City Deals

Greg Clark Excerpts

Monday 16th December 2013 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Greg Clark)]

Following the successful completion of the first wave of city deals in July 2012, with the “Core Cities” the Government committed to work with a further 20 cities and their wider areas to negotiate a second wave of city deals in October 2012.

I can today inform the House that the Government and business and civic leaders in the Tees Valley and Hull and the Humber have reached agreement on city deals.

The Hull and Humber city deal will build on the area’s strengths in the energy industry. A centre of excellence for energy skills will be established where local businesses will work with training providers to ensure local young people are equipped with the skills they require for careers in the energy sector and a payment-by-results system will be introduced so that skills training providers are properly incentivised for supporting local adults into sustainable employment or education that furthers their careers. To provide confidence to companies wishing to invest in developing key sites around the Humber, while ensuring the area’s environmental assets are protected, the deal commits statutory agencies to working together to provide a single point of contact to potential investors. In addition, the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership and its member local authorities have committed to the production of a 25-year spatial plan to optimise the Humber estuary. The city deal will also deliver a business support programme to provide businesses with the support they require to grow. Hull and the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership predicts that the deal will lead to an expected £460 million of private sector investment in development on the Humber and deliver more than 4,000 jobs, in offshore wind related industries.

The Tees Valley city deal acknowledges the area’s strengths in large-scale production, chemical and process industries. The deal will see the Tees Valley make plans for an industrial carbon capture and storage network, which will identify the best options for an onshore network, explore investment opportunities and develop a business case for investment in industrial carbon capture and storage. In parallel, two waste heat networks will be developed, where waste heat from industry will be used to heat homes, businesses hospitals and local businesses, serving to reduce energy bills in the areas covered. The deal will benefit local businesses through the Tees Valley Business Growth Hub, which will give them a single point of contact for national and local business support. Tees Valley Unlimited Local Enterprise Partnership predict that the city deal will create 3,500 jobs and unlock £44 million of private and public sector investment.