Control of Office and Industrial Development Bill

Part of Ballot for Notices of Motions – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 April 1965.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Daniel Awdry Mr Daniel Awdry , Chippenham 12:00, 14 April 1965

In dealing with Amendment No. 9, I come to rather wider considerations which we feel it would be helpful to have in the Bill. We are all interested in the better distribution of employment. We must consider the general social life of the regions and that includes business, industry and the professions. We must look ahead and consider future progress and modernisation. How can the Government possibly object to that? In their policies and speeches they are constantly talking of regional development and modernisation. Why, therefore, have they been so obstinate so far in not accepting these reasonable Amendments?

I think that the reply will be that even the acceptance of these Amendments would still leave out certain considerations. That argument was used in Committee. I suppose that we shall be told that we would be leaving out questions of traffic, transport and housing. The fallacy there is that our Amendments would in no way limit the criteria of the Bill. We are trying to widen those criteria.

Even as the Bill is drafted, traffic, transport and housing will be taken into consideration. The Minister of State has said that the Board of Trade will take everything into consideration. How can it be said, therefore, that we would widen the criteria in one direction whereas transport, traffic and housing would be left out? We are not narrowing the criteria in any sense but are trying to widen them. I cannot accept that argument by the Government and I hope that the Minister of State will not bring it up again tonight. This is not just a drafting Amendment. It goes to the root of the Bill's purpose.

Thirdly, there is the question of modernisation. I imagine that every hon. Member opposite in his election address said something about modernisation and I should be surprised if most of my hon. Friends did not do the same. All parties agree that the only hope for the country is a more progressive and more modern outlook on industrial methods. But when we attempt to bring this sensible point to the attention of the Government we are shot down.

There is a genuine point here. Let us take the example of a factory which has been in an area for a long time. Pressure is brought upon the management by the workers—perhaps the draftsman—for a better place to work in, for more modern offices. One can imagine the pressure being brought in such a way that they say, "Unless you give us better condition to work in we will work elsewhere". The building of a new office block in that place would not bring any more employment to the area.

However, if the only yardstick by which such a case is judged is to be the Bill as drafted, no permit will be granted and those new offices will not be built and the firm concerned will not modernise itself. Yet, in the name of modernisation, surely it should be allowed to do so if it brings no more employment to that area. The Board of Trade, as the Bill is drafted, would be bound to turn down an application of this kind. This is not a theoretical point, because it is the sort of situation which will arise more and more as the years go by. More and more will factories modernise themselves so that more workers have a better standard of office to work in. If the Government believe what they say about modernisation, here is a chance for them to show that they mean business.

This is a vital Clause and perhaps the most vital. If Clause 1 is not clear—and it was described in Standing Committee as the "Charter Clause" of the Bill—the rest of the Bill will fail in its objective. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will feel that I have moved the Amendment reasonably and that he will accept it.