§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the changes to the level of the private sector in urban regeneration following the withdrawal of gap funding. [41763]
§ Ms KeebleThe closure of the PIP programme, which substantially restricted gap funding, has constrained the use of the private sector in urban regeneration. We are currently working on ways of removing these constraints.
The existing gap funding schemes enable the private sector to invest in regeneration schemes within defined limits. The Single Regeneration Budget, one of the Government's major regeneration programmes, is delivered through local regeneration partnerships and the private sector continues to he an important member of a large number of these. In addition, we have recently announced the English Cities Fund and support a number of urban regeneration companies in which the private sector are involved.