§ Mr. PondTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he proposes to announce the outcome of stage 2 of the review of English Partnerships; and if he will make a statement. [73451]
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§ Mr. LeslieI am today announcing the conclusion of stage two of the Review of English Partnerships.
English Partnerships will be a key player in the delivery of my new "living communities" agenda. As I announced in my Statement to the House on 18 July, I am instructing English Partnerships to use its new role to search out and deliver even more land for housing and sustainable urban development. 1 also want English Partnerships to help in regenerating those places most badly affected by abandonment and decay.
Stage one of the Review confirmed English Partnerships as having an important role as an agency for best practice regeneration and development of brownfield land. I am keen that it develops that role, and in particular, I am asking the organisation to draw up plans to meet the following objectives:
1213WTo bring about speedy development of new schemes that can help meet the objectives set out in my policy statement of 18 July. In particular, I am determined to see a step change in both the quantity and the quality of new development in those areas that are facing acute demand pressures. I am therefore today announcing an initial list of their sites on which I wish EP to concentrate, as shown in the table, and we will be consulting on the way forward for those sites. A further list of sites will be announced in the autumn.
- 2. To work closely with the Housing Corporation, and with other key agencies including the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), to ensure effective co-ordination in the delivery of plans for key worker and affordable housing within the wider context of "living communities".
- 3. To advise on the efficient and effective development of surplus Government land and buildings that may help deliver new communities where most needed.
- 4. To help with the assembly of sites for regeneration and sustainable development purposes.
- 5. To produce and maintain a national brownfield strategy, to include best practice guidance in the assembly, remediation and development of land and buildings, to help drive forward the Urban Renaissance.
- 6. To continue to operate its innovative programmes, including the Coalfields Programme, Millennium Communities, support for Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs), the English Cities Fund, the National Land Use Database (NLUD), Priority Sites Ltd, Land Stabilisation Programme, and Englishsites.com, and to develop new ideas for extending good practice.
- 7. To operate a regime that enables developers to use approved `gap' funding for the delivery of housing projects that would otherwise be commercially unviable.
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Initial list of sites Location Site Eastern 1) Basildon Gardiners Lane 2) Basildon Dry Street 3) Basildon Five Links (Phase 2) 4) Harlow Sports Centre 5) Hatfield Town Centre 6) Hemel Hempstead Spencers Park 7) Hemel Hempstead Paradise Fields 8) Hemel Hempstead Breakspear 9) Stevenage Town Centre 10) Stevenage West Stevenage 11) Peterborough Various sites North East 12) Middlesbrough Middlehaven 13) Stockton North Bank 14) Stockton Haverton Hill North West 15) Liverpool Kings Waterfront 16) Liverpool Liverpool Land Development Co. sites 17) Preston Preston East 18) Preston Cuerdon Regional Business Park 19) Runcorn Castlefields 20) Skelmersdale Town Centre 21) Warrington Omega Yorkshire and the Humber 22) Sheffield Various sites in the URC East Midlands 23) Corby Various sites in the URC 24) Northampton SW District Phase 1 25) Northampton SW District Phases 2 and 3 West Midlands 26) Telford Town Centre 27) Telford South Telford (Woodside) 28) Telford Lightmoor 29) Telford East Ketley Millennium Community 30) Telford Lawley South West 31) Weston-super-Mare RAF Locking South East 32) Crawley Expansion sites 33) Crawley Town Centre 34) Milton Keynes Central MK / Campbell Park 35) Milton Keynes Oak Grove Millennium Community 36) Milton Keynes Bletchley / MK Stadium 37) Milton Keynes Broughton Atterbury 38) Milton Keynes East Flank 39) Milton Keynes West Flank 40) Milton Keynes National Bowl / East Ashland London 41) Greenwich Greenwich Peninsula including the Millennium Community Cross-regional 42) Various Key Worker Housing Initiative sites
§ Mr. McNultyThe allocation of the Land and Property (L&P) budget (from April 1999) between the RDAs and the LDA (from July 2000), took into account both their anticipated capital receipts arising from the L&P programme and the level of European funding they expected for L&P purposes. This was achieved by adding the total of all capital and European receipts to the grant in aid to create a 'gross' L&P budget that was then allocated to the RDAs and LDA.
The European funding was as follows:
£million 2000–01 2001–02 European funding North East 6.800 1.800 North West 12.000 7.800 Yorkshire and Humber 0 0.700 West Midlands 1.000 0.600 East Midlands 0 0 East of England 0 0.400 South West 8.100 8.100 South East 0 0 London 0 0 Total 27.900 19.400 Total RDA and L&P allocation without the European funding North East 151.193 162.671 North West 231.186 280.387 Yorkshire and Humber 191.727 246.267 West Midlands 145.880 170.850 East Midlands 93.596 97.439 East of England 43.997 62.956 South West 81.844 91.940 South East 86.364 110.542 London 283.151 298.158 Total 1,308,938 1,521,210 Land and Property Allocations North East 42.924 49.254 North West 74.776 100.388 Yorkshire and Humber 43.223 43.700 West Midlands 40.934 49.428 East Midlands 34.551 30.413 East of England 9.478 14.560 South West 32.758 47.798 South East 20.635 37.966 London 28.626 49.100 Total 327.905 422.607