§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria were used to decide the recent list of cities to be included in the Government's new urban development initiative programme.
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§ Mr. KeyCity challenge is a new initiative through which local authorities are asked to provide local leadership for the regeneration of critical areas of their towns and cities. The authorities will bring together the relevant interests in their areas—the private sector, voluntary sector and local residents—to draw up plans for economic, social and environmental renewal. The initiative has been launched this year through a pilot scheme in which 15 authorities were invited to bid for 10 places as pacemaker authorities. Provided this pilot competition is successful, we intend there will be a full competition open to urban programme authorities in 1992.
The 15 authorities invited to participate in this year's pilot exercise were chosen to represent a wide range of circumstances across the country and for their ability to work up imaginative plans quickly.