§ Mr. LoveTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the conclusions of the regeneration spending review indicating revised priorities for the single regeneration budget. [53684]
§ Mr. CabornThe CSR announcement on 14 July 1998,Official Report, columns 187–94, included a re-shaped Single Regeneration Budget. This is one of two strands of the New Deal for Regeneration, the other being the New Deal for Communities.
The re-shaped SRB!will receive over £2.3 billion over 3 years, of which £800 million is new money. In order to make a real and sustainable difference in the most deprived areas, 80 per cent. of new resources will be targeted on the areas of greatest need. This will provide for over 50 major new schemes of about £20 million to be running by the end of this parliament.
The balance of resources (20 per cent.) will be used to tackle pockets of need elsewhere, including in rural areas, where SRB resources will combine with the former Rural Challenge resources of the Rural Development Commission to form an integrated rural regeneration element of the SRB.
The re-shaped SRB will include an emphasis on strengthening local partnerships and on value for money:
a new emphasis on partnership capacity building so that the local community is equipped to fully participate in the regeneration of its areapartnerships will have to demonstrate that local communities are directly involved and supportive of schemesthe release of funding will depend on adequate management systems including project appraisal.