Today’s announcement that a further 20 cities and their wider regions will compete for City Deals is a welcome expansion of the Government’s policy of devolving power and funding to engines of economic growth - cities.
Now the focus for both Government and cities needs to be ensuring that there are sufficient resources to implement the first round of eight Core City Deals, at the same time as delivering transformational Deals for a new wave of cities. Success will require Government and cities to be innovative about how they work together.
Equally, it is welcome news that neither Government nor cities believe that City Deals are the only answer. Cities need to make full use of the range of powers already at their disposal. Government could also offer a menu of simple economic development policies to any city or county that can demonstrate how they would use these powers to improve growth.
Notes to editors
To request an interview or to receive a copy of the full briefing paper please contact Rita Beden on r.beden@centreforcities.org / 020 7803 4303 / 07775 506 902.