Vol. 529 No. 1
850 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will outline the allocations from his Department to each local authority under the non-national road grant scheme to support housing and other related development; the specific criteria by which local authorities can qualify for these allocations; and the reason many local authorities have no allocation under this heading. [2112/01]
The roads investment programme deriving from the policy statement Action on Housing has been targeted, in common with an earlier programme of this kind, at the 15 local authorities comprising or adjacent to the most densely populated areas of the country where housing need and pressures are greatest.
The aim of the new targeted investment programme is to provide grant assistance for certain strategic non-national roads to support housing, industrial/commercial and other related developments. The Exchequer funding for the programme will be £190 million in the 2001-2004 period with a maximum qualifying rate of 75% for each project.
Local authorities, in submitting applications to the Department were asked to have regard to criteria such as impact of the development on the environment, planning status of the land in question and the availability of zoned serviced land. They were also asked for scheme details, cost/expenditure details, construction period, compliance with statutory procedures and project justification including the new housing or industrial/ commercial etc. areas benefits linked to the scheme.
I will give details of the individual scheme allocations when I announce non-national road grant allocations for 2001 very shortly.
