City deal ‘will bring thousands of jobs and new homes’

● Lothians, Fife and Borders covered in long-awaited £1.1bn agreement

0 Adam Mcvey and Cammy Day at the City Deal signing Edinburgh’s £1.1 billion City Deal will result in thousands more people in employment and thousands more with new homes, the council leader claimed yesterday as the long-awaited agreement was signed.

The package, which took more than two years to negotiate, involves £350 million of investment for innovation, £65m for new housing, £25m for skills, £120m for a flyover at the Sheriffhall roundabout, £20m for roads in West Edinburgh and £20m for a new 1,000-seater concert hall off St Andrew Square.

The deal, which also covers the Lothians, Fife and Borders, is being funded by £300m each from the UK and Scottish governments, with the councils and universities committing a further £500m.

The investment included in the deal is expected to create around 21,000 jobs in the region.

At a signing ceremony yesterday, council leader Adam Mcvey said: “It’s a good deal for Edinburgh, for the region, and makes sure what is special aboutedinburghremainsspecial and we build on that success.

“In the years ahead, there will be thousands of people in employment and thousands of people in houses because this City Deal makes it possible.”

But there is disappointment among some that the deal does not include the power to introduce a tourist tax or help for the tram extension to Newhaven.

And the housing package is said to fall short of what had been hoped.

UK First Secretary of State Damian Green, in Edinburgh for the signing, said the most exciting feature of the deal was the emphasis on the future and creating “the jobs of tomorrow”. He said: “This will be a transformational deal for Edinburgh and the area around it.

“And I think we can use it as a model of how co-operation and collaboration at all levels of government can achieve great things.”

Edinburgh’s is the fourth City Deal in Scotland. Mr Green said he thought it “unlikely” Edinburgh’s would be the last City Deal.

He said: “They are meant to provide the basis for long-term success. This is not a question of the UK and Scottish government signing an agreement with local councils and then going away. This is money that will be spent over 15 years so it is meant as a long-term commitment.”