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Mobile Phone Masts

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will set out the procedures of the appeals process for applications for mobile telephone transmitting masts. [165559]

Keith Hill: Section 78 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 sets out an applicant's right to appeal against planning decisions made by a local planning authority (including those for mobile telephone transmitting masts) and the failure of the local planning authority to take such decisions. There are three methods of appeal—written representation, hearing, and inquiry—and the procedures to be followed are contained with DETR Circular 05/2000. The time limit for making an appeal is three months for those applications registered by the local planning authority on or after 5 September 2003, and six months for those registered prior to that date.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many applications for telephone masts he has (a) rejected and (b) approved during the last 12 months. [165560]

Keith Hill: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Therefore, the following information relates to appeal decisions about telecommunications development generally.

	1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004
Received	608
Withdrawn	31
Allowed	211
Dismissed	163
Total decided	374
In hand	203

Note:
All figures relate to the period in which the appeal was received, not necessarily the period in which it was decided.

Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (Crosby)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much has been allocated to Crosby from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. [164414]

 
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Yvette Cooper: Crosby is situated in the Sefton district. Overall Sefton has been allocated £12.6 million (2001–02: £2.8million, 2002–03: £4.2 million and 2003–04: £5.6 million) of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF). Sefton is due to receive a further £5.6 million in 2004–05 and £5.6 million in 2005–06.

It is for each local authority to work with their fellow local strategic partnership members to agree exactly how to use NRF in support of the priorities in their local area.

North Bow

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of the Tower Hamlets Housing Action Trust in the regeneration of North Bow. [166130]

Keith Hill: The Tower Hamlets Housing Action Trust (HAT) has completed its work on budget (including £ 123 million of Government assistance) and one year ahead of its original completion target of March 2005. It has exceeded its original objectives for the building of new homes or the improvement of existing ones to the highest standards; ensuring effective, sensitive and responsive maintenance and management of homes; promoting diversity of tenure within the HAT's estates; and improving the economic, social and environmental conditions of the area, including improved jobs opportunities, youth and community facilities.

Nearly 1,000 new homes have been built. Only one tower block, and one sheltered housing scheme, are to remain—both of which will have been extensively refurbished by the end of the HAT programme.

The high level of resident involvement has remained core to the HAT's ethos throughout its life. This included tenant involvement in the actual design of
 
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homes. The recent Quality of Life Survey showed that 60 per cent. of residents feel that levels of crime have gone down and community spirit and neighbourliness have risen.

The HAT has also delivered, in partnership with the Bow People's Trust (BPT) and Old Ford Housing Association—and many other local agencies—a range of community and economic development initiatives to tackle the problems of social exclusion in the area. These initiatives include the Tower Hamlets Credit Union in Roman Road; the regeneration of the Roman Road Market; Growing Concerns—a community gardening project; a Construction Training Initiative for ethnic communities; a range of services for the elderly and support to local schools. A large area of open space is also being provided in the HAT area and a new Youth Centre will soon be built.

The HAT has encouraged its successor organisations to continue its vision and ensure that the gains made locally in neighbourhood renewal are sustainable and beneficial to the whole community for the long term. To this end, the HAT has awarded an endowment of some £3 million which will be used exclusively in the local area through the "Action for Bow" Trust Fund.

Public Lavatories

Mr. Gummer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total amount raised by the uniform business rate levied on public lavatories was in 2003–04. [165938]

Phil Hope: The information requested is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Gummer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to revise the uniform business rate in order to exclude the rating of publicly owned public lavatories. [165935]

Mr. Raynsford: None.
 
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Local authority property—whether offices, schools, libraries, sporting facilities, car parks or lavatories—is rateable.

Recruitment

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost of recruitment of civil servants for the Department was in each financial year since 1996–97, broken down by (a) delegated or contracted out recruitment procedures and (b) recruitment procedures carried out by the Department. [158193]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created on 29 May 2002.

(a) The total cost of recruitment of civil servants, using contracted out recruitment procedures from June 2002 to March 2003 is £457,000.

(b) The provision of a breakdown of costs for internal or Whitehall-wide recruitment carried out by the Office could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

All permanent recruitment into the Office is carried out through fair and open competition and in accordance with the rules set out in the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Code.

Regeneration Funding (Ilford, North)

Linda Perham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much funding has been allocated for regeneration in Ilford, North since 1997. [164881]

Yvette Cooper: Information on the allocation of resources broken down to constituency level is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The London borough of Redbridge and the London Development Agency have advised the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister that the amount of funding which has been allocated to regeneration projects in the borough since 1997 is tabled as follows:

Programme	Source	Date	Funding (£ million)	Match funding (£ million)
Ilford Town Centre Redevelopment-ODPM       allocation from Sustainable Communities       Funding	ODPM	2003–06	0.6	0.53
The Health Ladder to Social Inclusion	SRB Allocation administered       through LD A	1999–2006	(125)8.0	11.6
From offending to Employment in North East       London	SRB Allocation administered       through LDA	1997–2003	(126)1.5	2.36
Bridging the Gap	SRB Allocation administered       through LDA	1997–2002	3.0	6.0
South Ilford Business Development	LDA 2 Programme	2003–06	0.64	0.47
Barnabas Workshop—Job Shop South Ilford       Business Partnership	LDA 2 Programme	2003–06	0.31	—

⁽¹²⁵⁾   Programme covering Redbridge and Waltham Forest is delivered by the North East London Health Authority and benefits residents in both boroughs.
⁽¹²⁶⁾   Programme led by the Probation Service and benefiting offenders and young people at risk of offending in five North East London boroughs including Redbridge.




 
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In addition to these allocations there have been further allocations to the borough from the European Social Fund for training schemes.

The match funding details includes Local Authority, Health Authority, Learning and Skills Council and private sector resources and is specifically related to the regeneration programmes listed.

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