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Prescott vows to tackle community decline
John Prescott has set out the government's plans to develop sustainable communities by tacking the "cycle of decline".
The deputy prime minister wants to target areas blighted by high unemployment, poor housing and anti-social behaviour.
He also wants to address poor performing public services in disadvantaged areas.
The new approach comes in a series of reports released by the government - which coincide with this week's major summit on regenerating communities.
At the heart of the plan, developed jointly by the prime minister's strategy unit and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, is a commitment to ensure that "no one should be seriously disadvantaged by where they live" by 2021.
The government insists much as been achieved by 2001's Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy but warns that there "remains concern about the extent and severity of some concentrations of deprivation".
Central to the new approach will be a drive to strengthen local economies and help get people into work.
Delivery
The government also wants to improve housing and the quality of the physical environment and improve the performance of public services and the delivery of regeneration support in deprived areas.
Launching the report, Tony Blair said: "In 2001 I set the ambition that no one in Britain should be held back by the area they live in.
"We have made some progress on a number of indicators including some education, employment and crime indicators and many neighbourhoods have been significantly improved."
The prime minister said he wanted to tackle the "cycle of decline" by "creating a positive cycle of improvement which can set neighbourhoods on the path to stability and prosperity."
Blair said it was essential that the government targeted the one million Britons on incapacity-related benefits.
"By involving local people in managing their own housing, their local services and, increasingly, local policing, we will tackle the fundamental drivers of decline and disadvantage," added the prime minister.
The Conservatives seized on the report, claiming it showed that deputy prime minister John Prescott's recent communities plan was not deliverable.
"Labour’s language of 'citizen engagement' and 'local leadership' is empty rhetoric," said spokesman Caroline Spelman.
"John Prescott’s unelected regional assemblies have seized power from local councils and local residents, and are pushing though a swathe of building on green fields across the country, with no democratic mandate or legitimacy."
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