§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report full details of all new projects which have been initiated on Merseyside as a result of decisions taken by the partnership committee, the 346W details of the nature of each project, the exact cost of each and a progress report on each project to date.
§ Mr. ShoreThe Liverpool inner city partnership programme was agreed by the partnership committee, of which I am chairman, on 17 September 1978. Copies of the programme have been placed in the Library of the House. It contains details of all proposals to be funded through the urban programme in Liverpool from 1 April 1979. These total £12.748 million for 1979–80. Preliminary work is now in hand on a number of the projects, to allow commencement early in the next financial year.
Last year the partnership authorities agreed a £2.5 million programme of works to be carried out in 1978–79. This contains a large number of projects in the environmental, industrial, recreational, social services and other fields. Many of the projects are on a very small scale, and the programme has been subject to a number of changes. For these reasons, the detailed information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Prior to establishment of the partnership committee I approved a programme of construction works in Liverpool total-ling £11 million. Many of these projects are now completed or nearing completion.
In addition, extra resources have been made available under a number of programmes, including the housing investment programme, operation clean up and the derelict land programme, for the benefit of Liverpool because of its inner city problems.