Town Centres: Population Growth

We all want to see our town centres thriving. Through our plan for neighbourhoods, the Government are investing £1.5 billion in the future of towns and communities. The Government have also committed to strengthening the developer contributions system to ensure that new developments provide the necessary infrastructure. To address vacancy in town centres, we have given councils the powers to force the auction of empty shops.

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Burgess Hill is fast-growing, and the Lib Dem-run council is working hard with Homes England to deliver 3,500 new homes, hundreds of which will be affordable. However, after years of Conservative failure, my constituents are worried that housing growth will go hand in hand with the hollowing out of the town centre. My Lib Dem colleagues want to deliver a buoyant town centre through a public-private partnership, so will the Minister visit Burgess Hill to see the innovative approaches we are taking to make it thrive again?

I am grateful for that question, and for the spirit in which Burgess Hill is taking on the need to build housing in its community. We believe that sustainable housing with complementary infrastructure will drive the local economy—it will drive footfall to town centres and help bring private investment to high streets. Clearly, something interesting is happening in Burgess Hill, and I would very much like to visit.

In Sandwell, we have almost 20,000 people on the housing waiting list—we desperately need more affordable and social homes. We also have a town centre in West Brom that is busy during the day, but very quiet at night, with no night economy whatsoever. Both of those challenges could be addressed through development of residential properties in the town centre. We have a few places earmarked for development, but that has completely stalled, so can the Minister say what more he can do to help West Brom to get building and build the homes that people need?

My hon. Friend is exactly right—those two challenges can be taken on together. Creating opportunities for people to live in local communities brings footfall and reduces crime, which are both excellent things. She has heard what my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has said about our support for house building. We stand ready to support her community to make sure they can build houses in their town centres.

I call the shadow Minister.

The Opposition broadly support the Government’s proposals in the plan for neighbourhoods, which carries on the excellent work started under the previous Government. However, how will the proposals to diversify the base of consultees to prioritise the voice of trade unions—which, by definition, are found mainly in large public sector and corporate organisations—not drown out the voice of the small businesses on which our town centres depend?

I am grateful for the opportunity to remind the House, and the hon. Gentleman and his Front-Bench colleagues, that they of course wanted the predecessor programme to the plan for neighbourhoods, but did not provide any money for it. That was a slight oversight, which we have been able to address in order to keep the promises that they made but would have had to break. On the point about trade union boards, I can understand why Opposition colleagues do not want the voices of millions of ordinary people in the room when decisions are made; they never do, and they never will. However, trade unions are not in competition with small businesses—far from it. There is room for both in the discussions, and both will add lots to those discussions.