Living Standards (Telford)

Debate between Mark Pritchard and David Wright

Wednesday 2nd November 2011 Westminster Hall

[David Wright (Telford) (Lab)]

It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Robertson, on a fine morning in Westminster. Having said that it is a fine morning in Westminster, it is a difficult time for families in Telford, who are struggling with higher food prices and energy bills, and who are worried about their jobs and their children’s futures. People in Telford are experiencing a significant squeeze on their living standards as a result of the global economic crisis and the deficit reduction strategy being pursued by the coalition Government. The global financial crisis has hit every country. The downturn was not created in Britain; it was caused by the irresponsible actions of the banks, which pushed up deficits in every major country. Every country, therefore, faces the challenge of getting its deficit down. The question is how quickly that should be done, and how to ensure that economic recovery is not choked off, which would make things worse.

I will return to that theme later, but I want to focus specifically on Telford and the situation that my constituents find themselves in. There is a very worrying trend in the number of people out of work and claiming jobseeker’s allowance in Telford. As of September this year, 2,929 are in that position. That is an 85.1% increase on the same period in 2006, with a 6% rise since last year. Some 345 people have been claiming for 12 months or more; that is 5% of 16 to 64-year-olds, and 6.6% of the economically active population. More than 1,000 people aged 24 and under claimed jobseeker’s allowance in September. A third of the total number of people unemployed are young people. More than three people— 3.4 people, in fact—are chasing every vacancy that is notified to Jobcentre Plus. The actual figure is probably higher than that, as companies tell me that they get hundreds of applications for every job that they advertise. I visit companies in my constituency, and they always get a flood of applications when they advertise a post.

Telford has a large number of public sector jobs, and some of the biggest private sector employers are reliant on public sector contracts. Uncertainty over job cuts and low growth in the economy generally—in fact, a virtual flatlining of growth—has left people worried about their future. In turn, that has a number of consequences, such as a sapping of confidence in the local housing market. A report published yesterday by the Home Builders Federation shows that in 2000, house prices in Telford and Wrekin stood at 3.41 times average earnings. In 2010, that had risen to 6.1 times average earnings. Lower-quartile house prices—the properties most likely to be bought by first-time buyers—have risen from £42,750 in 2000 to £107,500 in 2010. People are struggling to secure mortgages, and entry into the market is very difficult for first-time buyers. There is a burgeoning private rental market in Telford. Every week, when I pick up the Telford Journal, there are significant numbers of properties up for private rent—a clear sign that the sales sector of the local housing market is struggling, and that there is a lack of confidence.

That is the backdrop to an intense squeeze on living standards for those who are in work. We all know that inflation is high, with the retail prices index at 5.6%—the highest annual rate since 1991. The Government seem to be largely ignoring that fact. They are keen to downplay the importance of inflation in the economic landscape, like someone who thinks that if they cover their eyes the problem will just go away. For those on low and fixed incomes, including pensioners, inflation is a hammer blow, particularly when interest rates on savings are not keeping pace with inflation. Meanwhile, wages are being squeezed. Indeed, the Governor of the Bank of England has said that real wages this year are likely to be no higher than they were in 2005. This is the first time since the 1920s that wages have fallen over a six-year period.

Food prices are on the rise, and the big six energy companies have announced sharp rises in prices. Families now face average bills of more than £1,200 a year for gas and electricity. Across the west midlands, approximately one household in four lives in fuel poverty, spending more than 10% of its income on fuel costs. I regularly see constituents in Telford who complain bitterly about fuel prices. Households in poor-quality housing face even higher energy costs. We need a major review of how the energy market operates, and we need to bring greater competition into the market. Privatisation effectively created a six-company cartel for energy, with the big providers dominating the scene. We need to diversify that market if we can, or at least do what the Prime Minister suggested—I support him on this—and ensure better information on bills, so that people can compare prices against those of other providers. That is crucial. We need energy companies to invest more, and to try to bring down prices.

