City deal for Edinburgh confirmed by Chancellor George Osborne

A city region deal for Edinburgh and the Lothians was confirmed by Chancellor George Osborne in his budget.

Proposals for the investment in plan in the region was submitted to governments at Holyrood and Westminster in September, and yesterday Osborne confirmed negotiation were set to begin.

It is hoped it will attract £1bn of public money and £3.2bn private money into Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and Fife.

It would follow the deal for Glasgow and Clyde valley announced in 2014 and a similar deal for Aberdeen announced last year.

Edinburgh Council leader Andrew Burns said: ‘‘We are delighted with the Chancellor’s pledge to develop a City Deal for our region and welcome the opportunity to continue our engagement with both the UK and Scottish Governments.”

In his budget speech, Osborne said: “We are devolving power to our nations. The Scottish Secretary and I have agreed the new fiscal framework with the Scottish Government.

“We are also opening negotiations on a city deal with Edinburgh, we backed the V&A Museum in Dundee, and in response to the powerful case made by Ruth Davidson we are providing new community facilities for local people in Helensburgh and the Royal Navy personnel in nearby Faslane, paid for by Libor fines.”