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Housebuilding (Redcar)

Vera Baird: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his Department's requirement is for the number of houses to be built in Redcar in each of the next 10 years. [565]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not require houses to be built but rather directs local authorities to make housing provision in statutory planning documents detailed as follows.

The Regional Spatial Strategy for the north-east (adopted November 2002) allocated the Tees Valley an average rate of housing provision of 1,250 up to 2006 and 1,500 post 2006.

The Tees Valley Structure Plan (adopted February 2004) allocates this housing provision at district level; Redcar and Cleveland borough council's allocation is as follows:
Policy HI

	Number
	Approximate	Per annum
2002–06	800	200
Post 2006	2,400	240

The Regional Spatial Strategy is currently being reviewed with an adoption date programmed for early 2007; once adopted this document will supersede the above documents.

Housing (Gloucestershire)

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many houses have been sold under Right to Buy by each local authority in Gloucestershire since the inception of the scheme. [157]

Yvette Cooper: The numbers of council dwellings reported as sold under the Right to Buy scheme by each local authority in Gloucestershire up to the end of 2003–04 are as follows:
 
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	Number
Cheltenham	3,158
Cotswold	2,151
Forest of Dean	2,805
Gloucester	2,561
Stroud	3,350
Tewkesbury	1,937

Source:
Quarterly council house sales returns (P1B) from local authorities.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many people were on the housing register in each local authority in Gloucestershire in the last year for which figures are available. [158]

Yvette Cooper: Local authorities in England report the numbers of households on their housing waiting list (excluding tenants awaiting a transfer) as at 1 April in their annual Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix return. Local authorities sometimes maintain a common waiting list with the housing association/s in their district. However, information is not held centrally where a housing association maintains a separate waiting list to the local authority.

The latest information, for 2004, is given as follows for the six districts in Gloucestershire:
Households on the housing waiting list at 1 April 2004

Local authority	Number of households
Cheltenham	3,620
Cotswold(7)	1,787
Forest of Dean	2,164
Gloucester(7)	3,934
Stroud	1,627
Tewkesbury(7)	1,623
Total	14,755

⁽⁷⁾ Denotes that the local authority has a common waiting list with the Housing Association/s in their area.
Source:
ODPM's Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix return.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many house completions of (a) social housing and (b) affordable housing there were in each local authority area in Gloucestershire in the last year for which figures are available. [159]

Yvette Cooper: The following table shows social and affordable dwellings provided in each local authority area in Gloucestershire in 2004–05.

	Social housing dwellings provided	Affordable housing dwellings provided
Cheltenham	66	45
Cotswold	74	21
Forest of Dean	16	1
Gloucester	31	30
Stroud	12	15
Tewkesbury	42	17

Note:
Includes new build dwellings, acquisitions (including open market purchase e.g. existing Home Buy scheme) and dwellings completed for intermediate rent)
Source:
Housing Corporation





 
25 May 2005 : Column 157W
 

Ministerial Responsibilities

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) responsibilities and (b) role of the Minister of Communities and Local Government are. [355]

Jim Fitzpatrick: My right hon. Friend the Minister of Communities and Local Government was appointed to support my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister across the full range of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's activities.

Negative Subsidy

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what acreage of England lies under roads; and what percentage of land area this represents. [461]

Yvette Cooper: Latest available statistics for 2001 from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's generalised land use database (GLUD) for England show that 757,500 acres (306,500 hectares) of England lies under roads.

The GLUD definition of 'roads' also includes adjacent pedestrian footway i.e. 'pavements'.

This accounts for 2.3 per cent. of the total land area of England.

Neighbourhood Funding

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on plans to make available funds for local neighbourhoods to spend on local priorities. [282]

Mr. Woolas: No decisions have yet been made on the allocation of over £1 billion of new Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) resources for the period 2006–08. The Government is carefully examining the options available, in the light of responses to the recent consultation. An announcement on the allocations will be made as soon as possible once we have completed our consideration.

Parish Councils (London)

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans the Government has for the creation of parish councils in London; and if he will make a statement. [283]

Mr. Woolas: Following publication of the discussion document "Citizen Engagement and Public Services: Why Neighbourhoods Matter" on 31 January 2005 which indicated the Government's intention to seek to remove the existing barrier on urban parishes in London, our manifesto commits us to extend the right to establish parish councils to London communities.

Retail Precincts

Vera Baird: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the Government makes available (a) grant aid and (b) other forms of support for the redevelopment of derelict retail precincts. [555]

Yvette Cooper: The Government provides financial assistance for a range of town/city centre regeneration initiatives, and this forms a key part of the work of English Partnerships, the Government's national regeneration agency, in pursuance of the Sustainable
 
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Communities Plan. English Partnerships is committed to the provision of mixed-use development rather than single use: the need for facilities, including retail, to support sustainable communities is recognised and retail provision is factored into many of its projects, including at the local level. The extent of funding availability from English Partnerships will depend on specific local circumstances and whether a particular project accords with English Partnerships' corporate priorities.

The redevelopment of derelict retail precincts would in general terms be eligible for support from the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) Single Programme (including Single Regeneration Budget). The appropriate regional development agency should be approached in the first instance: again, funding availability will depend on specific circumstances and the fit with RDA priorities.

The Government also supports the introduction of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to assist the delivery of high-quality town centre regeneration and enhance existing business environments, although this is not through large-scale capital funding. Government funding, together with assistance from private sector partners, has been provided through the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the BIDs pilot research project, which looked to test the BIDs concepts in a number of locations around the UK. BIDs do not relate solely to retail centres, but many town and local centres do include a large retail element.

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