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7 Jul 2005 : Column 558W—continued
Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the merits of establishing urban development corporations in the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder areas in England; and if he will make a statement. [9387]
Yvette Cooper: Housing market renewal pathfinder intervention areas are tightly defined to encompass largely residential areas with the greatest concentrations of housing in low demand. The pathfinder partnerships of local authorities, the private sector and others are working well together to renew housing markets. Urban Regeneration Companies or other regeneration vehicles are active in the areas of many pathfinders and co-operation between the two brings a strong economic development dimension into pathfinder strategies and programmes.
London Housing Board
Clive Efford: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) when he expects to receive the London Housing Board's recommendations on funding allocations for 2006 to 2008; [9399]
(2) if he will place a copy of the London Housing Board's recommendations on funding allocations for 2006 to 2008 in the Library; [9400]
(3) when he expects to reach a decision on the London Housing Board's recommendations on funding allocations for 2006 to 2008. [9401]
Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has recently received the London Housing Board's submission setting its recommendations on the allocation of Regional Housing Pot funds for 2006–07 and 2007–08. The submission and the associated London Housing Strategy are being placed on the Government Office for London's website (www.gos.gov.uk/gol). We will be announcing decisions on their, and other regions, recommendations shortly.
Mobile Phone Masts
Mr. Mates: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of planning procedures for mobile phone masts. [9697]
Yvette Cooper:
Current planning guidance for all electronic communication developments is set out in planning policy guidance note 8 (revised) (PPG8). The
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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has also issued a Code of Best Practice on Mobile Phone Network Development. It provides more detailed advice than is contained in planning policy guidance note 8.
In September last year the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister commissioned the University of Reading and Arup to undertake an independent study to assess the impact that the code of best practice on mobile phone network development has had since its introduction. The report will be published in due course. On 4 April I announced the Government will be commissioning further research to identify the future direction of mobile phone technology and the future need for mast developments.
Motorway Advertisements
Mark Tami: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his policy is on the siting of advertisements on land adjacent to motorways. [9225]
Yvette Cooper: Outdoor advertisements are controlled by local planning authorities under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992.
Most advertisements on land directly facing motorways and major roads require the express consent from the relevant local planning authority as well as prior permission from the landowner before they may be displayed lawfully. When considering whether an advertisement should be allowed to be displayed, the local planning authority must consider amenity and public safety aspects on a site-specific basis.
Local planning authorities have enforcement powers to deal with advertisements displayed unlawfully.
Neighbourhood Renewal Support Fund
Jim Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the floor targets for Neighbourhood Renewal Support Fund are; what the performance of Newcastle upon Tyne against those targets was; and what the average performance against those targets in (a) the North East and (b) England was. [9872]
Mr. Woolas:
Floor targets are an advance in how Government tackles disadvantage. They are delivered by Government Departments and contribute to the overarching Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Public Service Agreement, (PSA) 1 target, on neighbourhood renewal and social exclusion.
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Floor targets for neighbourhood renewal:
Areas in receipt of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund resources focus on delivering floor targets and targets agreed locally.
The latest floor target performance data we hold centrally have been made available in the Library of the House, although more up to date data may be available locally. These graphs show the performance of Newcastle upon Tyne, the North East average, the average performance of all areas in receipt of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, and the England average for each of the key outcome areas (health, education, crime, worklessness, and liveability). We do not have a graph for housing, as centrally we only have data on council-owned dwellings.
Further floor target performance data can be found at Floor Targets Interactive http://www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=21
Jim Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library (a) the assessment of each (i) output and (ii) super output area of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne against the factors in the matrix of deprivation and (b) the rating of each post-2004 electoral ward in the city of Newcastle against (A) each factor and (B) the combined indicator in the index of deprivation. [9873]
Mr. Woolas: The Indices of Deprivation 2004 (ID 2004) was created only at lower layer Super Output Area level (SOA), with summaries of the SOA level data at local authority and county council levels. It is therefore only possible to provide ranks for each SOA in Newcastle upon Tyne against the seven individual domains and the overall Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD 2004) and this information has been made available in the Library of the House.
New Build (Lancashire)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homes have been built in Lancashire in each of the last five years, broken down by district council area. [8896]
Yvette Cooper: The annual numbers of new build completions reported for each of the housing authorities in Lancashire since 2000–01 are tabled as follows.
Source:
Returns (P2/NHBC) to ODPM on building control completions.
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Planning (London)
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on how many occasions the Mayor of London exercised his power to direct a refusal of a planning application in each of the last five years for each London borough; and how many were subsequently subject to an appeal where permission was (a) granted and (b) not granted. [9443]
Yvette Cooper: The information is in the following tables.
| Appeal SofS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borough | Direct refusal | Direction withdrawn | Granted | Refused |
| Brent | 2((1)1) | 1 | — | — |
| Bromley | 2 | — | 1 | 1 |
| Havering | (1)1 | — | — | — |
| Hillingdon | 1 | — | 1 | — |
| Lewisham | (1)1 | — | — | — |
| Southwark | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| Appeal SofS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borough | Direct refusal | Direction withdrawn | Granted | Refused |
| City | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| Lambeth | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| Appeal SofS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borough | Direct refusal | Direction withdrawn | Granted | Refused |
| Richmond | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| Southwark | (2)1 | — | — | — |
| Sutton | 2 | 2 | — | — |
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| Appeal SofS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borough | Direct refusal | Direction withdrawn | Granted | Refused |
| Havering | (3)1 | — | — | — |
| Lewisham | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| Newham | (3)1 | — | — | — |
| Southwark | 1 | 1 | — | — |
(1) No appeal.
(2) Awaiting appeal decision.
(3) Still considering whether to appeal.
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