§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on progress with the Government's scheme to encourage shopkeepers to use rooms over the shop for private tenancies; what financial incentives are available; and how many units are estimated to have become available since the scheme began. [8067]
§ Mr. ClappisonMy Department ran a demonstration flats over shops programme providing £25 million between 1992–93 and 1994–95 to bring empty space above retail premises into residential use. This created some 1,500 additional housing units directly and many more indirectly. Capital funding for such schemes has continued under the Government's housing partnership fund which provided £30 million a year in 1995–96 and 1996–97 for innovative housing projects including the provision of flats over shops. We will be publishing a research report by the South Bank university early in the new year which evaluates the flats over shops programme and other similar initiatives.