§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on progress since the announcement of the(a) Milton Keynes, (b) Ashford and (c) Stansted Corridor Sustainable Communities; how much public money has been spent; how much private sector capital has been committed; how much land has been acquired; how much land will be acquired; and over what timescale. [148203]
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§ Yvette CooperThere has been considerable progress in the growth areas since the announcement in July 2002—"Creating Sustainable Communities: Making it Happen: Thames Gateway and the Growth Areas".
Partners are well advanced in developing the £88 million worth of projects approved in July as part of the Government's Sustainable Communities funding package and we are on target to meet the £21.5 million allocated in this year's programme. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's further announcement of 14 January 2004 allocated an additional £63 million to a further 27 projects. £11.5 million has been allocated to schemes which will deliver new and improved strategic green spaces in the growth areas, including a new regional park in the Nene Valley, and a significant expansion of the Forest of Marston Vale in Bedfordshire. Over £50 million has been awarded to 18 other projects to provide key transport and economic infrastructure including new bridges and roads to access sites for 6,850 homes that would otherwise be blocked.
The vast majority of development within the housing growth areas will be undertaken by the private sector but detailed information on each investment is not collected. In addition there will be major investment programmes on commercial sites—such as the £800 million programme for Central Milton Keynes, involving English Partnerships, Milton Keynes Council and a number of private investors. Many schemes funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are, however, designed to enable local partners to lever in specific private sector commitments to infrastructure by unblocking barriers to investment. In most cases negotiations are ongoing, but examples of match funding already committed include the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's commitment of £10.6 million for road access to the Wellingborough East development site, which is matched pound for pound by Bovis Homes.
There are no targets for land acquisition in the growth areas; the need for land assembly by the public sector will be determined on a case by case basis. Several of the projects for which the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is already providing funding will facilitate the assembly of parcels of land for public benefit, such as the provision of affordable housing and community facilities (for example in Harlow), or high quality green spaces within or around the growth areas, as in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. The funding will also facilitate the remediation of heavily contaminated land and the preparation of sites for release to the private sector for development.
§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister which Government Departments are involved in plans for the development of the(a) Milton Keynes, (b) Ashford and (c) Stansted Corridor Sustainable Communities; and what commitments they have made. [148205]
§ Yvette CooperThe July Statement—"Sustainable Communities: Making it Happen: Thames Gateway and the Growth Areas"—set out how growth area projects 1099W would be taken forward across Government, with schemes including transport, health, education, sports and green spaces. For example, transport commitments include the £1.6 billion announced by Alistair Darling in July, and most recently the Department for Transport's Local Transport Programme announcement of December 2003, which included schemes worth £221 million across the three growth areas.
A wide range of public agencies are involved. Bringing more agencies together with local partners to look at strategic infrastructure issues is the purpose of the Inter Regional Board being established for the Milton Keynes South Midlands growth area, which will hold its first meeting on 11 February 2004.