bus stations. The first thing seen by anybody arriving in Blackpool by train is—I shall not mince words—the horrible old bus station. It is not a welcoming sight. It is proposed to knock it all
down and open up the view from a new transport interchange, so that people getting off the train will see the tower and what Blackpool has to offer. They will have a new vision. My question to the
Minister is: when will it happen? I know that the council has signed contracts with the developers and the Government have given it the resources to purchase the land in order to facilitate the
development, but I am getting impatient. I want to see it happen tomorrow, the day after or some time soon, please.All those developments are part of the master
plan developed by the previous Labour-controlled authority, but supported by all political parties on Blackpool council. The key to the master plan’s development was casino-led regeneration. I
endorse everything that my hon. Friend said about it. The casino was the driver for regeneration—a £400 million project using private-sector money that would have included a new conference centre,
hotels, entertainments, shops and restaurants. It would have been a whole new experience to bring new visitors into Blackpool. They would have spent money, and that money and the casino company’s
profits would have helped in turn to make the conference centre sustainable. I challenge anybody to name a conference centre that supports itself. They are all subsidised, either by local
authorities or by private-sector organisations. We need a new conference centre in Blackpool. Much as I love the Winter gardens—the Emperor’s ballroom is a marvellous setting in which to stand and
speak from the platform—we need a modern, up-to-date conference centre to attract the conferences that used to come to Blackpool. I shall discuss that at the end of my
contribution.Without the engine to drive our regeneration, even though the Government are investing huge amounts in our infrastructure, we do not have
private-sector new product to attract people into the town. We must remember that Blackpool’s regeneration affects the whole Fylde coast, a point made by the right hon. Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack).
If Blackpool gets it right, that will help his constituency, the Wyre district, the whole Fylde coast area and well into Lancashire.Not only does Blackpool’s
regeneration help neighbouring districts; it depends on them, for one reason if no other—the availability of land for further development is constrained in Blackpool. We must work with our
neighbouring authorities to identify land that can be used to provide employment, and continue our regeneration. I am pleased that the three Fylde coast authorities are working together. They are
moving toward a strategic policy alignment and are developing a multi-area agreement, which is exactly what we need.
10 Oct 2007 : Column 81WHBlackpool’s regeneration
is not just for visitors, to give them new entertainment; it is also for residents. It is a chicken-and-egg situation. Many of my constituents have money to spend, but do not spend it in Blackpool
town centre. They do not go shopping in town centre shops. If they did, it would help regenerate the town centre. We must regenerate the town centre to ensure that people who live in Blackpool feel
confident going there, as well as to provide a better visit for tourists.I re-emphasise the point made by my hon. Friend. A lot of people in Blackpool
are investing in their businesses. The pleasure beach has been mentioned, and people continue to enjoy visiting the tower, the piers, the zoo, the model village, our seafront and the Grand theatre.
I attended an excellent production of “South Pacific” there. It is a beautiful setting. We must consider how we can make the town centre more attractive as part of the regeneration package. My hon.
Friend mentioned the detailed report produced by the taskforce, which is to be congratulated on coming up with a Blackpool solution to the complex Blackpool problem. I look forward to the
Government’s detailed response.One of the key elements of the taskforce report is that if we are to diversify and regenerate, we have to do something about the skills
base in the town and about employment land. Some interesting suggestions were made in the report about supply-side interventions to improve the skills base and employment. However, there are also
problems with transport, and in the limited time that I have left I shall concentrate on those. I also want to say one or two things about the challenges facing the town.Despite all the developments of which I have spoken, and the fact that the Fylde coast economy contributes £3.9 billion to the gross value added of the central Lancashire city region, the
GVA and employment declined between 1990 and 2005. More than a quarter of our working population are economically inactive.I believe that the Government should look again
at the report of the Select Committee on the Department for Communities and Local Government, which highlighted the fact that a disproportionate number of people are on sickness or incapacity
benefits in our seaside towns. The Government’s response was to dismiss the report, but they should not. We have a pathways to work pilot scheme to help new claimants, but there are many existing
and former claimants.Chris Ruane: I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. On that specific point, is she aware
that there is a city strategy pilot specifically aimed at seaside towns? It is one of 15 city strategies across the UK, and it is aimed at Rhyl. It is about getting people back to
work.Mrs. Humble: I was in the Chamber when my hon. Friend made that point earlier this week. I thought then that Blackpool wants
one of those.10 Oct 2007 : Column 81WH—continuedThe Select Committee report mentioned seasonal labour. The Government’s response
was dismissive, yet when the lights are turned out in November, about 950 people will be going to the jobcentre. It is like a major business closing down; tourism is an industry. What we need from
regeneration is a 52-weeks-a-year economy. We do not have that now, even though many people try desperately hard to ensure that hotels stay open for as long as possible. There are real issues about
how to
10 Oct 2007 : Column 82WH
encourage our businesses, but that will have to wait for another day because I want to refer briefly to transport.It is essential that we get the money for the tram.
The tram transports not only visitors, but people to work. My constituents in Fleetwood get on the tram to travel to work in the hotels along the promenade. The tramway serves some very deprived
wards in Fleetwood and in Blackpool. It has been calculated that if the tramway was to close—God forbid—we would need 45 more buses every hour to transport the 3.4 million passengers who use it.
One can imagine the gridlock on the promenade!Investment in the tramway is key, but so is investment in the A585, the trunk road from the M55 to Fleetwood that
skirts Blackpool. We need investment in the A585 to open up more land for economic development as part of Blackpool’s regeneration. Again, I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Fylde. He and I
have worked closely together on that issue. The road starts in his constituency and ends in mine, and runs alongside Blackpool technology park. If we want more development there, we have to ensure
that traffic can move on that road. At the moment, the traffic gets stuck, and we do not want that.I quickly move on to the casino. It is a key point. What other
organisations are queuing up to spend £400 million in the centre of Blackpool to bring in new visitors? I am waiting to hear. We want a new product for our visitors. If we had one that generated
the income to support a conference centre, I would welcome it. However, the majority of people in Blackpool still think that the casino is the only product that will give us
that.I want Blackpool to have a new casino so that I can welcome colleagues from all political parties to an up-to-date, new conference centre
that will give them the sort of facilities that they need. That will bring back all the other conference trade and give us a 52-weeks-a-year economy. It will ensure that our visitors enjoy their
stay, that our residents have jobs, and that they can enjoy the town centre and shop there. Blackpool could then satisfy their needs and the needs of our visitors.Dr. William McCrea (in the Chair): As I said, I will be commencing the wind-ups at 10.30 am, but I want first to give the hon. Member for Vale of
Clwyd (Chris Ruane) the opportunity to speak.10.26 amChris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab): I hope, Dr. McCrea, that you will allow me some leeway
in describing the successes in my constituency and my home town and how they could benefit Blackpool. I shall drop Blackpool’s name into my speech as often as I can.I shall
concentrate on two key issues that were mentioned by many of those who have spoken—the need for a focus, especially on seaside towns, on joined-up governance. It was a key Labour catchphrase in
1997, but it has drifted a little. We need that focus back, especially in seaside towns. I mentioned earlier in an intervention the importance of housing in the regeneration of seaside towns. Many
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