§ Mr. ThorntonTo 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. TrippierWith 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. ThorntonTo 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. TrippierUrban 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. ThorntonTo 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. TrippierThere 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.
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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.
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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. ThorntonTo 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. TrippierRegional 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. ThorntonTo 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. TrippierThe 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 —