I mentioned the number of young people claiming JSA in Telford. The next generation has seen the future jobs fund and the education maintenance allowance scrapped. Alongside that, two thirds of universities plan to charge the new £9,000 tuition fee, and average fees will be more than £8,000. Clearly, the situation is very difficult for young people who are looking to get into employment, training or education. We need a massive drive to get young people into education, training or work. Our activity needs to be focused on the needs of young people in towns such as Telford.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that one of the ways that standards of living can be improved for the constituents of Telford and The Wrekin is by ensuring that public finances are managed well, both nationally and locally? Given that Telford and Wrekin borough council has a new Labour administration, does he support my call for a council tax freeze in the coming years to help those who are struggling to make ends meet?

[David Wright]

Clearly, the council will have to look at its budget very carefully. It will have a number of pressures in the next year or so. We will have to consider the Government’s funding proposals for the local authority. Clearly, the council will look at its budget-setting. Its difficulty is that massive cuts are in place, and they are affecting the poorest people in our community. The answer to the hon. Gentleman is that we will have to wait and see. At the moment, I do not know what the council’s position will be on council tax.

On household incomes, the Government’s decisions on VAT rub salt in the wounds of every family in Telford. The latest report from the Office for National Statistics states:

“The poorest fifth of households in the UK spent a higher proportion of their expenditure on goods and services that attracted Value Added Tax (VAT) in 2009/10 than in 1986…Poorer households in 1986 spent a smaller proportion of their expenditure, than poorer households in 2009/10, on discretionary items which attracted VAT…the data shows the poorest fifth of households in the UK pay more in VAT as a percentage of their disposable income than the richest fifth.”

VAT is hitting the poorest people in our community the most. We need a quick rethink on our VAT strategy. We need to ensure that we support households that find it very difficult to make ends meet.

I mentioned pensioners earlier, and I wanted to say that many of them in Telford tell me how important the winter fuel allowance and free local bus travel are. The yearly tax-free payment to help people pay for their heating in winter was worth £250 for over-60s and £400 for over-80s. I was extremely disappointed that the coalition decided that the payment will revert to £200 and £300 for the two age groups in the winter of 2011-12. I urge the Government to think again in their pre-Budget report.

I do not claim that Telford has problems that have emerged only in the past 18 months—frankly, that would be ridiculous. Telford and Wrekin has higher than average levels of multiple deprivation, especially in wards in the south of the town, and we have a significant number of children living in poverty. The End Child Poverty campaign group, which fights to give poor families a voice, estimates that 30% of children in the Telford constituency were living in poverty in mid-2010, compared with 23.1% in England as a whole; in some wards, the figure was approaching more than double that. Children are classified as being in poverty if they live in families in receipt of out-of-work benefits, or in receipt of in-work tax credits, and with a reported income of less than 60% of median income. Telford and Wrekin’s NHS trust states that 9,305 children are living in poverty in the borough.

Those problems have no quick fix. I am proud of the work of the previous Government, who introduced tax credits and a range of benefits to support children. Sure Start children’s centres have been a major success in the town, and the Building Schools for the Future programme promised the opportunity for every child to enjoy state-of-the-art learning facilities. Locally, that policy was supported on both sides of the council chamber, I am pleased to say, but we must still do more to support families.

People in Telford regularly raise the issue of the cost of child care and the continuing inflexibility of the labour market, and we need to do much more work on those policy areas, but the key to improving living standards in the town is to secure growth in the economy and attract more high-paid work. That approach helps people who are struggling and who are having their living standards squeezed, and supports business.

Immediate action should include the following five points—they will not come as too much of a surprise to you, Mr Robertson. First, a £2 billion tax on bank bonuses could fund 100,000 jobs for young people and build 25,000 affordable homes. Secondly, long-term investment projects, such as new school buildings, should be brought forward—we have done well in Telford with that kind of approach. Thirdly, the VAT rise should be temporarily reversed, which would give a £450 boost for families with children. Fourthly, there ought to be a one-year cut in VAT to 5% on home improvements and repairs, to help small businesses. Fifthly, there ought to be a tax break for every small firm that takes on extra workers. In short, in Telford we need Labour’s five-point plan for growth.

