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Mr. Andrew Turner: The problem is that CCTV is merely treating the symptom. I understand why people want the symptom to be treated, but we need to treat the disease. Will the hon. Lady explain, if she can, on behalf of Ministers who have not yet explained it, how we can treat the disease of antisocial behaviour, rather than merely the symptoms?
Ms Walley: We were promised at the outset that this would be a far-ranging debate and that is what it has turned into. We need to consider the whole issue of how we address antisocial behaviour. One good news story in Stoke-on-Trent is the sure start programme, which has reached out to young people. It gives both men and women parenting skills and provides toy libraries, and advice on proper nutrition and on proper parental behaviour. It links with nursery provision in the area and it helps young children. However, it is older children who contribute so much to the senseless yobbish behaviour that undermines our communities. Drug addiction is one problem, and we need to combat nationally the increasing amount of drugs entering the country and the hopelessness they bring. At the weekend, I drove through parts of the country that I do not know very well—former coalfield areas outside north Staffordshire—where traditional jobs have been
taken away and have not yet been fully replaced, and that is why I support what the Minister said about economic security. We need to work with regional development agencies to provide the investment that we need on the ground to create new jobs. People in my constituency have lost their jobs in the ceramic industry because their jobs have been outsourced. We need to address those issues quickly, but in a way that is well thought out and works across the board.Play issues are also important. Twenty years ago, local authorities had clear responsibilities to provide parks, but investment over the years has not been what it should have been. I pay tribute to the Government for setting up the working party on play, chaired by my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson). I am proud to say that the working party's report was launched at a conference held by the Landscape Institute at Vale Park conference centre in my constituency. It is very important that we provide good play areas for children and proper areas for young people.
Stoke-on-Trent city council advises me of a major problem, in that the majority of funding for play comes from external funding sources, including the neighbourhood renewal fund, the children's fund, the new opportunities better play programme, positive action for young people, community cohesion or learning and skills councils. Local authorities have a real problem deciding which source to apply to for what purpose. The Government also need to ensure security of funding so that it does not dry up after a scheme has been running for three years. We also need the chance to follow up pilot projects with mainstream projects. It is no good setting up neighbourhood management teams with neighbourhood renewal funds if, three years later, the funds are not available to continue that work. It makes recruitment difficult if people are uncertain about how long their jobs will last.
Mr. Meale: Will my hon. Friend take this opportunity to pay tribute to local authorities of all political persuasions for their work on biodiversity? Some 5,000 local authorities throughout Europe have participated fully in Agenda 21, at a local level in their communities and through education programmes.
Ms Walley: Last Wednesday, I was invited to launch a conference entitled "Sustainable Staffordshire", held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a group, which included people from businesses, local authorities and other organisations, set up to carry out the work of Agenda 21. I had helped to set up the group and it invited me back to celebrate its anniversary. At the conference, I was able to report back from the Johannesburg world summit. As the Environmental Audit Committee has done many times, we were able to examine how the issue of environmental sustainability should be part and parcel of the process of regeneration. Every regeneration proposal must have regard to biodiversity and the real issues raised by the action plan from the Johannesburg world summit, which built on the progress achieved after the Rio earth summit some 10 years ago. For example, the Government have announced today a review of English Nature and we need to ensure that what is put in its place pays proper regard to issues of sustainability. That will also require the Government to work with local authorities.
The citizenship scheme that the Government have introduced in schools can play an important part in ensuring that our young people understand our agenda. Huge gains can be made by providing proper funding for sport. I note the concerns that the full amount of funding from the Treasury has not reached the Football Foundation, which provides partnership funding for sport at a local level, together with the premiership and other funding sources, such as the lottery. I urge the Minister to check with her colleagues at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to ensure that promised funding is allocated in its entirety.
I supported the post office network reinvention programme, because I know how important post offices are to so many urban and rural areas. I would be grateful if the Minister worked closely with the Post Office on the implementation of that programme, which I understood would look strategically at where post offices were needed to ensure access for local communities, in a similar way to the process that provided extra money for rural post offices. My area still has many urban villages—former mining communities—and the Post Office has taken the easy way out. For example, it has closed the post office in Ball Green, despite huge opposition and before strategic consideration of what is needed. I do not think that the Post Office is abiding by the letter of what was agreed. Visiting the post office means that one meets people and feels part of the community. The sense of belonging is really important.
