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Belfast Regional partners welcome City Deal budget announcement
Belfast Region City Deal partners have welcomed news of £350 million investment from Treasury announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond in this afternoon’s Autumn Budget. As part of the deal, the NI Executive is expected to add at least a further £350 million and councils will contribute over £100 million. It is hoped the deal will create up to 20,000 new and better jobs alongside delivering a 10 year programme of inclusive economic growth – including an increase of £470m Gross Value Added (GVA).
Today’s Treasury announcement forms part of a £850 million co-investment package for the city region. It is also anticipated that direct investment from the private sector will take the overall package for inclusive growth to well over £1 billion.
The six Belfast Region City Deal partner councils Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Ards and North Down Borough Council, Belfast City Council, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, Newry and Down District Council have committed £100 million investment, whilst Queen’s University and Ulster University have committed £50 million.
The ambitious set of projects spans Life and Health Sciences, Creative Industries, Advanced Manufacturing, digital development and tourism led regeneration. It’s underpinned by infrastructure developments to connect people to jobs and services.
As BRCD partners, Regional Further Education colleges Belfast Met, Northern Regional College, South Eastern Regional College and the Southern Regional College will deliver a complementary education, employability and skills programme to ensure that people gain the necessary skills to secure and deliver on the new and better paid jobs that will be created.
It’s anticipated that once the programme is finalised, a Heads of Terms document will be signed by the Secretary of State and BRCD partners in the next few weeks. This will allow full business plans to be prepared for the projects proposed under the Belfast Region City Deal and release the investment.
BRCD partners fully support other deals for NI and will work to ensure that they are complementary to one another.
For more information on the proposed programme of investment, go to www.belfastcity.gov.uk/belfastregioncitydeal and follow #BRcitydeal on Twitter.