LONDON, ENGLAND.- Five local authority projects have been chosen to go forward for public funding of £39 million towards the cost of culture and leisure projects under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Croydon, Liverpool, Rochdale, Rotherham and South Tyneside Councils now have to make an outline business case to qualify for a share of the money.

The successful authorities are:

· Croydon Council (plans for the replacement of a branch library, borough housebound service and music Service to be provided in conjunction with a new community school),

· Liverpool City Council (plans for New central library and archive),

· Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (plans for library/learning centres to be provided in conjunction with 3 new Joint Service Centres),

· Rotherham MBC (plans for 3 new community swimming pools linked to school sites),

· South Tyneside Council (plans for new community theatre and swimming pool linked to the building of a new school).

Some of these schemes will be jointly funded with other Government departments.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said:

"Public-Private Partnerships are a good way of getting high quality projects off the ground in a cost-effective way.  The Culture Department’s PFI programme is already supporting 16 culture and leisure schemes – I hope that the five new projects which today go forward will follow in their footsteps and deliver results which will make a real difference to the communities they serve."