GRAHAM HUBAND BUSINESS EDITOR

Signed but not yet sealed and a very long way from being delivered.

The great and good gathered in Perth to watch pen being put to paper on the Tay Cities Deal Heads of Terms Agreement and after 18 months of negotiations – and a lastminute delay due to the Michelin situation in Dundee – I can understand the fanfare.

They were marking a sizeable economic milestone for the region. But I believe that’s overplaying things.

What we have are pledges from the Scottish and UK governments to fund various economic and cultural projects but, as it stands right now, no cash.

In fact it will probably be another year at least until money begins to flow as each of the ‘funded’ projects are put back under the spotlight and their finalised business cases scrutinised. If they don’t pass muster the cash won’t be forthcoming. That’s the deal.

What also concerns me is that lack, at least in places, of detail about where the £350 million of taxpayers’ cash will be spent and how the anticipated £400m of private sector cash will be leveraged in.

This is a 10 to 15 year plan so I didn’t expect every i to be dotted or t crossed.

But there is very little of substance for Angus in the deal – it looks the poor relation – and the overall infrastructure and transportation spend seems light given their importance.

Perth Rail Station is in line for an overhaul but the vital Cross Tay Link Road doesn’t get a mention.

And while there is a chunky £37m for tourism, just £10m has a suggested home right now (Pitlochry Festival Theatre) and only £2m of a £10m manufacturing pot has a destination.

Given Michelin and the competitive pressures on heavy industry, I am underwhelmed by the scale of that projected spend.

But credit where it is due. The food production and sustainability projects coming out of the James Hutton Institute deserve to be empowered – and £62m of public cash will do exactly that.

It is also pleasing that skills are so high on the agenda and there is sizeable cash to expand Dundee’s biotech cluster.

Tourism does deserve support and I applaud efforts to build on the digital expertise in Dundee and to further develop out St Andrews University’s Eden Campus into a combined academic and business hub.

That’s all good, but none of this has yet been secured. So what our economic overlords cannot allow is complacency to set in and the foot to come off the accelerator pedal.

Right now the Tay Cities Deal is not in the bag and the reality is far more energy will be required to finalise and deliver on it than has been expended to date.

The heads of terms is a good start. But this is a marathon and there is a long road yet to travel.