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Mr. Henry Bellingham (North-West Norfolk): I was interested to hear what the Minister said about the different communities that contributed to the MORI poll. Does she agree that communities can be badly blighted by planning? She mentioned Dorset, where there is a lot of grief about proposals for wind farms, as indeed there is in my own constituency. Does she agree that local people need to have more say in key planning applications that will blight their communities and affect them in other ways?
Yvette Cooper: People often have strong views about planning. We are keen that the planning system should do two things. First, it should have a stronger sense of sustainable development in future instead of focusing on short-term planning issues. Secondly, it should involve local people from the very beginning of the planning process, rather than at a late stage, when a particular application comes up. We shall shortly publish the first draft planning policy statement—PPS1—which sets out the broad direction of planning, and will publish further statements on planning and renewable energy. I am happy to have further discussions with the hon. Gentleman about those issues.
Mr. Frank Field (Birkenhead): I very much welcome today's debate. The Minister has cited MORI's findings, but has she not found from her own experience as a constituency Member of Parliament that one of the dominating issues for all of us is the continued rise of bad behaviour? While there are many positive aspects of Government policy involving job creation and so on, when we meet our constituents or have public meetings, the big issue that they want the Government to deal with is bad behaviour. We are now in a new era of the politics of behaviour.
Yvette Cooper: My right hon. Friend is right that many people in our constituencies have concerns about antisocial behaviour. I shall discuss the issue shortly, so if he will allow me, I shall come back to his question then.
Another issue that we need to be aware of is the existence of considerable inequalities. The most deprived areas tend to have the fewest parks and well-maintained places in which children can play. They tend to have the greatest problems with graffiti, litter and antisocial behaviour. They also have the greatest design problems. I recently stood on a hillside with a fellow MP looking at the fantastic scenery in his constituency. The only thing that blighted the beautiful view was, he pointed out, a severe and stark set of buildings on an estate. They were grey and austere, and clearly had the greatest design problems in the constituency. When I pointed to the estate he said, "Yes, that estate also has the greatest problems in the constituency." Poor design, therefore, is often linked to the most disadvantaged areas.
Matthew Green (Ludlow): The Minister seems to be hinting that the most deprived areas are all urban. Will she confirm that some of the most rural areas are also some of the most deprived?
Yvette Cooper: In looking at the estate that I have mentioned, I was standing on the edge of a small community surrounded by beautiful hills. Of course, the hon. Gentleman is right to say that problems often arise in rural areas as well, where there will often be much smaller concentrations of deprivation. That is one of the reasons why the sure start programme seeks to deal with small concentrations of problems in rural areas and why we must often look at different approaches in such areas. We must recognise that problems in rural areas will be different from those in urban areas.
A considerable amount of work is under way, but there is more to do in many areas. People want to live in environments and communities that are clean, safe and
green. The latter means places that are beautiful and pleasant, as well as places to play and enjoy, places for leisure and places for children in particular. Many of those ideas were encapsulated in the Government's programme to build sustainable communities, which was set out in the sustainable communities plan earlier this year. The plan is not merely about bricks and mortar or quick fixes; it is about trying to build town centres, streets, estates, communities, parks and green spaces of which people can feel proud.It is worth outlining the work that is under way in a series of areas and needs to be taken further in order to address people's concerns about their quality of life and provide opportunities to improve it. I shall deal first with investment in the public realm, including public and community infrastructure and facilities. We know that such investment declined over many years. When we think back to the Victorians, we think of their immense investment in town halls, urban parks and the important community facilities on which so many areas depended. For decades, those facilities declined, along with investment in them.
In the past six years, however, we have seen substantial investment in local public facilities and the local environment. In particular, £1.8 billion has been invested over three years in the poorest communities through the neighbourhood renewal programme, which involves local strategic partnerships funding improvements in their areas. Improvements have ranged from neighbourhood wardens to street improvements, adventure playgrounds and a wide range of facilities that will address problems in particular areas.
We have also seen considerable investment in sure start programmes throughout the country. Most of the programmes involve investing in facilities, often for the first time, for the very youngest children, who have often been left out when local communities and councils consider what facilities are needed and what their priorities should be. Local parks and drop-in centres are now being improved by sure start investment throughout the country. In considering what builds a community, we should never underestimate the role of parents of small children, who often have a strong and immediate interest in the quality of the local environment—where their children want to play—and a strong incentive to build links with other parents and members of the community. That is why the sure start programme is so important.
Lottery funding has supported sports facilities and healthy living centres. There has also been a substantial increase in investment in housing—especially social housing—to help areas to meet the decent homes standard. As part of the sustainable communities fund, there has been a programme involving the investment of more than £200 million to improve parks and open and urban spaces. New resources have been provided for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, which is working on public and private buildings to improve design, and establishing CABE Space as a champion with the expertise to improve public spaces, including parks and green spaces.
We have increased the support given to the Groundwork initiatives. I know that many hon. Members will have had contact with Groundwork in their constituencies. My experience locally has been that
it is one of the most impressive organisations working with local communities, often including schoolchildren, to improve local facilities such as riverbanks, squares or parks. It has had a considerable impact on local communities. The increase in support means that it can back more than 4,500 projects each year.
Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak): When Groundwork projects occur, is not lack of capacity for future maintenance often a problem? Is that problem being addressed?
Yvette Cooper: My hon. Friend is right that the issue concerns not only physical infrastructure but what happens to facilities in the long term once they have been invested in. We often think in terms only of the capital investment that is needed to improve an area, but what can be done to sustain quality and involve the local community after that investment has been made can be far more important. Without such work, there will simply be investment in new facilities, after which all the same problems will arise, and the infrastructure will fall apart three or four years later. I certainly recognise that issue and I shall say a little more about it later.
There are two more significant programmes. The living spaces fund is asking for bids from local communities and groups that support community gardens, play areas, parks and so on, and the liveability fund supports local councils in improving their public areas. Such programmes add up to £200 million over three years—probably the most substantial investment in green spaces since the Victorian era. We are also building design into planning new communities such as the Thames gateway and the millennium villages.
As hon. Members have said, however, the issue concerns not only physical improvements but the communities themselves and the services that need to be delivered to maintain them and their facilities in future. The most beautiful street or space in the world can soon be spoiled if children have nowhere to go, if graffiti, litter or abandoned cars are left unchecked or if the neighbour is a nightmare. Many of our constituents see antisocial behaviour as one of the biggest threats to their quality of life. That is why the Government recently published the antisocial behaviour action plan. Hon. Members will have seen the plan, which builds on the work done in the Anti-social Behaviour Bill that is currently passing through Parliament. In particular, it deals with issues relating to environmental crimes, greater action against nuisance neighbours and swifter action on abandoned cars, graffiti and the other problems that can make so much difference if they are not tackled quickly.
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