HC Deb 24 July 2002 vol 389 cc1211-4W
Mr. Pond

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he proposes to announce the outcome of stage 2 of the review of English Partnerships; and if he will make a statement. [73451]

Mr. Leslie

I am today announcing the conclusion of stage two of the Review of English Partnerships.

English Partnerships will be a key player in the delivery of my new "living communities" agenda. As I announced in my Statement to the House on 18 July, I am instructing English Partnerships to use its new role to search out and deliver even more land for housing and sustainable urban development. 1 also want English Partnerships to help in regenerating those places most badly affected by abandonment and decay.

Stage one of the Review confirmed English Partnerships as having an important role as an agency for best practice regeneration and development of brownfield land. I am keen that it develops that role, and in particular, I am asking the organisation to draw up plans to meet the following objectives: To bring about speedy development of new schemes that can help meet the objectives set out in my policy statement of 18 July. In particular, I am determined to see a step change in both the quantity and the quality of new development in those areas that are facing acute demand pressures. I am therefore today announcing an initial list of their sites on which I wish EP to concentrate, as shown in the table, and we will be consulting on the way forward for those sites. A further list of sites will be announced in the autumn.

  1. 2. To work closely with the Housing Corporation, and with other key agencies including the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), to ensure effective co-ordination in the delivery of plans for key worker and affordable housing within the wider context of "living communities".
  2. 3. To advise on the efficient and effective development of surplus Government land and buildings that may help deliver new communities where most needed.
  3. 4. To help with the assembly of sites for regeneration and sustainable development purposes.
  4. 5. To produce and maintain a national brownfield strategy, to include best practice guidance in the assembly, remediation and development of land and buildings, to help drive forward the Urban Renaissance.
  5. 6. To continue to operate its innovative programmes, including the Coalfields Programme, Millennium Communities, support for Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs), the English Cities Fund, the National Land Use Database (NLUD), Priority Sites Ltd, Land Stabilisation Programme, and Englishsites.com, and to develop new ideas for extending good practice.
  6. 7. To operate a regime that enables developers to use approved `gap' funding for the delivery of housing projects that would otherwise be commercially unviable.

Initial list of sites
Location Site
Eastern
1) Basildon Gardiners Lane
2) Basildon Dry Street
3) Basildon Five Links (Phase 2)
4) Harlow Sports Centre
5) Hatfield Town Centre
6) Hemel Hempstead Spencers Park
7) Hemel Hempstead Paradise Fields
8) Hemel Hempstead Breakspear
9) Stevenage Town Centre
10) Stevenage West Stevenage
11) Peterborough Various sites
North East
12) Middlesbrough Middlehaven
13) Stockton North Bank
14) Stockton Haverton Hill
North West
15) Liverpool Kings Waterfront
16) Liverpool Liverpool Land Development Co. sites
17) Preston Preston East
18) Preston Cuerdon Regional Business Park
19) Runcorn Castlefields
20) Skelmersdale Town Centre
21) Warrington Omega
Yorkshire and the Humber
22) Sheffield Various sites in the URC
East Midlands
23) Corby Various sites in the URC
24) Northampton SW District Phase 1
25) Northampton SW District Phases 2 and 3
West Midlands
26) Telford Town Centre
27) Telford South Telford (Woodside)
28) Telford Lightmoor
29) Telford East Ketley Millennium Community
30) Telford Lawley
South West
31) Weston-super-Mare RAF Locking
South East
32) Crawley Expansion sites
33) Crawley Town Centre
34) Milton Keynes Central MK / Campbell Park
35) Milton Keynes Oak Grove Millennium Community
36) Milton Keynes Bletchley / MK Stadium
37) Milton Keynes Broughton Atterbury
38) Milton Keynes East Flank
39) Milton Keynes West Flank
40) Milton Keynes National Bowl / East Ashland
London
41) Greenwich Greenwich Peninsula including the Millennium Community
Cross-regional
42) Various Key Worker Housing Initiative sites

Mr. McNulty

The allocation of the Land and Property (L&P) budget (from April 1999) between the RDAs and the LDA (from July 2000), took into account both their anticipated capital receipts arising from the L&P programme and the level of European funding they expected for L&P purposes. This was achieved by adding the total of all capital and European receipts to the grant in aid to create a 'gross' L&P budget that was then allocated to the RDAs and LDA.

The European funding was as follows:

£million
2000–01 2001–02
European funding
North East 6.800 1.800
North West 12.000 7.800
Yorkshire and Humber 0 0.700
West Midlands 1.000 0.600
East Midlands 0 0
East of England 0 0.400
South West 8.100 8.100
South East 0 0
London 0 0
Total 27.900 19.400
Total RDA and L&P allocation without the European funding
North East 151.193 162.671
North West 231.186 280.387
Yorkshire and Humber 191.727 246.267
West Midlands 145.880 170.850
East Midlands 93.596 97.439
East of England 43.997 62.956
South West 81.844 91.940
South East 86.364 110.542
London 283.151 298.158
Total 1,308,938 1,521,210
Land and Property Allocations
North East 42.924 49.254
North West 74.776 100.388
Yorkshire and Humber 43.223 43.700
West Midlands 40.934 49.428
East Midlands 34.551 30.413
East of England 9.478 14.560
South West 32.758 47.798
South East 20.635 37.966
London 28.626 49.100
Total 327.905 422.607