Speeches by Norris.

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) for securing this debate and for raising not just the challenges faced by coalfield communities, but the exceptional work done by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust in supporting them. I am always cautious. Indeed, when I was waiting for th…”

“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…”

“We are giving local leaders the tools they need to deliver growth for their areas by devolving power and money from central Government to local communities. We are investing in programmes that drive growth, and we will set out our refreshed vision for local growth funding at the multi-year spending review.”

“High street rental auctions are a great tool for enabling Hertford and Stortford and the rest of the country to take on persistent vacancy. We already have trailblazers that are moving forward at great pace to implement those auctions, but the powers and the extra resources we have provided are available for all counci…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Michael Payne) for securing the debate, and for raising both the economic challenges and the opportunities faced by our communities in the east midlands. He and I have been friends for a long time and have talked about these issues a great deal, as members of our …”

“I very much do agree. It should be a point of great pride—and, again, it is one of our huge assets—that we have the biggest pure freight airport in the country. Frankly, our geographical location means that all journeys involving the transport of goods tend to come through our region at some point, but with the airport…”

“I do not think we could litigate in the remaining 22 minutes whether Long Eaton is in Nottingham or Derby. My hon. Friend is perhaps better qualified than me to say so—but when I go to see him, I see a lot of Forest shirts. He is right to highlight the work of his council. It has not had very long in power, but it has …”

“My hon. Friend adds a very thoughtful and well-judged counterweight to my love letter to Nottingham city centre on behalf of Derby city centre. Perhaps she knew it was just too far beyond me to overcome our traditional rivalry, but she did so better than I could have done. Derby has some very exciting days ahead becaus…”

“Our colleagues will have heard a lot from us about the primacy of growth. It is the Government’s firmest belief that economic growth should reach all communities and drive a real rise in living standards throughout the country, particularly in areas that have been left behind following years of declining investment. I …”

“I have been there. It is horrible in opposition. It gets to the point where, a couple of hours before orals, someone tells you that have to ask the clip question on council tax. All I will say to the hon. Gentleman is that I know that the people of our country are smart enough to decide which of us they would rather.”

“We are changing the way in which local growth is done in this country, exactly for that reason. The previous Government wanted to subject communities to beauty parades for short-term funding, according to criteria decided by them. Our funding plans, which will come forward at the spending review, will be long-term, all…”

“Yes. Economic growth is this Government’s No. 1 mission. As I have said multiple times at the Dispatch Box, that is an inside job and it takes great local leadership. That is why we have made a commitment to the devolution of power and resources from this place to such communities, by creating new devolved institutions…”

“We are determined to drive up standards across the private parking sector, and my colleagues in the Department for Transport are across the other elements of the parking sector. We will announce our plans regarding the private parking code of practice in due course, and I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to d…”

“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 pr…”

“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 b…”

“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. …”

“I do not think that that would be a reasonable conclusion to draw. The reality is you have a single inspectorate so you have two choices: you either make a division of that organisation, in which case I think you have to say what goal that is in pursuit of, or you have a hosting Department, which is what the Home Offic…”

“There is for the trailblazer areas. But at the moment, that is where it stops.”

“Right from the outset, the Deputy Prime Minister and I made the conscious decision that we would meet with anybody in any format they wanted, and in whatever way helped that access. We do big group sessions and we do smaller, facilitated ones—perhaps with some food—with roundtable-type activities. We also do individual…”

“That is something that the Deputy Prime Minister and I have reflected on a lot over the last few weeks. I want to say, candidly, that I believe yes. As I say, our answer to everything was yes. Our attempts were, as I say, to have the broadest possible range of engagement moments. That is, of course, on top of the inbou…”