By Richard Johnstone | 13 December 2013
The government has reached City Deal agreements with five city regions, taking the total number of pacts signed in the second phase of the programme to eight.
Prime Minister David Cameron today announced the deal with both the Tees Valley and Hull and Humber regions, while ministers also announced agreements covering the Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, and Norwich yesterday.
In addition, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Cambridge as a precursor to a formal agreement.
The Tees Valley deal is intended to create 3,500 jobs by unlocking £28m of private sector investment in the development of carbon capture and storage businesses.
As part of the programme, a waste heat network will be created to provide energy to businesses, homes, hospitals and local authority buildings. The government also agreed to work with Tees Valley to examine how the application of planning rules and legislation might be streamlined in order to provide planning certainty for the energy sector.
Cameron said he wanted the nation’s great northern towns and cities to be at the heart of the economic recovery.
‘This new City Deal for the Tees Valley will mean a huge boost for local jobs and help build on more than 12,000 new businesses started in the North East since 2010. It will also give the area greater power and freedoms, allowing local people to take more decisions on the economy for themselves,’ he said.
The deals for Coventry and Warwickshire, the Black Country (Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley and Sandwell) and the Norwich city region were announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and cities minister Greg Clark. In total, these are intended to provide more than £320m of public and private sector investment, creating more than 39,000 jobs.
Included in the deals were proposals to increase apprenticeships, while the government will also support local back-to-work schemes and housebuilding projects.
‘We’re giving cities the freedom, powers and tools to be really innovative and design whole new ways to build a stronger economy and fairer society,’ Clegg said.
‘These deals put the power in the hands of local people who know best what skills are needed and how to make sure young people are prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that economic growth will bring.’
In addition, the MoU signed with Cambridge will lead to the government investing £6m in improved infrastructure around the site of a proposed new railway station at the city’s science park when a final deal is struck.
These agreements form part of the extension of the city deals programme to 20 areas in England last October, following the initial phase of agreements with the eight core cities last July.
