It was announced today that Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester will gain new powers over their transport, education and infrastructure building budget after a six month negotiation with the cities minister.
It may further be possible for the cities to form legal bodies with other councils in the area to simplify and accelerate planning, infrastructure and transport decisions. Whitehall is expecting that the “City Deal” will create 170,000 jobs and 37,000 apprenticeships over 20 years and engage £8.2bn in infrastructure spending.
Julie Dore, leader of Sheffield council stated that:
“The city Deal will mean that local people who best understand the needs of the local economy will decide how £23.8m of government skills funding should be invested”.
