Prescott promises more funding for sustainable communities
The Deputy Prime Minister has promised to use the department’s rise in funding to continue work on the Sustainable Communities Plan.
Monday’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) saw the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) given a £1.3 billion increase, around 3.3 per cent a year.
John Prescott told the Commons that he would use the money “to increase housing supply in the growth areas, substantially expand social housing provision to help tackle homelessness and regenerate areas with a legacy of housing decline.
“In doing so, we will protect the countryside and deliver the services and infrastructure needed for genuinely sustainable communities, which are safer, cleaner and greener.”
Mr Prescott said the spending rise was an “excellent outcome for delivering our aim of creating places where people want to live and promoting a better quality of life for all” and pledged action to reduce social exclusion and narrow the gap between deprived areas and the rest of the country.
Following the Barker Review into social housing, Mr Prescott announced that he would be providing funding for 10,000 new social houses a year by 2008, with extra regeneration support for target areas in the North and the Midlands. This amounts to a 50 per cent increase, Mr Prescott said “to turn around the growth in homelessness.”
Offering reassurance to environmentalists, the Deputy Prime Minister said that this growth “will not be at the expense of the environment”, saying that the Government is committed to building at least 60 per cent of the new housing on brownfield land.
Neighbourhood renewal is also a key target for the ODPM with £525 million allocated a year through to 2007/08. There will also be more money for refurbishment of local authority housing, with a detailed announcement due later.
Mr Prescott concluded by promising a five year Strategic Plan for his department in the autumn.