Telford (Regeneration)

Debate between Mark Pritchard and David Wright

Wednesday 8th September 2010 Westminster Hall

[David Wright (Telford) (Lab)]

It is good to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Mrs Brooke. I am in the Chamber to talk about what I believe to be the most important issue in Parliament—my constituency. Of course, every hon. Member quite rightly thinks the same thing about their own constituency. As hon. Members will know, I represent the new town of Telford that was so designated in the 1960s and is one of the most successful new towns built post-world war two. The town comprises a mix of older communities on the east Shropshire coalfield such as Oakengates, Dawley and Madeley. In the 1960s, a number of new developments were created to infill the area between those towns. In many ways, the community is rooted in east Shropshire, although people have moved in, largely from the west midlands conurbation, when issues such as overcrowding and slum clearance were tackled during the 1960s.

There is a big challenge facing all new towns as a result of the fact that, because they were designated at a particular time, the fabric of the town ages over the same time period. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, significant parts of the new town estates in Telford needed to be regenerated. In addition, the older communities in our town also needed support and investment over time. Therefore, there is a mix of older towns that, as I have said, are focused around mining communities, engineering and heavy industry, much of which has now sadly gone. There are also new town estates that were designed in the 1960s and often based on the Radburn layout where non-traditional design patterns and architectural patterns were used to put housing estates together. That has thrown up a series of challenges that I will touch on in my speech.

I will now run through Telford geographically, going broadly from north to south, touching on the issues confronting each particular community. Before I do so, I will mention two key issues. First, housing has got to be the cornerstone of any regeneration activity. It was right for that to be the case when the new town was designated, and it is right for that to be the case now. There are a large number of people on the housing waiting list in Telford, with over 10,000 people seeking social housing. Over the past 20 to 30 years, we have not built enough social housing in the town and we must address that problem. I do not place blame on any particular Government; we must come together and acknowledge that we need more social and rented housing. That must be the cornerstone of our regeneration strategy.

Secondly, Building Schools for the Future is proving to be particularly successful in Telford, where the Minister will be pleased to know that the BSF programme is going ahead, largely because it has been well put together. The initial bid by the old council was good, as are the schemes being pursued by the existing council. It is a pleasure to say that I support the scheme and welcome the fact that it is continuing and that we will see over £100 million of investment in new schools across Telford. Some schools have already been rebuilt and are proving incredibly popular with pupils and parents. In many communities, those new schools will form the focal point of regeneration activity, which is why I am delighted that the programme is going ahead and will be effective in towns such as Dawley and Stirchley, and right across the borough.

I would now like to canter through some of the local communities and mention one or two of the key issues and challenges facing them. My home town is Oakengates, which is one of the older communities in Telford. I shall begin by saying what an excellent job the chamber of trade is doing in trying to sustain and promote the local economy through its activities and its superb website, visitoakengates.com. I grew up in Oakengates, which has received investment over recent years. The theatre has been refurbished, and there has been a significant amount of housing-led regeneration on former industrial sites throughout the town. Partner agencies have come in, such as the Salvation Army, which redeveloped a new hall that is a fabulous facility. We have also seen investment through the primary care trust and with GPs in new surgeries. However, Oakengates faces continuing challenges that are the same as those confronting many towns. The street environment needs to be improved—I know that the council has been talking to the community about that. The town has serious parking problems, which are dangerous. We must redesign the centre of the town to make it more attractive to retailers and the public, and we must make parking safer.

There used to be a vibrant market, and there are still two or three stalls on market day, but there used to be a lot more. We need to see a revitalised market in Oakengates and in other towns across Telford. Perhaps the Government should go back to the drawing board and think again about how to promote markets, not just in Telford but across the UK, and what more we can do to support their establishment and survival.

In many ways, Oakengates is the centre of the night-time economy in Telford, and CCTV provision must be improved and enhanced. There is also an old, classic building called the Walker Tech. I know it well, but it has fallen into disrepair and is boarded up. It and must be brought back into use as quickly as possible. It is owned by a private developer who I hope we can encourage to bring the scheme forward. The Government must think about how they can encourage developers who own older, empty buildings to bring forward investment and bring classic old buildings, such as the Walker Tech, back into use.

