EP coalfield surplus could go to non-pathfinder areas

A £40m surplus from an English Partnerships fund intended to regenerate former mining communities could be used to tackle low housing demand outside the pathfinder areas, housing minister Yvette Cooper said this week.

The National Coalfields Programme, which assists former pit communities across England by creating new employment, homes, leisure facilities and public space, has been more successful than anticipated at making money from the sale of buildings and is currently projecting a £40m surplus.

Speaking at the ODPM subcommittee on urban affairs on Monday, Cooper said the money could be used to help communities suffering from a lack of demand that do not currently receive market renewal funding.

She said: “We are discussing what should happen to the additional receipts that have accrued. There is certainly scope to use some of those resources around housing, including the low-demand areas.”

The existing nine pathfinders cover 50% of the country’s low-demand areas. Three other areas – Tees Valley, West Yorkshire and West Cumbria – were awarded £65m of market renewal funding in the first of John Prescott’s two five-year plans for housing in January

(HT 28 January, page 9). But MP Clive Betts pointed out at the subcommittee meeting that other areas were not getting help.

English Partnerships currently manages 101 sites as part of the coalfields programme, working with regional development agencies, the Coalfields Communities Campaign, Coalfields Regeneration Trust and private sector partners. Launched in December 1996, it aims to provide new uses for about 4000 ha of former coalfield land, including 8000 new homes by 2012. The surplus is predicted over the life of the project.

But Trevor Beattie, corporate strategy director for English Partnerships, said there were competing demands for the funds.

He said: “The projections do mean that we can complete all of the 101 sites and have a small projected surplus of receipts of about £40m. We could use that for low demand in the coalfield areas but there are a lot of other demands. We are also under pressure to take additional sites into the programme.”