“Nick Clegg’s announcement that Preston is to be considered for a City deal is of huge importance to the future economic well-being of the City”, says County Cllr Bill Winlow. If the deal is successfully concluded, it will allow Preston to take on extra powers and responsibilities. The city will have more autonomy over how to spend budgets currently controlled by Whitehall in areas including training, skills and road-building. In return, they must demonstrate they have a strong plan for local growth. Preston is the only city in the North West to have been granted this status.

County Councillor Bill Winlow welcomes the announcement and says, “This is very good news for Preston and should help us to develop the highways infrastructure necessary to support the big housing developments in the north of the city and will ensure our future prosperity. The Local Enterprise Partnership is central to the deal.” 

It is predicted that the Preston and Central Lancashire City Deal could bring an extra £1 billion into the local economy over the next ten years. This would mean the creation of 23,000 new jobs in the area. Further benefits for the west of Preston would be the creation of the infrastructure desperately needed to allow for the development of thousands of new homes in the area. Without this investment, key roads such as Lea Road could quickly become traffic nightmares.

The City Deals are a key part of the Government’s objectives of rebalancing the economy and boosting private sector growth. Nick Clegg said: “These deals help cities and their wider areas make once in a generation changes that will be felt by everyone across the region.”