§ 11. Mr. Gordon Marsden (Blackpool, South)How the single regeneration budget fifth programme will be targeted on the areas of greatest need. [63575]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Mr. Alan Meale)Under round 5 of the single regeneration budget, about 80 per cent. of new SRB resources will support comprehensive regeneration schemes in the most deprived areas, based on the 1998 index of local deprivation. About 20 per cent. of the resources will tackle pockets of need elsewhere, including rural areas, coalfield areas and coastal towns.
§ Mr. MarsdenIn welcoming my hon. Friend's answer, may I draw his attention to two matters? First, there is a need for the survey to be extremely specialised, given that, in seaside and coastal towns in particular, there are often pockets of deprivation in the centre of towns. Secondly, during that review, will he look especially favourably and sympathetically on those areas of public infrastructure in seaside and coastal towns that are not currently eligible for heritage or other forms of lottery grant?
§ Mr. MealeFirst, I pay tribute to the amount of work that my hon. Friend has done since becoming a Member of Parliament at the last general election. The Government are well aware of the extent of the social deprivation occurring in many seaside and coastal towns. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has shown his awareness of it in his many speeches on regeneration and in the reshaped single regeneration budget, which was announced on 22 July 1998. We shall pay particular regard to the problem and focus on it in any future SRB bids and planning.