Clause 55
Housing and Regeneration Bill
1:30 pm
Grant Shapps (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Welwyn Hatfield, Conservative)
I am pleased to hear about the interim arrangements and the progress. I represent two new towns, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield. One of them, Hatfield, has had a new town centre promised for a very long time. It has proved to be a difficult and much-delayed project, the building of which should finally get under way in 2009, or perhaps at the end of 2008. The project falls under the auspices of a partnership between the council and English Partnerships, which will take over from the Commission for the New Towns.
I think that when people learn about the Homes and Communities Agency, they will seek the kind of reassurance that the Minister has been providing, because the last thing they want in a project with a time scale that runs to 2011 or 2012 is to feel that there could be another six months’ or year’s delay while the HCA gets up to speed. I am grateful for the Minister’s comments. They will be important for Hatfield and many other projects around the country.