Osborne agrees £900m boost for Sheffield City Region
LEADERS have signed a £900m deal with Chancellor George Osborne to secure a £900m boost over the next thirty years.
The money is intended to deliver major regeneration, infrastructure and business growth schemes, and comes with an agreement attached for a directly-elected mayor.
The deal is subject to a programme of consultation with residents and businesses over the coming months.
The City Region will be able to push forward and develop existing sites including the Sheffield and Rotherham-based Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District.
It will also align the Doncaster-based National College for High Speed Rail with the Institutes of Technology and a major town centre improvement plans in Barnsley and the Enterprise Zones across the whole City Region.
The deal covers a range of themes including transport, skills, creating new jobs, inward investment and support to help local businesses export as well as committing to working with Government on new ways to incentivise local growth.
Sir Councillor Houghton, chairperson of the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority, said: “This proposal marks the next step on our devolution journey and will enable local leaders to make bigger and better local decisions over skills, business growth and infrastructure.
“Over the coming months we will be speaking to local residents, businesses and partners about what this means for economic growth in their City Region.”
James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region LEP, said: “For too long Whitehall has been in control of major decisions affecting local places on important issues such as transport, skills, regeneration and infrastructure improvements.
“This deal goes some way to redressing this imbalance. It also means that the local private sector continues to play a leading role in making decisions which impact business growth, alongside combined authority political leaders and the new city region mayor.
Chancellor George Osborne said: “Sheffield is forging ahead in the Northern Powerhouse, which this historic deal proves is taking shape.
“I want to thank the civic leaders of South Yorkshire who have worked with me to embrace this opportunity. It has the power to change the shape of local government in the region in a way that would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago. For local people, it will mean the decisions that affect them being taken locally.
“Manchester is not a one-off – far from it. In becoming the second great northern city to sign up to managing its own affairs with this ambitious agreement, Sheffield City Region is playing a vital part in helping to build the Northern Powerhouse.”
