Sunderland and Stoke strike City Deals

14 Mar 14
City Deals that will provide nearly £200m of public funds to boost the growth prospects of Sunderland and Stoke-on-Trent have been signed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

By Richard Johnstone | 17 March 2014

City Deals that will provide nearly £200m of public funds to boost the growth prospects of Sunderland and Stoke-on-Trent have been signed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

The Sunderland deal, agreed on Friday, will give the city council and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership an additional £5m to develop the planned International Advanced Manufacturing Park.

This will expand the car manufacturing industry, which is clustered around Nissan’s factory in the city. In addition, the government also confirmed it would invest more than £80m in a new bridge over the River Wear, linking the industrial areas to the west of the city with the centre and port.

In Stoke-on-Trent, a funding package worth £113m has been agreed to create a local district power network, which will use geothermal heat to produce up to 45 GWh of energy a year.

The development of the network will be backed by £20m of government funding and £32m from local sources. In addition, money will also be made available to help local businesses commercialise new technologies developed as part of the scheme.

Clegg said the deals would boost local areas. ‘This City Deal builds on the success of Sunderland’s car industry and is a tribute to the workers in the region who are exporting models right across Europe,’ he said. ‘It will build on that success with an advanced manufacturing park to boost the local supply chain, attract further investment and revitalise local businesses and craftsmen, harnessing local skills for many years to come.’

Stoke would now have ‘the freedom, power and tools to be really innovative and design whole new ways of building a stronger economy and fairer society’, he added.

‘Next generation heat and energy really does give the area one foot in the future. This City Deal puts power in the hands of local people who know best what skills are needed in the area to give it a real chance of changing the fortunes of thousands of people across Staffordshire.’

Stoke and Sunderland are the 14th and 15th of the 20 areas invited to negotiate pacts with government in the second round of City Deals to reach agreements. These followed an initial phase when powers and responsibilities were devolved the eight core cities in England.

 

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