ECONOMIC GROWTH

Edinburgh gets £1.1bn City Deal

A £1.1bn City Deal for Edinburgh and south-east Scotland was signed yesterday.

A £1.1bn City Deal for Edinburgh and south-east Scotland was signed yesterday.

As part of the agreement, both the UK and Scottish Government will invest £600m into the region over the next 15 years while regional partners have committed to investing £500m.

The funding will help create world-leading data innovation centres, and will also deliver key infrastructure and housing developments, creating up to 21,000 new jobs.

City council leader Adam McVey, speaking on behalf of the six local authority partners, said: ‘The significant investment in innovation and culture is to be welcomed as they are both hugely important to the region's economy.

‘This will put us at the forefront of data-driven innovation, ensuring we are ahead of the game in a technology-driven world.'

Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea, principal of the University of Edinburgh, added: ‘Our research in new data technologies and the skills of our graduates have helped establish Edinburgh over the last decade as one of the main centres of the digital economy in the UK.

‘The City Deal provides the impetus to move to the next level: a transformational programme of data-driven innovation which will harness the power of data technologies across the economy - from healthcare to agriculture, robotics, public services, finance and the creative industries - and equip many more of our young people from all backgrounds to succeed in the digital economy.'

The agreement will also provide £20m capital funding for a new concert hall and £25m for a regional skills programme.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Procuring with panache

By Amy Hurst | 20 May 2025

It’s time to co-create a new era of commissioning with communities, says Amy Hurst.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

How great city regions can shine again

By Mike Emmerich | 20 May 2025

More of the ‘good London effect’ is needed in more of the country, without the bad capital city effect of letting growth outstrip the capacity of the place t...

ECONOMIC GROWTH

On the track to growth

By Ann McGauran | 20 May 2025

Steve Rotheram speaks to Ann McGauran about Liverpool City Region’s growth prospects, tackling the challenge from Reform UK, and the need for the Spending Re...

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Regeneration: Dotting the investments and crossing the Tees...

By Michelle Hambleton | 15 May 2025

Michelle Hambleton explains Tees Valley Securing Investment (TVSI), a programme funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and deliver...

Popular articles by Laura Sharman