City deal delay ‘causing worry anduncertainty’

TAYSIDE will have to wait until next year before landing what could be a £1 billion-plus boost from the long-awaited city deal.

UK minister Lord Duncan said officials are turning their focus on the Tay Cities Deal after the Edinburgh version was completed — but estimated it will not be done and dusted until the start of 2018 at the earliest.

That provoked anger from Chris Law, the SNP MP for Dundee West, who said the delay is causing “uncertainty and worry” for the city.

A £1.8bn wish list of projects has already been submitted by the Tay Cities team, which asks the UK and Scottish governments to invest a combined £826m over a decade. It is hoped the package could bring 15,000 jobs to the region.

Lord Duncan warned that “ambitions start very high” and, in line with other city deal negotiations, the final sum handed over by the governments would be lower than requested once projects are j udged and made “more focused”.

“It’s still very early days and I’m not trying to prejudge the actual figure,” he said. “But I’m just saying it will be in the scale established by the (city deals) already delivered.”

Lord Duncan said he was “absolutely determined” that rural areas are not sidelined in the Tay Cities Deal.

He added: “This is not a city deal for Dundee, or a city deal for Perth, this is a Tay Valley deal looking at development across what is actually one of the more rural parts of Scotland.”

Mr Law said: “Our deal was sent months ago and I have asked several times for the promised commitment given by the previous Tory government.

“This unnecessary delay causes uncertainty and worry for all of us in Dundee who are working so hard to bring vital jobs and prosperity to the area.”