MIPIM 2012: McLean confident on ‘city deals’
PLANS for cities such as Leeds to be given additional powers and money to support economic growth have moved a step closer, the chairman of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership has said.
Speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com at property conference MIPIM, Neil McLean said he had been encouraged by discussions held with Whitehall ministers this week.
Under proposed ‘city deals’, a number of UK cities could be given the powers and money they need to kickstart projects that will support economic growth rather than having to request financial resources from central government.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has described the Government’s ‘city deals’ as an “unprecedented transfer of power” that will help correct imbalances in the economy.
Mr McLean said: “The discussions that are ongoing look to be very positive. Obviously there’s a lot of detail to be discussed and finalised but we hope we are moving towards a point where there can be some real step changes in the city region’s economy.
“It’s about driving that economy and employment and growth, all objectives that the LEP and local authorities within the city region are striving to achieve over the next few years.”
He added: “As is publicly known, Leeds has been in conversation with government on the ‘city deals’ programme which the government is finalising with the eight core cities, of which Leeds is one, to see what can be done to help attract future investment and generate economic growth.
“These latest negotiations revolved around areas such as the devolution of transport powers and budgets; the formation of investment funds with a focus on areas including transport; and a more general investment fund.”
Mr McLean said he had also discussed areas such as education and skills, including the devolution of powers to enable decisions on increasing the number of apprenticeships to be brought into the city region itself.
“Allied to that, we’ve been looking at areas around improving the planning process and adding flexibililty to some of those processes so that strategic planning decisions get looked at at a more appropriate level” he said.
“It’s all about looking at the general economy and trying to unlock future growth and investment.”
Another area that could be included in city deals is the green economy, which Mr McLean said had the potential to unlock around 20,000 new jobs in the city region.
It has been estimated that the first city deals could be in place by the Budget announcement later this month.
