To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to his Department's press release of 2 April 2008 on initiatives on greener homes, by what criteria green neighbourhoods will be selected; and what role he expects local authorities to play in the selection process. (202952)

The Energy Saving Trust are currently working with a range of stakeholders to develop the programme with an aim to launch the competition for funding proposals by the end of the year. We expect the first successful projects to be funded from April 2009.

The competition will call for local alliances between householders, community groups, local authorities, energy suppliers, private companies and banks to come forward with proposals to transform homes and streets into green neighbourhoods. By pooling their resources, and with additional money made available from the domestic Environmental Transformation Fund, we wish to see the environmental performance of up to 100 such neighbourhoods across England transformed, with the aim of reducing their carbon footprints by over 60 per cent.