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Cycle Routes

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what his estimate is of the total length of dedicated cycle routes in each London borough; and what the figures were for roads for each of the past five years. [6747]

Mr. Spellar: Policy on cycle routes in London is now a matter for the Mayor and Transport for London. However, information about the length of the London Cycle Network (LCN) in the London boroughs from April 1997 is set out in the table. Earlier information is not available. Any further information may be obtained from John Lee, the LCN Project Manager, at the following address:

Royal Borough of Kingston

Guildhall

High Street

Kingston upon Thames

Surrey KT1 1EU.
Length in km

Borough	April 1997	April 1998	April 1999	April 2000
Barking and Dagenham	31.867	22	30.6	29.4
Barnet	37.131	47.7	56	62.3
Bexley	13.342	7.2	17.3	18.7
Brent	22.145	20.1	21.9	21.6
Bromley	57.597	66.5	66	67.3
Camden	18.048	19.1	26.1	22.5
Croydon	32.227	49	56.9	67
Ealing	65.267	65.3	64	63.5
Enfield	16.974	13.9	18.1	20.4
Greenwich	31.807	0	40.6	55.1
Hackney	18.772	20.8	20.7	20.7
Hammersmith and Fulham	34.37	38.3	40.4	39.5
Haringey	20.639	21.4	16.7	27.2
Harrow	3.208	5.2	4.4	5.3
Havering	8.242	21.4	15	30.7
Hillingdon	54.407	46.7	57.6	59.3
Hounslow	49.717	54.2	55.7	62.1
Islington	19.041	19.2	20.8	20
Kensington and Chelsea	8.249	16.7	12.2	17.8
Kingston Upon Thames	41.617	49.5	48	46.1
Lambeth	7.508	12.6	28.3	12.4
Lewisham	13.448	14.9	28	35.3
London	0.019	0.2	0.7	9
Merton	24.107	34.9	34.6	37.2
Newham	2.994	22.7	21.2	34
Redbridge	27.699	29.8	30.6	32.9
Richmond	65.272	76.9	89.6	90.6
Southwark	22.598	41.1	55.8	67.8
Sutton	30.008	45.9	49.3	52.9
Tower Hamlets	21.504	23.9	27	30.7
Waltham Forest	36.882	49.3	45.3	53.5
Wandsworth	59.259	67	74.4	88.3
Westminster	11.914	31.3	42.2	44.3
Total	907.879	10,54.7	1,216	1,345.4

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 881W

Single Regeneration Budgets

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what monitoring of the accountability of single regeneration budgets is undertaken by his Department. [6945]

Ms Keeble: Responsibility for monitoring the accountability of single regeneration budget partnerships has been delegated to the Regional Development Agencies. In London, this function rests with the London Development Agency, who are responsible to the Mayor and the Greater London Authority.

My Department is responsible for the overall financial management and policy for the SRB programme. We monitor the RDAs' performance in managing the programme through the RDA sponsorship arrangements led by the Department of Trade and Industry.

From April 2002, the SRB will be subsumed into the new Single Programme announced by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 9 March 2001.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what has been the expenditure to date of the Finsbury Park single regeneration budget; what its planned expenditure is in the remaining period of its life; and what monitoring of its expenditure is undertaken by his Department. [7552]

Ms Keeble: In London the Mayor and the London Development Agency are responsible for the single regeneration budget, including the monitoring of individual schemes. SRB expenditure to date on the Finsbury Park scheme is £3.4m out of the planned £25m over its lifetime.

Government Office for London

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what his estimate is of the annual cost of administration of the Government Office for London; and what his estimate is of future costs in each of the three years from April 2002. [6961]

Ms Keeble: The administration budget of the Government Office for London in 2001–02 is £12.6m.

For 2002–03 it is anticipated that the funding from DTLR, DTI and DEFRA will remain the same as 2001–02. However the DfES allocation is expected to

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 882W

reduce by £401k giving an overall figure of £12.2m. Funding for work to be undertaken on behalf of other Departments has yet to be agreed.

Estimated costs for 2003–04 and in 2004–05 is £11.8m, reflecting an expected further reduction in 2003–04 of DfES funding. These estimates do not anticipate the potential extension of GOL's work in new programmes.

Tufnell Park

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what discussions have been held with Railtrack and Silverlink concerning the opening of a station at Tufnell Park on the Barking to Gospel Oak line; and if he will make a statement. [6946]

Mr. Jamieson: None. The Sponsors of any proposed new station should discuss feasibility initially with the train operator and Railtrack. The Strategic Rail Authority's Rail Passenger Partnership scheme is a potential source of funding for schemes which may not be commercial but offer wider benefits.

Ebley Wharf

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will call in the planning application at Ebley Wharf, Stroud district following his announcement on building in the flood plains under PPG25. [6479]

Ms Keeble: The Secretary of State has considered whether to call-in the planning application at Ebley Wharf, Stroud district, against his policy for the use of call-in powers. Having carefully considered the issues raised, including those related to policy in the recently published PPG 25, it was decided not to intervene in this particular application.

Mobile Phone Masts

Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what consultations with interested parties he has had in relation to damages claims arising out of the impact of mobile phone masts following research being carried out into their effects on health, and the recommendations of the report of Sir William Stewart. [6490]

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 883W

Ms Keeble: The Department has not been approached in relation to damage claims arising out of the impact of mobile phone masts following research being carried out into their effects on health, and the recommendations of the Report of Sir William Stewart.

Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will review planning guidance on mobile phone masts taking account of the decision of the Austrian high court in favour of Ms Wulf-Dietrich Rose against Max Mobil on 12 July. [6489]

Ms Keeble: The Supreme Court of Appeal of the Republic of Austria reported its decision on a case between Wulf-Dietrich Rose and Max Mobil on 26 April 2001. The case involved a claim for defamation and centres around the rules for freedom of expression. Planning Policy Guidance Note 8, 'Telecommunications' (PPG8) does not prevent freedom of expression. It is not therefore necessary to review PPG8 in the light of this case.

Best Value

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what his latest estimate is of (a) the cost and (b) the cash benefit to local authorities of implementing best value. [6266]

Ms Keeble: £52 million has been allocated in 2001–02 to local authorities in England and the Audit Commission to cover the cost of best value audit and inspection. No reliable estimates exist as to the other administrative costs incurred by authorities in complying with their duty under the Local Government Act 1999. It is for individual authorities to decide how to allocate their resources to achieve improvements in performance and cost efficiency, sufficient to meet the 2 per cent. per annum cost efficiency target for local government as a whole against an annual budget in 2001–02 of £57 billion.

Local Transport Plans

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the cost of (a) preparing and (b) implementing local transport plans. [6267]

Ms Keeble: The introduction of local transport plans has been widely welcomed by local authorities. The Government expect that the move to five year plans, and the need to take a broader, more holistic view of planning transport in the context of related issues such as land use planning could produce cost savings and efficiency gains compared with the previous system of annual bidding.

Our Ten Year Plan for Transport provided a step change in investment for the implementation of local transport plans. Over the period of the Ten Year plan some £19.3 billion of capital resources are available. We announced in December 2000 an £8.4 billion package covering the first five years' of that investment.

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