§ Mrs. HumbleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will set out, including statistical information, the effect on the Blackpool, North and Fleetwood constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150715]
§ Ms Beverley HughesThe constituency of Blackpool, North and Fleetwood has benefited from a range of Government initiatives since 2 May 1997. The information given is based on local authority boundaries in some cases, as it not possible to break down the information to the constituency boundaries.
Capital allocations for housing—Blackpool £ million 1997–98 2.9 1998–99 14.8 1999–01 5.06 2000–01 7.2 2001–02 8.3 1 Including capital receipts initiative The resources made available from Government to support the authority's housing capital investment programme will have nearly trebled in 2001–02 compared to 1997–98.
Wyre (includes Fleetwood) £ million 1997–98 1.3 1997–99 1.6 1999–2000 1.7 2000–01 1.5 2001–02 1.1 Wyre is a large scale voluntary transfer authority which transferred all its stock to Wyre housing association in 1996 and subsequently became debt free.
Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
Blackpool will receive the following indicative funding over the next three years:
Neighbourhood renewal fund £ million 2001–02 1.5 2002–03 2.3 2003–04 3.0 Single Regeneration Budget
These schemes cover the Blackpool, North and South areas.
SRB Round 2—Blackpool Challenge Partnership
This is a seven year strategy to halt decline of an area of need in the town centre behind the Promenade. This scheme is linked to the opportunity to create employment parks.
SRB total is £19.4 million.
324WSRB Round 6—Blackpool Challenge Partnership
This seven year scheme will start in April 2001, This scheme links support for growth of the tourist industry and improving the quality of life for Blackpool's most deprived communities.. It has been allocated £20 million SRB funding.
Local transport plans £ million 1997–98 19.5 1998–99 0.4 1999–2000 0.9 2000–01 1.2 2001–02 2.9 1 This figure is for Lancashire county council before Blackpool became an unitary authority. Of the £9.5 million, £240k was allocated specifically for the Blackpool tramway, although other money would have gone into Blackpool. Note:
All other figures are for the whole of Blackpool.
Local Government Finance Settlement
The following figures show the Government Grant to Blackpool borough council, Lancashire county council and Wyre borough council as part of the local government finance settlement.
Lancashire county council was reorganised in April 1988 when Blackpool became a unitary authority.
Blackpool £ million 1997–98 15.6 1998–99 93.2 1999–2000 97.2 2000–01 102.5 2001–02 105.3
Lancashire £ million 1997–98 696.8 1998–99 578.2 1999–2000 601.8 2000–01 628.2 2001–02 644.5 Note:
Lancashire county council was reorganised in April 1988 when Blackpool became a unitary authority.
Wyre £ million 1997–98 6.0 1998–99 5.9 1999–2000 6.3 2000–01 6.6 2000–02 6.8 European Funding:
North West of England Objective 2 ERDF Programme 2000–07
This programme is still under consideration by the European Commission but it is expected this will be agreed soon and start in March/April 2001. Some wards 325W of both Blackpool and Wyre are fully eligible areas for Objective 2 funding and will be able to bid for funding from £400 million.
European Community Initiative—PESCA
In 1997, two ERDF projects in Fleetwood were approved to a total grant value of £354k. This initiative finished in 1999. Its main aim was to help areas diversify away from the declining fishing industry.