Rating (Empty Properties) Bill

I do not wish to let the opportunity pass of having a Treasury Minister and a Local Government Minister side by side on the Front Bench without flagging up some issues of regeneration. This is a short Bill, but it connects with many other areas of Government policy, including planning—as we heard from the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove)—and many other initiatives. It is important to put on the record some of the issues that I wish to be considered in some detail in the reviews that will flow from this Bill and the proposals in the 2007 Budget, and in respect of the joined-up Government agenda on the changes in how No. 10 and No. 11 will operate. It is critical that we consider regeneration and how this Bill will help that. In general, I welcome the Bill, especially the provisions on unoccupied properties owned by charities and community amateur sports groups. They will make a real difference and will be welcomed. The origins of the Bill lie in the Barker report on housing and land use planning, and in Sir Michael Lyons’s review of local government. I have grave reservations about the implications of the Bill for areas of hard-to-let properties, such as those in Stoke-on-Trent. It is a good thing that we are encouraging developers not to let buildings stay idle. Developers can stand by waiting for the right time for speculative developments and that is all well and good in the south-east. When Kate Barker came before the Environmental Audit Committee, much of the thrust of her recommendations related to the particular problems of lack of affordable property and the overheating of the economy in the south-east. In the Committee’s report on that inquiry, we considered the Egan report on the predict-and-provide approach in the south-east. The Minister mentioned the Lyons report, and Michael Lyons has confirmed that it was about hard-to-let areas and the rest of the country. He also said:"““Finding ways to raise the opportunity cost of holding unused land and property in areas of high demand would be desirable.””" The Bill is about areas of high demand, and the danger is that we end up with a one-size-fits-all approach that will not have the same relevance for places such as Stoke-on-Trent. I do not want a Bill on empty properties that has no relevance to my constituency. We already have a fragile economy in the area, but we also have strong regeneration strategies in place. They should not be weakened by a blanket proposal to end all relief on empty commercial properties. The hon. Member for Surrey Heath mentioned further reviews and flexibilities. I hope that Ministers will look at how areas of low demand that need regeneration can benefit from the regulations and statutory instruments that will be introduced as a result of the Bill. That secondary legislation should be used to increase the flexibility in areas such as Stoke-on-Trent. The Government are concerned about the economic performance of areas such as mine, and I hope that Stoke-on-Trent’s record in that respect will be included in the terms of reference for the commission that my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government is about to set up. We urgently need a joined-up approach to regeneration. Earlier, my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary mentioned the private discussions that we have had on this matter. I hope that the forthcoming comprehensive spending review will be used to continue the £1.5 billion already available through the neighbourhood renewal fund—