Earls Court Exhibition Centre

David Crausby Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2014 Westminster Hall

[Sir Malcolm Rifkind (Kensington) (Con)]

Given the time available, my speech will be brief, but I start by congratulating the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter) on raising this subject. The Earls Court exhibition centre itself is primarily in the Kensington constituency, but the proposals form part of a much larger development, involving the demolition of large numbers of houses in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, so I fully understand residents’ concern about all the changes. The hon. Gentleman has set out the position fairly.

This description has already been used, but Earls Court is an iconic building. It is always sad when such a building moves on. That has been part of the history of London, which has seen so many changes of this kind. Part of why London remains a vital and extraordinarily successful city is that it not only tries to preserve the best, but adapts to changing circumstances. The hon. Gentleman gave some of Earls Court’s history and I can add to it in one important respect. In 1935-36, when it was being built, it was reported that the

“project did not go exactly to plan; it ran over budget and was late in completion.”

Running over budget might not seem too strange, but the total cost rose to the extraordinary, astronomic sum of £1.5 million in 1937. When Earls Court Two was constructed in 1991, inflation meant that it cost some £100 million. We are therefore dealing with major projects. I am sad that Earls Court exhibition centre is likely to disappear. That is unfortunate, because it has made an important contribution in the way the hon. Gentleman describes.

With regard to my constituents, the massive development is going to last for not one year or five years, because it will be up to 20 years before the work is complete, and that has substantial implications for those who live in the immediate vicinity. I want to make particular reference to the residents of Eardley crescent and Philbeach gardens, the two streets that are closest to the centre. The volume of traffic, the demolition and all the various works associated with any major development are bad enough, but something of this scale will be of great significance. I visited the exhibition centre to see the developers’ presentation, and I must confess that I was impressed by their awareness of implications for residents in the immediate vicinity of the area, the steps that they are taking to try to ameliorate the difficulties, their willingness to have ongoing consultation with the residents of the adjoining streets, who will have to bear the brunt of the noise and dust, and various measures to ensure that much of the rubble that is removed will not be taken through residential areas. I am sure that the two local authorities—Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham—will be responsible for monitoring the work closely as it develops. Conditions can be imposed on developers, but that is not good enough. Even when good conditions exist, what can sometimes be more noticeable is a lack of willingness to respect them once the development has actually started. Local authorities have sometimes been less than perfect at imposing real conditions that can be enforced.

The project could take up to 20 years to be completed. It could represent an exciting new phase of London life but, whatever its success, the loss of the centre and the short and medium-term impact on people’s lives are matters of sadness. The hon. Gentleman has done a service in raising the issue, and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.

[Mr David Crausby (in the Chair)]

I point out to the Minister that we will move on to the next debate at 4.54 pm.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

I am grateful to be speaking under your chairmanship, Mr Crausby, and for the alert that I have only five minutes in which to make my points. I do not regret that, however, because it is extremely important that local residents—whether due to being here in the audience, or reading the record—are aware of the clear exposition of the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter), as well as the equally clear speech made by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington (Sir Malcolm Rifkind). My right hon. and learned Friend’s speech was rather shorter, given that this is not his debate, but both he and the hon. Gentleman expressed their views as local MPs.

This debate could range far and wide. I cannot be blind to the fact that there is a huge debate about the merits, or otherwise, of the entire development of the Earls Court area. However, while I put on record that I do not doubt the sincerity of the points made by the hon. Member for Hammersmith, or of the residents’ action group, which campaigns on the issue, the hon. Gentleman has used Earls Court as a good way to raise much wider issues in Parliament and to seek a response from the Government.

I will focus on the Earls Court exhibition centre, which is the focus of the debate. The hon. Gentleman gave a good history of the area. It is interesting to note that the site was first opened as an entertainment ground in 1887. Known as the Earls Court exhibition grounds, the site closed in 1914 and was commandeered for the war—none of those historical buildings survives. As was pointed out, the grounds were replaced by the exhibition centre in 1936 to 1937, with Earls Court Two added in 1991.

The key point lies in the fact that although people have talked about a magnificent art deco building, one of my most important responsibilities as heritage Minister is to decide whether to accept listing recommendations from English Heritage, the official body that advises the Government on such matters. It is worth pointing out, to provide clarity and context to the debate, that the application to list the building was first made in 2006, under the previous Government. As the hon. Gentleman pointed out, this is not a party political issue, and I respect and understand the fact that every heritage Minister not only takes their responsibilities seriously, but approaches any decision on a listing recommendation in a quasi-judicial capacity, if I may put it in such terms.

At the time, the clear advice from English Heritage was not to list Earls Court and, further, it provided a certificate of immunity from listing for a period. The issue came back in October 2010 and again, although some note was made of an exhibition centre that had survived, given that a lot of such centres were temporary, the view of English Heritage was:

“In terms of architectural merit…this is an extremely functional building, designed to maximise floor capacity on a difficult site, with limited embellishment...While of regional interest as one of the capital’s most prominent exhibition centres, in a national context Earl’s Court has insufficient architectural interest to warrant listing.”

As far as I am aware, no other opportunity to list Earls Court will come up again for a number of years—not until 2016 at the earliest—so there is no protection for the exhibition centre as a listed building.

The hon. Gentleman widened the debate to the merits or demerits of the development itself, which is the subject of a Terry Farrell master plan. Sir Terry Farrell was used by the previous Government to carry out master plans, and at the moment is undertaking a review of the architectural profession on my behalf. The hon. Gentleman is familiar with both sides of the argument, but the opposing points to those he made are: the development will provide 7,500 homes, 1,500 of which will be affordable; there will be 750 replacement homes for the residents of Gibbs Green and West Kensington estates; there will be 37 acres of new open space, with a five-acre public park; and there will be investment in the local tube stations of West Brompton and Earl’s Court. In terms of exhibition space—

[Mr David Crausby (in the Chair)]

Order. We must move on to the next debate.