§ 21. Dr. George TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on his plans for further millennium villages. [99030]
§ Ms ArmstrongThe Deputy Prime Minister announced in October that a further five millennium communities competitions would take place. We are currently reviewing the lessons learnt from the first two schemes. English Partnerships jointly with the RDAs are being asked to come forward, with the support and active involvement of local communities, with options on128W suitable sites/localities for the competitions by February 2000. We have also asked them to examine further the options for delivering the competitive process and to present proposals within the same timeframe. We aim to announce the next millennium communities site in the spring of 2000.
We are also considering the findings of a research report commissioned by the Department earlier this year to create a framework to evaluate and measure millennium communities and other developments. This will be published in the new year.
We plan to disseminate the research widely and to promote a debate on its findings, including its proposals for a sustainability framework. We will also be disseminating the lessons learnt from the first two millennium communities so far.