Blair backs cash for corner shops

PLANS TO tempt corner shops back to England's crime-ridden council estates will be announced by the Prime Minister this week.

Tony Blair and John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, will outline a strategy to revive the poorest neighbourhoods with pounds 800m in grants over three years. Tessa Jowell, Health Minister, will head a task force of government advisers and outside experts to tackle "food deserts" - poor, run-down areas.

"Often there are no shops, or people pay over-the-top prices for food, or have to take long and expensive cab journeys to shops miles away," said a government source.

On Tuesday, Mr Prescott will formally launch the Government's much-vaunted "New Deal for Communities", part of its package of welfare reforms.

He will invite businesses, community centres and other local groups in 17 run-down neighbourhoods to bid for the first tranche of cash grants.

The money will pay for regeneration, building and job creation projects as well as schemes to improve the lot of disaffected young people.

Supermarkets, including Asda and Tesco, are expected to play a key role. Sainsbury's is piloting a scheme for independent corner shops to carry its own brand goods, and Asda is building a shop in Hulme, a run-down part of Manchester.

The initiative has been driven by the government's Social Exclusion Unit (SEU), which is directly answerable to Tony Blair.

On Tuesday the Prime Minister will launch the SEU's latest report, Bringing Britain Together: A National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal.

He will say: "[These areas] have become no-go areas for some and no- exit zones for others.

"It's not acceptable for Britain to carry on being divided into two nations of the comfortable and in work and those cut off from jobs, good schools, and opportunities. We cannot tolerate that."