Tay cities deal delayed amid push for quicker access to UK cash
Final signing of a city deal for the Tayside region has been held up while talks take place to see if the UK Government's share of the cash can be made available more quickly.
Infrastructure Secretary Michael Matheson told MSPS the Scottish Government has been ready to sign the Tay Cities Deal for a "considerable time".
But Scotland Office Minister Iain Stewart revealed he is in talks with the UK Treasury to see if the money the UK Government is putting in can be made available over ten years instead of 15 years as originally planned.
In November 2018, the Scottish and UK Governments agreed to provide £150 million each as part of the city deal - which covers the Angus, Dundee, Fife and Per th and Kinross local authority areas.
At the time it was said the project could bring in an additional £400 million in investment to the area, potentially securing more than 6,000 jobs over the period.
In January 2019, the Scottish Government announced it would provide an additional £50 million investment, with this going on transport, infrastructure and manufacturing projects.
Mr Matheson told MSPS on Holyrood's Local Government and Communities Committee he had hoped the deal would have been signed last week.
He said: "I know there are some issues for the UK Government to pursue around this matter but it is important we try to make as quick progress on the Tay Cities deal as possible."
Mr Ma the son added :" We have been ready to sign that deal for a considerable time now. Iain Stewart is in discussions with the Treasury to see if we can move that from a 15-year deal to a ten-year deal, which is what is presently holding up the signing of that deal and it becoming a finalised deal."
Mr Stewart told the committee the UK Government is "ready to go with signing it on the original terms".
He added :" What we are trying to accommodate is the request from various partners to have the UK Government's funding over a shorter time period and I am currently in negotiations with the Treasury to see if we can get that agreed.
"If that is not going to be possible we are ready to sign on the original terms and revisit the reprofiling issue subsequently - but it is a short delay, literally a matter of a few weeks.”