The City Forum and community organisations agreed on Tuesday evening that the area to benefit from up to £50m of Government funding will be Wood End, Henley Green and Manor Farm.

Councillor John Fletcher, Leader of the City Council, said:

"The Government’s programme for New Deal for Communities has generated a lot of enthusiasm in various parts of the city. And a number of local areas could have been chosen.

"Wood End, Manor Farm and Henley Green were finally picked because overall the are demonstrated both a level of need and a clear vision for the area.

"The real challenge starts now, as the community and local partners will need to work closely together to prepare their submission to the Government, which will ultimately bring significant improvements to the area."

The next stage is that an outline set of proposals to spend the grant will be put to the Government by 14 April for them to consider. The Wood End, Henley Green and Manor Farm NDC Partnership will then be asked to submit a detailed Delivery Plan by January 2001. The grant is likely to be available to implement local plans by April 2001.