An initiative to provide low-cost affordable homes above shops in York has been praised as a model of urban regeneration by the Government.

City Centre Living, which was launched in June, is part of the City of York Council's community services department's commitment to providing some 300 new affordable homes across the city every year.

A total of £800,000 has been allocated this year to new city centre initiatives like the conversion of redundant space above shops in the Shambles into five self-contained, affordable-rental flats for people on the council's waiting list.

Now the Shambles scheme, which was opened in the summer in a partnership between the council and Yorkshire Housing, has been identified in the Government's new white paper as a model for urban regeneration and meeting future housing needs from brown field sites.

The Shambles development has been included as a successful case study in the

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions' new white paper, entitled

Our Towns and Cities: The Future - Delivering an Urban Renaissance.

Councillor Viv Kind, the council's Executive Member for Housing, said: "I am delighted that the Government has recognised City Centre Living as a model example of providing affordable homes in city centres.

"It is clearly recognition of several vital principles which City Centre Living encompasses and which the Government shares - urban regeneration through bringing redundant space into life; the partnerships we have developed with the private sector and housing associations and the whole issue of affordability."

Peter Atkinson, group property director of Yorkshire Housing, said: "Yorkshire Housing is committed to delivering housing in city centres.

"We work across Yorkshire and have seen how city centres have been brought back to life by having people live and work there."