House of Commons ODPM: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Committee Coalfield Communities Fourth Report of Session 2003–04 Volume I Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 9 March 2004 HC 44-I Published on 16 March 2004 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £17.50 The ODPM: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Committee The ODPM: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and its associated bodies. Current membership Mr Andrew Bennett MP (Labour, Denton and Reddish) (Chairman) ‡ Sir Paul Beresford MP (Conservative, Mole Valley) ‡ Mr Clive Betts MP (Labour, Sheffield Attercliffe) ‡ Mr Graham Brady MP (Conservative, Altrincham & Sale West) ‡ Mr David Clelland MP (Labour, Tyne Bridge) ‡ § Mr John Cummings MP (Labour, Easington) ‡ Mrs Eleanor Laing MP (Conservative, Epping Forest) ‡ Mr Chris Mole MP (Labour, Ipswich) ‡ Mr Bill O’ Brien MP (Labour, Normanton) ‡ Mrs Christine Russell MP (Labour, City of Chester) ‡ Mr Adrian Sanders (Liberal Democrat, Torbay) ‡ ‡ Member of the Urban Affairs Sub-Committee § Chairman of the Urban Affairs Sub-Committee The following members were also members of the committee during the parliament. Dr John Pugh MP (Liberal Democrat, Southport) Mr John Bercow MP (Conservative, Buckingham) Mr Gary Streeter MP (Conservative, South West Devon) Powers The committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/odpm.cfm. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Kate Emms (Clerk), Libby Preston (Second Clerk), Ben Kochan (Committee Specialist), Haidee Brockway (Committee Specialist), Ian Hook (Committee Assistant), Ian Blair (Chief Office Clerk) and Emma Carey (Secretary). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the ODPM: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 1353; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] Coalfield Communities 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 1 Introduction 5 Map – England’s Coalfields 6 2 The Regeneration of the Coalfield Areas 7 3 Strategic Issues 9 The evaluation of progress 9 The lack of coordination 9 Short term initiatives 11 4 Economic Development 13 English Partnerships' Sites Programme 13 English Partnerships' timescale 14 Maximising local benefits 14 Priority Sites and Network Space 16 Enterprise Zones 16 Regional Development Agencies 18 Progress in creating a new stable economy 20 Coalfields Enterprise Fund 21 Social Enterprises 22 5 Skills, Training and Education 24 Low aspirations and skills 24 Educational attainment 24 6 Transport 27 Transport to promote regeneration 27 Transport to access jobs and services 27 7 Housing 29 Resources for Housing 29 English Partnerships’ housing role 30 8 Health 32 9 Community Funding 34 The Lottery 34 Monitoring 34 Progress on increasing take-up 35 The Coalfields Regeneration Trust 35 Availability of long term funding 36 Conclusions and recommendations 38 2 Coalfield Communities Appendix 1 - Visit Note 43 Formal Minutes 47 Witnesses 49 List of supplementary written evidence 50 List of unprinted written evidence 51 Reports from the ODPM Committee since 2003 52 Coalfield Communities 3 Summary The closures of the coalfields in the 1980s and early 1990s resulted in the loss of more than 250,000 jobs across the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, the Midlands and parts of the South East. The coalfield closures left a legacy of high unemployment, social deprivation and environmental degradation. Following the Coalfields Task Force report in 1998, the Government put into effect a programme which has tackled the major environmental problems. English Partnerships has made considerable progress in dealing with the physical dereliction left by the mining activities but the social and economic needs of the coalfield communities have yet to be adequately addressed. The coalfield communities continue to be characterised by poor health, low employment levels, low educational achievement and poor housing. There is a plethora of initiatives funded through UK and EU regeneration programmes, seeking to address many of the social and economic issues but they are often poorly coordinated and short term. Funding for many of these programmes is due to expire or is at least subject to review in the next three years with no clear continuation or transitional arrangement yet in place. The Government needs to identify clear successors to the Enterprise Zones, European Social Fund and Structural Funds and the Single Regeneration Budget. The legacy of Coal Board housing is now a major problem with high levels of abandonment and neglect. Up to now these problems have not been tackled by Government programmes. English Partnerships has a new remit to tackle the wider needs of coalfield communities and with ODPM funding should work with local authorities tackle the low housing demand as part of an integrated package to address the economic and social needs. Progress in providing new jobs for the coalfield communities has been limited. New developments are tending to create low paid and unstable jobs; many of the new employers are call centres. Stronger links are required between the new developments taking place on coalfield sites and the nearby communities so that adequate training is provided to enable local takeup of the incoming jobs. The Regional Development Agencies need to be given new guidance to ensure that they prioritise the economic needs of coalfields areas. There has been some progress in increasing the take-up of lottery funds in coalfield areas for new community and social facilities but there is still a backlog which still needs to be made up as a result of low takeup in the past. The Coalfields Regeneration Trust set up in 1998 after the Coalfields Task Force report is making a major contribution to funding social provision but its funding, which is currently on a three year basis, should be put on a longer term basis. Mainstream services like health and education need to address more fully and effectively the particular demands of the communities in these areas. The one-size fits all approach adopted by these services is not reflecting the distinctive health needs or responding to the low educational aspirations of the coalfield areas. Funding levels fail to reflect the intensity of need in these small areas with the Government formulas favouring densely populated 4 Coalfield Communities urban areas. Funding for health facilities is a major problem as actual allocations are falling far short of the indicative levels based on the level of needs calculated by the Department of Health. Many of the coalfield communities are isolated with access to jobs and public services being limited because of the poor road and rail services. The Department for Transport should give greater priority to transport schemes which support the regeneration of these communities. Coalfield Communities 5 1 Introduction 1. The coalmining industry was once one of UK’s largest employers providing in 1947 more than 700,000 jobs in 958 mines. The villages and small towns built around the pitheads depended on the National Coal Board not only for employment but housing and a wide range of other services. During the 1980s and early 1990s more than 250,000 jobs were lost with the pit closures. By 1997, when the Government set up the Coalfields Task Force, most mines had closed and the number of jobs had plummeted to only 8,000. Many of these towns and villages had lost their reason for being. It is now 5 years since the Task Force reported, and a new set of initiatives was started across the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, the Midlands and parts of the South East to address the needs of the coalfields communities. The Committee therefore considered it an appropriate point to launch an inquiry. The inquiry considered: x Policies to create employment opportunities; x The reclamation and regeneration of sites; x Links with health, welfare, education and other social issues; x The roles and responsibilities of the various agencies involved; and x Funding. 2. The Committee held two evidence sessions in November and December 2003 and visited Easington in County Durham and South Yorkshire. We received some 60 written submissions. We are very grateful to our advisors Professor Ray Hudson and Professor Fred Robinson, to all who provided written and oral evidence to the Committee and to Easington District Council, Barnsley Metropolitan District Council and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust who gave us hospitality on our visit. 6 Coalfield Communities Map – England’s Coalfields North East North West West Midlands Yorkshire East Midlands Gloucestershire Kent Source: English Partnerships, 2004. Coalfield Communities 7 2 The Regeneration of the Coalfield Areas 3. The coalfields are a substantial part of the UK covering an area with a population of more than 5 million. The closure of the mines happened very quickly. With the closure of 150 collieries between 1985 and 1997 about 250,000 jobs were lost. This not only brought the loss of the main source of employment in many of the coalfield villages and towns, but also the loss of the social facilities provided by the National Coal Board and the trade unions.