Valleys Programme

Mr. Murphy
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will breakdown, under expenditure sub-heads, the £400 million for housing which he recently announced for the south Wales valleys;(2) if he will indicate the basis on which his housing renovation grants in the recently announced valleys initiative will be made; and what percentage of these grants will have to be met by those applying for such grants.

Mr. Wyn Roberts
In the three years of the programme for the valleys we expect to see some £457 million spent on housing. Broadly we expect this expenditure to be as follows:------------------------------------------------------
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|Private sector renovation                           |
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|Area-based renovation (enveloping and block schemes)|
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|New build                                           |
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The funding for private sector renovation will be made available by way of the allocation we make to housing authorities, supported with additional allocations for block schemes and enveloping. Grants made by local authorities to individual home owners are generally made at the rate of 75 per cent. of the cost of eligible works, but can be at 90 per cent. in cases of financial hardship. No contribution is sought from home owners for enveloping schemes.

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|Owner-occupiers (rate rebates)         |
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|Public sector tenants (rent rebates)   |
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|Private sector tenants (rent allowance)|
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