Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Chris Ruane (Labour). It was answered on Wednesday, 18 June 2008 on behalf of the Welsh Grand Committee.

Seaside Towns

Question: May I inform my right hon. Friend of the hundreds of millions of pounds that have been pumped by the private sector into Rhyl? Modus has invested £85 million; there has been £60 million of redevelopment for the top of the high street, and local developers Lee Webber and David Hague are redeveloping the whole of Rhyl promenade. However, in the public sector, the fire service and the police have relocated their headquarters outside the town of Rhyl; the Department for Work and Pensions closed down the benefits agency three years ago at a cost of 150 jobs; and HMRC now proposes to close the tax office in Rhyl, with a loss of 50 jobs. What steps will my right hon. Friend take to ensure that there is a joined-up approach to regeneration in seaside towns?

Answer: First, I want to say how well my hon. Friend has worked as the leader of the unemployment group in Rhyl. His tireless efforts have, I believe, led to the transformation of the town from what it was 10 or 15 years ago. I entirely agree that there is a case for looking at Welsh Assembly Government, UK Government and local authority policies across the board—whether city strategies, the old objective 1 funding, lottery money, and so on—and bringing them together to ensure that the best possible solutions are found to regenerate towns like Rhyl, which has been a success story.

Secondary information