Clause 52
Housing and Regeneration Bill
1:15 pm
George Young (North West Hampshire, Conservative)
I would like a short debate on this clause, which gives the Secretary of State powers by order to appoint the date of the abolition of the Commission for the New Towns. I thought that it had already been abolished. It is rather like going to the House of Lords and finding that someone whom one thought had died some time ago is still around.
I have a press release from 1995 from the National Audit Office, which states:
“In July 1993 the Secretary of State for the Environment announced his intention to wind-up the Commission itself by the end of March 1998.”
Given that English Partnerships was created in May 1999 as a merger between the commission and the Urban Regeneration Agency, it is unclear to me why the commission has survived. What is it doing? No new towns have been created since 1970 and I think that most were wound up in 1980. I remember going around the country winding them up and meeting local authorities that pleaded to be allowed to go on for even longer, to invest in their areas, although they had all opposed their establishment at the beginning. What assets does the commission have? As I recall, all that it was given were some roundabouts that the original new town had not been able to pass on to the local authority.
Although we are abolishing the commission in clause 52, it is being exhumed in clause 54. Will the Minister tell us why the residuary body that was set up in 1981—I may have had something to do with it myself—is still around? What is it doing and how much has it left to do? When will he finally put the gravestone on top of it?
Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)
The right hon. Gentleman might be disappointed to hear that it is still in operation; it is still technically alive. However, he is correct that all new towns have been wound up. The CNT calls them residuary assets, which were not transferred back to the local authority at that time. He mentioned roundabouts—I imagine that it is that sort of thing. I have not got details to hand, but could provide the Committee with them if it wishes. However, given that the residuary assets will be held by the agency, which will have responsibilities towards them, it will take over the commission’s functions in respect of those assets.
There is always the possibility that the Government will choose to establish new new-town development corporations to help with, for example—
Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)
My hon. Friend is quite right—eco-towns. If so, the assets of the new new towns would eventually transfer to the agency. That is the technical explanation, and I hope that it reassures the right hon. Gentleman.