§ Mr. Squireasked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will announce further approvals for schemes to receive urban development grant.
§ Mr. KingI am pleased to announce today my approval in principle to a further six projects for urban development grant. These schemes represent additional total investment of some £10 million, achieved by an input of £1.5 million of public expenditure. The local authorities involved are Southwark, Newcastle, Lambeth, Leeds, Dudley and South Yorkshire. I have placed full details of these projects in the Library. They include a project combining a petrol filling station and community workshops and training facilities in Brixton, two schemes for refurbishing listed buildings to provide flats for sale, and a new shopping centre in Southwark.
I have now approved 72 projects for urban development grant, representing total investment of some £153 million in the inner cities and other urban areas. These schemes will involve public expenditure of about £31 million, leading to additional private sector investment of about £122 million; a ratio of almost 1:4.