Another area I want to mention is St Georges, which I also know well, as it is where I went to school. Continuing with my theme, there is another classic building in St Georges called the Gower street youth club. It was an old school building but it is now empty. It could be converted into flats to provide high-quality accommodation, but again, that scheme needs to be developed quickly. I gathered a petition of over 300 signatures from people in St Georges who want the building to be brought back into use. We must develop a strategy for new youth provision in St Georges. Regeneration is not only about bricks, mortar and fabric but about sustaining communities. As I have said, youth provision was taken away when the Gower street youth club was closed, and it has never been properly replaced. There are also significant parking issues in St Georges.

I will now briefly mention one of the new town areas—Hollinswood and Randlay. Hollinswood is a classic new town estate based almost on a Radburn-style layout with a road network that is different from a traditional road layout. We need investment in the fabric and in things such as estate roads and footpaths. It is simple: often, regeneration is not about grandiose large schemes but about sustaining the investment that has already been made. In Hollinswood, we need investment in the local centre and in the general infrastructure of the estate.

To the council’s credit, plans for the Randlay centre are extremely good, but we need to get on with them as quickly as possible. The community has been waiting for a long time to see the local centre in Randlay redeveloped. It is a partnership with the private sector; it is a good scheme and it should be moved forward as quickly as possible.

Dawley was the town on which the new town is based. It was called Dawley new town before being redesignated as Telford. Dawley is an old community that has undergone a lot of change. I welcome the investment in Dawley centre even though I have concerns and reservations about the new bandstand in the centre of the town and the reintroduction of traffic to the high street. However, I am open-minded and willing to be proved wrong about my concerns.

I very much welcome the investment going into Dawley, but we must do more, as we need a renewed drive against antisocial behaviour in the high street. I continue to raise that with the police, as it is an ongoing problem. Local residents constantly say to me that it is a serious issue, particularly at night. When they go in to use the town, there are gangs of young people concentrated in the town. We need to divert those people and give them something else to do, but we also need to crack down on antisocial behaviour, which is unacceptable. That must be a priority for the police in Dawley.

We also need the market back in the high street in Dawley on a Friday. Because of the street works, the market has been moved to the adjacent car park. We need to get the market back in the high street as quickly as we can, so that we can support local traders and continue to have a popular market in Dawley.

Stirchley is another new town estate, and is a good example of where Building Schools for the Future will sustain the area and help us to develop a new local centre with a focus. It is a good example of how investment through a project such as BSF can come together with a range of partners—the private sector, retailers and the health service—to remodel a local centre. I look forward to seeing exciting plans relating to Stirchley.

Brookside in my constituency is another new town area that needs investment. The local centre is a mess. The buildings are incredibly unattractive, and the street pattern has turned the area in on itself. It needs to be cleared and redeveloped, and we need to put together an exciting initiative, in partnership with the private sector, if that is to happen. There are serious street drinking problems outside that local centre, and the police need to deal with that effectively.

The Wrekin Housing Trust has been using people engaged in the future jobs fund to progress improvements on the estate. Unfortunately, that programme is coming to an end. More than 20 people have been involved. I would like to think that agencies could look again at how we engage people, through schemes such as the future jobs fund or a replacement for it, to get people active, cleaning up neighbourhoods and receiving training as well. We need Government support to develop a major regeneration plan for the Brookside area.

One of the first major regeneration schemes that we pursued in Telford was at Woodside. I am very proud to have been involved in that project over the years, right from its start. We have done some fantastic work up there. We are now starting to see work progress on the local centre and on the area to the east of the estate, which needs to be redesigned. I would like to hear from the Minister today an ongoing commitment to Woodside. I am sure that he will be able to give one—I hope he will—because the project is the lynchpin of regeneration in southern Telford.

Similarly, I would like the Minister to give a commitment to further investment on Sutton Hill, which was the first new town estate to be built. It has major design and infrastructure needs. There is a big scheme on the anvil to redevelop the centre of the estate, alongside the investment that has been made in the children’s centre and in the new school over recent years. There is a very positive agenda for Sutton Hill, but the local centre needs to be remodelled, and we have to examine the layout of the rest of the estate as well, because regeneration does not just involve the centre. We need to remodel the roadways and the neighbourhoods, because of the design of the estate.

