§ Mr. Winnickasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those local authorities in the West Midlands which have been designated under the Inner Urban Areas Act; what criteria were used to approve designation; what sums have been allocated to these local authorities arising from designation; and if he will give the amount in each case.
§ Mr. KingIn the West Midlands the metropolitan districts of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Sandwell have been designated under the Inner Urban Areas Act, Birmingham having partnership and Wolverhampton having programme authority status. The criteria by which these authorities were selected reflected a variety of social, environmental and economic problems affecting the districts.
The urban programme allocations made to Birmingham and Wolverhampton for 1980–81 are £17.04 million and £2.92 million respectively. No specific allocation has been made to Sandwell but, by virtue of its designated status, it may apply for support from the total of £5.6 million set aside from the urban programme for 1980–81 for industrial and commercial 603W projects in the non-partnership and programme designated districts.