Prescott travels to Allerton Bywater, West Yorkshire, to celebrate the start of the next step of regeneration for former colliery town.

Construction of new homes at one of England’s seven Millennium Communities officially started at Allerton Bywater near Leeds today, with a visit from deputy prime minister John Prescott to mark the occasion.

English Partnerships’ regeneration of the former mining community has brought new roads and infrastructure works and community facilities, including the redevelopment of the Miners’ Welfare Hall. Prescott said: "It is great to see that good progress is being made with the Millennium Communities Programme. In the near future, these developments will no longer be exemplars; they will be the norm.”

More than 500 new homes will be built in Allerton Bywater, using no more than 50% of the energy used in normal industry construction. Plans for the site include "home zones", in which the needs of pedestrians and car users are given equal weight in the planning process. Other facilities include allotments, disabled access to the church, a community centre and library and after-school childcare facilities.