I welcome the work that the police have done in recent weeks to tackle fire starting in Sutton Hill. Someone has been setting fire to vehicles and caravans there. The police have been working very hard on that, with information from the local community, and I very much welcome that. However, there are other issues of antisocial behaviour on Sutton Hill where, at night, young people gather and intimidate others. We need to think about how we police that area and, again, how we divert the people involved and make the environment safe.

I have mentioned a number of new town estates, and one of the big issues on those estates is empty homes, which are often owned by private landlords, who perhaps own one, two or three properties. They are very often absentee landlords who do not look after their properties. The Government need to re-examine how to secure possession of those empty homes, which are owned by a single landlord or small groups of landlords, because they drag an area down very quickly and a whole street can be blighted if one property is empty.

Madeley is a good example of how the private sector can lead regeneration. The scheme in Madeley is excellent, and I congratulate Tesco on the fantastic job that is has done there. The centre has been completely revitalised through a good partnership with Tesco, involving investment in the local street scene, rather than an out-of-town store. Tesco deserves some credit for that.

I now want to discuss Telford town centre, where there are a number of key private sector interests and where the local authority, too, has its offices. There is a real opportunity to transform the environment and create a lively centre with high-quality shopping, entertainment and office and residential development. My concern is that the partners are not producing a comprehensive vision for the area because the owners of the shopping centre—Hark Group Ltd—and the local authority seem to be at odds over the best way to proceed.

The council sold its Malinslee House headquarters to Asda, which is moving out of the shopping centre. I disagreed with that decision, as the original plans for the redevelopment of the Telford centre envisaged the Malinslee House site as a mix of residential, office and small retail units. In my view, that is still the best use of the site. That said, local government means just that—government, not administration. The council has taken its decision democratically, which is fair enough. However, I am concerned that an application by Hark to create a new supermarket and a range of smaller shops and restaurants on the Red Oak car park site has been with the council for some nine months. That application must be determined as soon as possible. Hark invested £450 million when it purchased the Telford shopping centre, and that scheme could provide 400 jobs that the town desperately needs.

I welcome the initiative in the town centre to redevelop the Southwater area, and the council and the Southwater Event Group seem to be working well together. The Telford international centre is, by the nature of its name, a venue of international quality, and we need to support it fully. There is a real opportunity to transform the environment and we should grasp it.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on initiating this important debate. He is a fair-minded Member of the House, so will he congratulate Conservative-controlled Telford and Wrekin council on the regeneration partnerships that it has already formed and the regeneration not only of wards in his constituency, but of market towns in other parts of the borough? Also, will he put on the record his support for the formation of a local enterprise partnership with Shropshire council and other stakeholders in the county and in the borough, devolving powers from Advantage West Midlands to ensure that rural areas and places such as Telford and Wrekin—urban areas—receive more funding, rather than just urban areas in Birmingham?

[David Wright]

It is good to see my hon. Friend, as I shall call him, here this afternoon. There has been a good record, under both the Labour Administration and the Conservative Administration we have now, of putting together partnerships. Woodside was put together under the Labour Administration and has been very successful. Other partnerships put together by the Conservative-controlled council have also been successful. I do not think there is a need for us to divide up on that. We have a good record over a number of decades of putting together regeneration programmes, which is positive. We are meeting about the local enterprise structures in the next two or three weeks, and I shall be keen to see what the council is proposing on that score.

I am conscious of the time and I wanted to secure from the Minister a commitment to the regeneration programmes that we currently have in Telford through a confirmation from him that existing funding is safe, that schemes will be completed and that budgets through the local government settlement and through the Homes and Communities Agency will be protected. I would like to think that he will agree to commit the HCA to work with the local community on the creation of new regeneration plans for areas such as Brookside, and that he will look positively on proposals that may be made to extend the scope of regeneration activity under way or planned in areas such as Sutton Hill.

Finally, will the Minister take another look at some of the housing issues? Housing will be a central element of our plans to regenerate the town. Will he consider any proposals that may be made to develop more social housing in the town and will he take another look—a serious look—at empty homes and their impact, not just in Telford but throughout the country?