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Coalfields: Regeneration

Answer

Since 1997 three specific coalfield programmes have been established in England. These are:The National Coalfields ProgrammeThe National Coalfields Programme is delivered by English Partnerships and the regional development agencies (RDA). The programme, made up originally of 86 sites throughout England, was established as a result of the findings of the Coalfields Task Force in 1998 and followed the initial transfer of 56 former British Coal sites to English Partnerships at the end of 1996. The programme has since been increased to cover 101 sites.The total investment to date has been £338.4 million and the investment for the total programme is expected to exceed £600 million, including recycled receipts. The programme is on target to create 42,000 jobs with 14,936 established to date.Where possible, English Partnerships seeks European funding through either RDA or local authority partners. Three sites, at Wath upon Dearne, Dinnington and Grimethorpe have been successful in securing Objective 1 funding to support industrial development. In addition, Objective 1 funding has contributed, alongside funds from the South Yorkshire Forest partnership, to environmental works on three further sites.The Coalfields Regeneration TrustThe Coalfields Regeneration Trust, which operates throughout the English coalfields, was established in 1999. The trust is an independent grant-giving body that seeks to spearhead the social and economic regeneration of the coalfields working with a wide range of partners. The total agreed budget for the trust from establishment to the end of the current funding agreement in March 2008 is approximately £150 million. The trust’s Skillsbuilder programme introduced following the closure of the Prince of Wales colliery has so far resulted in 558 former miners moving directly into new jobs and the Selby retraining scheme helped a further 550 former miners into jobs. The trust’s programmes in total have created over 1,000 jobs and assisted 11,646 people into work.A total of £750,000 of Objective 1 funding has been directly matched to Coalfields Regeneration Trust funding.The Coalfields Enterprise FundThe Coalfields Enterprise Fund is a venture capital fund launched in April 2004 aimed at investing in small and medium sized companies with growth potential in the former coalfields. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister made a one-off investment of £10 million into the fund in 2004–5 which with match funding is expected to provide up to £25 million investment into the coalfields.In Yorkshire more generally, Objective 1 funding has supported over 550 projects with grant of £670 million involving total expenditure of over £2.1 billion. The programme has created over 16,500 jobs, assisted over 6,500 businesses and attracted over 300 new businesses to the sub-region.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

3420; 679 c206-7WA

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Coal Employment Investment EU grants and loans Mining Training Regeneration

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk