David Amess

Conservative Party | Southend West

Thames Gateway

Mr. David Amess (Southend, West) (Con): I apologise to the House for not being present throughout our proceedings; I have been attending Baroness Blatch's memorial service and invigilating the extraordinarily exciting Conservative party leadership contest.

My interest in the debate is real. I am a relatively poor Conservative Member: I own only two properties—one in the Isle of Dogs and one in Southend, West.

Andrew Mackinlay: The hon. Gentleman is not Chairman of a Committee, is he?

Mr. Amess: The hon. Gentleman tempts me, but I shall not comment on his sedentary intervention.

I am sure that the Under-Secretary will correct me if I am wrong, but I think that one of my properties is at the start of the Thames Gateway and the other is at the end. But my interest in the area goes much further. I was born in Plaistow, many of my relatives still live in Newham, and my heart belongs to London.

One of the greatest achievements of the Conservative Government was the regeneration of the east end of London in the '80s and '90s. I get a tremendous buzz from what has been achieved in docklands. It is remarkable and exciting, and it was a tremendous achievement. I recall as if it were yesterday going with a group of then colleagues to a barren warehouse that was described as being where London City airport would be. I thought that such an engineering feat was impossible and wondered, "My goodness, how are the local residents going to put up with aeroplanes landing and taking off in the middle of the east end?" But it happened, and it has been a tremendous success. As I said to the noble Baroness last week at her 80th birthday party, it was certainly one of her finest achievements.

I feel very uncomfortable with much of the modern language that we use. I hate the jargon, and I have cringed a little at what I have already heard. I do not know who thought up the expression, "Thames Gateway", but I do not like it. The River Thames is beautiful. When I do my tours round the House of Commons, I say that it is cleaner than the Seine and the Rhine, and it would not be hard to be cleaner than the Nile. It is a very beautiful river and we should be proud of it.

In my constituency, unlike those of any number of my colleagues, housing is not an issue, because there is no room to build. The only way in which one could build new houses in Southend, West would be by knocking down an old property and replacing it. In some parts of Essex, though, if one is not walking quickly one will be built on—either that or someone will stick a mobile phone mast on one's head. In many respects, there is an obsession with building in Essex. I have huge sympathy with many of my colleagues who are worried about the overdevelopment, as they see it, of their constituencies. When, many moons ago, I was Member of Parliament for Basildon, we had the London Development Corporation and the Commission for New Towns, and I saw at first hand how we benefited tremendously from those two organisations.

As the Minister knows, there is no such thing as a free lunch and no such thing as a free debate, and I am unashamedly participating in this debate to ask for his help. I am grateful for all the assistance that we have been given by Thames Gateway so far. Again, it seems only yesterday that Mary Spence came to see me at one of my surgeries when the vehicle was being set up and did not have a great deal of money or clout, and I listened carefully to what she said. I congratulate her and her staff on what they have achieved so far.

The Minister for Local Government has already been tremendously helpful to Southend, and I have every intention of persuading the Under-Secretary to join his colleague in being helpful.

I was thrilled that we won the bid for the Olympic games. My God, I wish I had been at the meal with Putin and Chirac. One could imagine their faces. I did not believe that we would get the games, but I am thrilled that we did. I agreed with everything that my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch (James Brokenshire) said about the Olympic games in his magnificent speech. I am determined that Southend will be at their heart. As hon. Members might expect, I shall mention not only the cliff slippage but Southend pier later. The Olympic games provide a marvellous opportunity for local communities not only to get involved but to become motivated about sport and experience the lasting regeneration of their landscape.

Thames Gateway South Essex partnership—here I go into the jargon—pledged its commitment to support the 2012 Olympics in July 2005 and published its proposals to offer preparation camp facilities for the athletes in the run-up to the games. Southend is a unitary authority and we have already held some good meetings with the leader of Essex county council. I hope that Southend will be included in Essex's bid to host some of the sportswomen and sportsmen. There is already good access to Southend from London Southend and Stansted airports as well as two mainline rail links to Stansted and a proposed additional airport-rail link, which I shall discuss shortly.

I perceive the project as not only supporting the Olympians and Paralympians who will stay in Southend in 2012. I believe that the investment must be carefully targeted so that it leaves an infrastructural legacy of sporting, leisure and transport facilities, from which future generations can benefit long after the closing ceremony of the games in 2012.

If the Under-Secretary has no time to reply, perhaps he will write to me, but Southend council is keen to learn from the Government whether additional funding of private finance initiative credits will be available to support the development of sporting and cultural facilities in the Gateway. We have our particular hobby horse in Southend—the replacement of Warriors swim centre, which once produced Anita Lonsborough. It is embarrassing because I have forgotten the name, but Southend had a famous diver—

Derek Wyatt (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Lab): Brian Phelps.

Mr. Amess: The hon. Gentleman, who was educated in a Southend school, remembers better than I do. The local authority is keen for the Government to support its plans to rebuild our swimming pool.

Southend borough council's main goal throughout the development period is to create:

"A town by the sea where people want to live, work and play—a 21st Century urban seaside resort and regional cultural capital."
Although the hon. Member for Thurrock is an advocate of old Leigh, we do not have as many day trippers as formerly, so we are trying to reposition ourselves in the market. I must now go on to more "speak".

