HC Deb 09 March 1989 vol 148 cc660-3W
Mr. Thornton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to shorten the time taken to process applications by the private sector for city grant.

Mr. Trippier

With the introduction of city grant in May 1988 new procedures were adopted to help reduce the time taken to process applications. These include more thorough pre-application discussions to assist developers in producing workable proposals, a streamlined application procedure and a commitment by the Department to provide an early indication of the progress of each application. There are no plans to revise the procedures but they are kept under review.

Mr. Thornton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many staff in his Department in London and in each regional office have been allocated to processing applications from the private sector for urban development grant and city grant for each of the last five years.

Mr. Trippier

Urban development grant (UDG) applications were and city grant (CG) applications are handled by regional and centrally located staff who are involved in various aspects of urban renewal work. It is not possible to give a figure for staff devoted solely to UDG and CG work.

Mr. Thornton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (I) how many successful applications by the private sector have been made, broken down by Department of Environment region, for urban development grant and city grant in each of the last five years;

(2) what has been the allocation and expenditure, by Department of Environment region, for urban development grant and city grant for each of the last five years;

(3) what is the total value of projects, broken down by Department of the Environment region, that are dependent on urban development grant or city grant for each of the last five years; and what is his estimate for 1989–90.

Mr. Trippier

There are no regional allocations for city grant and there were no such allocations for urban development grant. The tables show the figures requested by region for schemes approved in each year.

Department of Environment Region Number of Schemes Approved Approved Grant Value of Schemes Approved Grant1 Expenditure
£ million £ million £ million
1985–86
West Midlands 9 2.063 8.955 4.589
North West 10 6.427 30.887 5.671
Northern 8 1.225 5.511 2.637
Yorkshire and Humberside 13 4.263 13.886 1.498
London 5 5.576 19.967 4.655
East Midlands 1 0.460 5.213 0.900
Merseyside 1 0.164 1.999 1.614
South West 0 0 0 0
South East 0 0 0 0
Totals 47 20.178 86.418 21.564
1986.87
West Midlands 13 12.421 67.746 4.581
North West 10 1.531 5.535 4.196
Northern 10 3.039 10.780 2.010
Yorkshire and Humberside 8 2.092 7.129 4.912
London 7 4.551 29.702 4.609
East Midlands 6 3.250 12.638 0.452
Merseyside 4 6.093 33.397 0.546
South West 0 0 0 0
South East 0 0 0 0
Totals 58 32.977 166.927 21.036
1987.88
West Midlands 5 0.550 2.664 5.943
North West 11 2.596 14.189 4.038
Northern 5 5.240 18.278 3.154
Yorkshire and Humberside 10 3.626 13.454 2.480
London 4 2.097 8.657 5.956
East Midlands 6 3.358 21.280 1.972
Merseyside 2 0.433 1.247 0.713
South West 0 0 0 0
South East 1 0.249 1.118 0.090
Totals 44 18.149 80.887 24.346
1988.89 (to date)
West Midlands 6 2.182 8.610 5.236
North West 5 2.557 15.156 3.048
Northern 4 1.115 4.828 2.389
Yorkshire and Humberside 8 5.008 20.994 3.538
London 4 2.143 12.100 2.378
East Midlands 2 0.222 1.033 3.463
Merseyside 2 0.455 1.972 3.813
South West 1 0.098 1.447 0.049
South East 0 0 0 0.159
Totals 32 13.770 66.140 24.073
1 Expenditure in any year depends upon the progress on schemes approved in several previous years.

City Grant (Scheme began May 1988)
1988–89 (to date) Number of Schemes Approved Approved Grant Value of Schemes Approved Grant Expenditure
£ million £ million £ million
DOE Region
West Midlands 7 5.368 27.922 0.714
North West 7 5.559 27.151 0.109
Northern 3 0.579 2.841 0
Yorkshire and Humberside 4 0.784 4.210 0
London 5 5.570 28.648 0
East Midlands 9 8.802 38.144 0.152
Merseyside 1 0.168 2.468 0
South West 1 0.145 0.485 0
South East 0 0 0 0
Totals 37 26.975 131.869 0.435

Mr. Thornton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) when the processing of city grant was delegated to his Department's regional offices;

(2) by what criteria applications for city grant are referred to be processed by his Department in London.

Mr. Trippier

Regional offices are responsible for dealing with proposals and inquiries from developers at the pre-application stage and for receiving and checking formal applications. Complete applications are passed to a city grant appraiser based in London. It is then the responsibility of the Department's central inner cities division to progress the application through to a decision by Ministers.

Mr. Thornton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much clawback of urban development grant and city grant has been obtained by his Department from the private sector in each of the last five years; and what is his estimate for 1989–90.

Mr. Trippier

The following amounts of urban development grant have been clawed back to date:

Average processing time for applications approved (in days)
Urban Development Grant
DOE Region 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89
West Midlands 162 142 182 246 110
North West 142 126 187 150 68
Northern 147 152 109 182 100
Yorkshire and Humberside 173 114 148 170 120
London 135 143 147 184 96
East Midlands 0 257 160 153 32
Merseyside 116 137 299 172 70
South West 0 0 0 0 61
South East 0 552 0 0 0

Average processing time for all applications decided (in days)
City grant (scheme began May 1988)
DOE region 1988–89
West Midlands 118
North West 92
Northern 62
Yorkshire and Humberside 93
London 64
East Midlands 72
Merseyside 162
South West 56
South East

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