Member Article

Teesside City meeting ‘positive’

Bosses who took a city deal to London on Wednesday so they had a ‘positive’ meeting with Government officials.

A presentation has been made to the Government that could unlock millions of pounds of regeneration cash in the region.

Teesside’s City Deal plans have been submitted by local enterprise partnership Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU), the Local Enterprise Partnership for Tees Valley.

The area is one of 20 attempting to secure City Deal status which would unlock regeneration cash and boost job creation.

TVU managing director Stephen Catchpole said: “We had a very positive meeting at which we told the Government about our City Deal proposals.

“In a first class presentation, the team from Tees Valley gave a detailed explanation of our ideas.

“The Minister, Greg Clark MP, listened with a great deal of interest. We will now await feedback from the meeting.”

It is hoped that the Tees Valley City Deal, first mooted in June last year, will be agreed by the end of this year.

Gaining City Deal status would devolve more decision-making powers from Whitehall. It has been claimed 22,000 jobs could be safeguarded or created.

The City Deal will also complement additional Government incentives which TVU is leading on including securing money via the European Structural Funds and Local Growth Fund.

A City Deal does not make Teesside a city, but importantly it puts the area alongside the likes of Leeds and Manchester when working with Government to help shape the policy decisions that will affect the area.

More recently areas with a clear economic identity such as Tees Valley have shown that they have the same capacity and capability to initiate local change.

As a result Tees Valley Unlimited, alongside all five local authorities and partners in the private sector, was invited to work with Government to create a Tees Valley City Deal.

The Tees Valley City Deal aims to action the objectives set out in TVU’s long-established statement of ambition.

It will look to create the right environment to encourage inward investment, support the creation of new jobs and help existing Tees Valley business to grow.

It will do this by asking Government for greater certainty on planning, financial incentives for investors and greater flexibility in using funds to help learners and the unemployed into work.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .