Tay Cities Deal gets backing from Holyrood

THE Scottish Government has pledged its support for Tayside and Fife’s city deals.

Economy Secretary Keith Brown said work would take place this year to drive forward city deals f or Edinburgh, Dundee and Perth, and Stirling.

Fife is part of the Edinburgh and South East City Deal region. It wants to secure £1 billion of funding which, it is hoped, could lead to a further £3.2bn of private sector investment.

The Tay Cities Deal covers Perth and Kinross, Dundee, Angus and parts of Fife. It hopes to secure around £400 million of funding to drive forward the Tayside economy and leverage additional private sector investment.

It has been claimed the impact of the city deal could dwarf that of D u n d e e ’s ongoing Waterfront regeneration.

But Tayside’s councils have not yet lodged their proposals f or how t he money would be spent, which led to a political row after Labour MSP Jenny Marra said the delay had allowed other areas, such as Stirling, to jump ahead of Tayside in the queue for funding.

The Scottish Government has already promised £760m funding over the next 10 to 20 years in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness t hrough City Region Deals.

It is expected the Glasgow and Aberdeen agreements will deliver more than 32,000 jobs.

Other areas, including the three Ayrshire councils, are planning their own city deals.

Mr Brown said he looked forward to seeing the proposals from Tayside later this year.

He said: “We are already seeing the success of City Region Deals in Aberdeen, where we’re supporting its position as a global oil and gas hub, and in Glasgow, where i nvestment will improve infrastructure and business innovation.

“We have been consistent in our support for all our cities and I look forward to working with Stirling and Clackmannanshire, Edinburgh & South East Scotland and the Tay Cities Region in the coming year.”