The draft regional spatial strategy for the east of England introduces specific guidance for the Thames Gateway South Essex sub-region to deliver regeneration in a manner specific to the needs and requirements of the local area. The prioritised requirements are to achieve employment-led regeneration, wealth creation and growth with improvements to transport infrastructure. It is hoped that that can be achieved by working in partnership with the Thames Gateway at other levels and by retaining an emphasis on local "Zones of Change and Influence" to allocate resources where they are most needed in line with the regional economic strategy prepared by the East of England Development Agency. That means, in short, "If there is any money going, Southend would like some of it to do what the council says".

The Southend local strategic partnership has prepared a "Southend Together" community plan for the borough, developed in association with the Thames Gateway South Essex partnership to form a core strategy and framework that is currently undergoing a period of public consultation in Southend. We are inviting local residents to give their views on the proposed strategies for economic development in the region. I should point out to the Minister, however, that economic development is, as ever, a double-edged sword.

The planned multi-million-pound expansion of Southend airport in time for the 2012 Olympics would include a new terminal and railway station in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge). It would be built at the Rochford site, and would be linked directly to London. I am advised by the council, however, that the plans may be under threat if proposals to build a car park on green belt land are rejected. I will not bore the House with the criteria for green belt, as it might prove embarrassing. John Allen is the director of planning at the London Thames Gateway development corporation. Whatever view he and his colleagues take, I ask them to think carefully about the regeneration projects being undertaken by the corporation.

I am not alone in highlighting the serious environmental issues facing the Thames Gateway. The London Assembly recently warned that the area was at high risk of flooding, and that should the defences fail we would incur a natural and humanitarian disaster on the scale of the one in New Orleans. The main worry seems to be over who is responsible for maintaining the defences. Surely we should not be embarking on a large-scale expansion of residential and business premises while the stability of flood defences is still unknown.

The Government are calling all the shots. Although my party lost the general election, however, we are not sulking; we are embracing all the Government's initiatives. I must therefore tell the Minister that I am here, unashamedly, with a begging bowl.

English Heritage rightly points out that, contrary to popular perceptions, the Thames Gateway boasts a number of rich historic sites, from the Tilbury fort—where Queen Elizabeth I delivered her rallying speech to the Navy before it defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588—to four of England's six historical naval dockyards. To that list I would add Southend pier.

The Minister and I were once joint chairmen of the all-party fire and safety group. Let me tell the Minister of my experience. We live fairly near the pier, and when my wife woke me saying "Goodness, there is a strong smell of burning", I panicked—for all the right reasons. When I eventually went down to the pier, I could not believe that we had suffered the same disaster for the third time. When I was taken to see the damage, I recognised about half a building that had been at the end of the pier. It is truly upsetting to see the damage: when one reaches the end of the railway, that is it. The station, the pub and the fish and chip shop are no longer there. The end of the pier remains, at which the magnificent sea rescue service is located, but the bit in between is missing.

Southend pier is a very famous pier; in fact, it is the longest in the world. I would like Southend to host one or two sporting activities during the 2012 Olympic games, and although there are plans to use the London Eye for the associated celebrations, I am sure that the pier, which is something to be proud of, could also play a part. The leader of Southend council has the full support of myself, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend, East, and Mr. Geoffrey Van Orden—one of our European MEPs—in consulting local partners on the pier's reconstruction, so that we can restore it to its former Victorian splendour.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is keen to revitalise the region via modernisation, but that ought not to be done at the expense of popular and historic landmarks such as Southend pier. When it is restored, it will be a source of continuing pride and enjoyment for the Thames Gateway region.

Bob Spink: My constituents also have an interest in this wonderful edifice, so will my hon. Friend add my name to his list of supporters?

Mr. Amess: I thank my hon. Friend for his support.

I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to members of the fire service. They worked throughout the night, and how they saved as much of the pier as they did, I do not know. They did a fantastic job, and had they not acted so quickly and worked such long hours, the damage would have been much worse. Some people might say, "It's only a pier, David, for God's sake get a life!", but it has given tremendous pleasure to the elderly—never mind the young and middle aged. The elderly do not travel the pier's mile-and-a-half length on their zimmer frames; they use electric wheelchairs, or the pier train. Eating their fish and chips in the middle of the Thames estuary gives them one hell of a buzz, so I ask the Minister to do what he can to support Southend pier.

The Minister will know that Southend's local authority is also very keen to have a regional casino. I shall not get too far into that argument this afternoon, but I should point out that at my party's conference in Blackpool two weeks ago various people told me that a casino would be located there. Perhaps the Minister will pass on the message that it would be jolly useful to have some clarity on this issue. Will there be just one casino? If so, that should be the end of the matter. We do not want local authorities to waste huge amounts of time and money employing consultants, if they have not a cat in hell's chance of getting a regional casino.

As a fellow West Ham United supporter, I offer my final bribe to the Minister. Southend United are top of league one and West Ham are doing much better than we perhaps anticipated. The icing on the cake would be if the Minister chose to use today's winding-up speech to announce that he will give Southend council some £50 million to help rebuild the pier.