I am conscious of the time, so I will raise only two more issues. The first has to do with back alleys. In the 21st century, it is not right that so many people in terraced properties should find themselves ankle deep in mud when they go out of their back door because the alley has not been adopted. I have spent eight years campaigning on this matter. I have gone to the local government office, to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and to the regional development agencies and the local authorities, but with no success, as there is no dedicated funding for adopted alleys. I am sure that many of my constituents would welcome designated funding to adopt all the unadopted alleys—for instance, as part of the housing renewal programme.
Finally, I agree with my hon. Friend the Minister when she said that the most deprived communities are often the ones with the largest needs. I want to end with a plea. Stoke-on-Trent city council has applied for a share of the £200 million liveability fund. I pay great tribute to the work done by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment in helping local authorities draw up proposals, but only three of the 28 applicants for the liveability fund in the west midlands will be successful.
Stoke-on-Trent has suffered huge job losses and urban deprivation. Genuine desire for improvement was expressed at the conference launched by my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras, and a plea was made that my local authority's application should be successful. I met Mr. Phillip Harper, the director of urban management recently appointed by the council manager for Stoke-on-Trent city council. I understand that two weeks ago Mr. Harper had a special meeting with my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and other departmental Ministers to talk about the wonderful work that had been done in
Middlesbrough. It is clear that Mr. Harper could administer any money received as a result of a successful liveability fund application. I know that the Government are to make an announcement early this month. I cannot stress how important a winning application would be to my constituents.2.12 pm
Matthew Green (Ludlow): I am pleased that the Government have arranged this wide-ranging debate. Like the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms Walley), I want to be as positive as possible when it comes to proposing solutions to some of the problems that exist. I do not want to copy the style of the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond), who spent 27 minutes talking about problems, and one minute skating over a few solutions.
A regular feature of the contributions so far has been the issue of antisocial behaviour and low-level crime. The Minister was right to touch on the roots of those problems. In particular, the 1980s were a period when the sense of community broke down. It was replaced with a much more individualistic approach, when belonging to a community became much less important.
Cultivating a sense of community is one of the most effective ways to reduce antisocial behaviour. I speak with some knowledge, as there is practically no such behaviour in my constituency. I served on the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, but I think that I have received only two letters on the subject since I became a Member of Parliament. I realise that that is not a common experience among hon. Members, but why should that be?
In my constituency, there is a very strong sense of local community. That is partly because the communities involved are small and widely dispersed, and we do not suffer from the problems that have emerged elsewhere. Conservative Members need to address the fact that the breakdown in the sense of community is one of the main reasons why antisocial behaviour is such a large problem. Many of the Government's solutions are sticking plasters applied in an attempt to paper over the damage. We must try to rebuild that sense of community.
It has rightly been said that the problem of graffiti is a blight on many communities. Graffiti wears down people's sense of well being in their community, and probably encourage crime. Liberal Democrat Members supported the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill's provision on graffiti, but councils have been able to act effectively even before those provisions have been introduced. No one has all the solutions, and we need to look at best practices.
Milton Keynes council decided that graffiti was one of the most serious problems in the area, and residents wanted the matter dealt with. The council set up graffiti-busting teams, and there are now about 2,000 fewer tags or problems with graffiti than was the case two years ago. The teams act very promptly, and deal with a problem as soon as it is identified. They have tackled the existing problem with graffiti, and the number of incidents involving graffiti in the future is likely to be lower. Councils in general could learn from that.
Kingston council, in the area represented by my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr. Davey), has adopted a holistic approach. It has worked
with magistrates and police to produce joined-up initiatives, and a dramatic reduction in graffiti has been achieved.I have presented two examples of positive action by local councils, but I am sure that other hon. Members know of others. They would be doing the House a service if they described them.
Dealing with crime sometimes requires more than a big stick. The design of local communities is also very important. The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North spoke about back alleys. In Liverpool, locks and gates have been placed on back alleys, and residents have been given the keys. As a result, they have control over the alleys, and the policy has had a dramatic effect in cutting crime. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the most effective. The one that I have just described is also very cheap, but it has worked very well.
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