Queen’s Speech

My Lords, I welcome the Government’s determination to give greater powers to local government and local communities in relation to the part of the Bill that deals with economic development and construction. Earlier, the Minister laid out very clearly for us the thinking and justification for this approach to the vital areas of our lives. It is particularly to be welcomed by those of us steeped in local council politics who have long railed against the stifling effect of centralised management, which often appears insensitive to, or even unaware of, local needs for local people. However, of course, we, the same local council lobby, are equally aware that, if progress is to be made, the case for change has to be put powerfully and a consensus has to be reached. The Bill rightly focuses on the need for better delivery in economic development, and in the current climate that will be crucial, Equally, the determination to streamline construction contracts to provide real help for the construction industry in tough times is more than timely—and times, indeed, are unlikely to get any tougher than they are today. All that is in the future and we must await with interest the details which will emerge in the weeks to come. But let us not ignore what has worked in the past. In fact, I urge the Government to review some significant successes, which could be used as blueprints within the new legislation. So, in the spirit of ““local development past””, I ask the Ministers to cast their minds back. As part of my Christmas quiz, I ask them to identify the town that I am talking about. Here are the clues. It was identified as one of the poorest towns in Britain in 2000, and it had 30 per cent unemployment less than 20 years ago. It had the most unfortunate label of being the largest town in Europe without a passenger railway station. It had a demoralised history of previously failed projects, one of which was a scheme to build something called ““Wonderland””, which over time became known as ““Wonderwhen””. It had fractured local government due to internal fighting within the ruling party, which at one memorable point, which I well remember, offered separate candidates in local elections. The recriminations were so bitter that, at one stage, it was seriously thought that the only way forward was to change the very name of the town, so demoralised had it become. Nearly all the schools were failing, the civic centre was at the point of collapse and the swimming pool leaked more water through the roof than was available to those trying to swim below. The town centre was dreadful: there were more boarded-up shops than charity shops, and those certainly outnumbered recognisable high-street shops. I know that noble Lords are all thinking hard, and I have heard whispers that one or two have already identified it. Of course, your Lordships will know that it is Corby. So, 10 years on, could it possibly be the same town that only last week was referred to in the FT, no less, as the town that has been rated the least likely in Britain to feel the credit crunch pain? What is more, the article continued that it was a town that launched an expensive marketing campaign, began work on a sparkling new railway station and embarked on an aggressive housebuilding programme aimed at City workers priced out of the capital. Oxford Economics identified as the secret of its success the proliferation of small and varied industries, manufacturing and distribution without undue reliance on financial services. The town has built not only a new town centre but two new schools, with a recently opened city academy. Our academic achievements have been transformed, and developers are working hard to provide 22,000 new homes. Furthermore, a new railway station will soon be opened. I have not mentioned the splendid new 50-metre swimming pool—no leaks there of course—or the outstanding sporting facilities that are under construction. So I ask the Ministers whether I can fairly say that Corby has achieved a remarkable transformation, all based on consensus, with local councils, local people, English Partnerships, regional development agencies and government putting in a huge investment of time and energy. The roll call includes John Prescott and my noble friends Lord Rooker and Lady Andrews. They are there with distinction, as is our former chief executive, Bob Lane, and our outstanding MP, Phil Hope. So my request for this new legislation is that we draw on success, evaluate the formula and use the experience of one town which was written off in the 1980s but is now, phoenix-like, what I promised it would be in 2002. I promised that we would make Corby a town which would be a good place in which to work, play and bring up a family.