STRONG partnership working across the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal area has now led to an agreement to produce a Regional Growth Framework by the summer of 2020.
The Framework will help shape new regional and national policy, and set the strategic direction for inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the city region as a whole.
The project brief was recently approved by the Joint Committee of Regional Council Leaders and is now being presented to individual partners.
It is hoped a programme director will soon be appointed to drive this work forward.
Cllr Adam McVey, City of Edinburgh Council Leader, said: “Just over a year ago we signed up to a £1.3bn transformative 15 year City Region Deal with an inclusive programme to help grow and share our success right across the region. An incredible amount of work has been done since then with huge progress being made including £704m of spending being approved in the first 12 months for housing, transport, innovation, skills and employability and culture.
“This investment is allowing us to unlock the region’s potential to become a global powerhouse in data driven innovation and already we have over 20 industry partners in residence at the data-driven innovation hub at the Bayes Centre and £49.4m approved for the Fife Industrial Innovation Investment Programme.
“The success of all this partnership working has led to a cross-regional working group being set up to make sure that we have economic development and infrastructure policies in place to underpin the success of the projects being delivered on the ground. Each council is now considering a proposal to implement this group and I look forward to seeing the proposed Regional Growth Framework when it is produced next summer.”
