Parliamentary Under Secretary State of Levelling Up Jacob Young met the three Greater Lincolnshire Council Leaders today as they united to sign the greater county’s proposed devolution deal.
Mr Young joined North East Lincolnshire Council Leader Cllr Philip Jackson, along with Cllr Martin Hill OBE from Lincolnshire County Council and Cllr Rob Waltham MBE from North Lincolnshire for the ceremonial event held at Scunthorpe’s 20-21 Visual Arts Centre.
Parliamentary Secretary of State for Levelling Up Jacob Young said: "It’s fantastic to be here in Lincolnshire today announcing our devolution deal for the Greater Lincolnshire area. It comes alongside extra funding, more powers and a new directly elected mayor for the Lincolnshire area. I know it’s going to have a dramatic impact across the whole of the Lincolnshire County."
Cllr Martin Hill said:"This is a deal which will be fantastic for Greater Lincolnshire, from the Humber down to the Wash.
"It gives us a lot of extra spending power over the next 30 years, £24million a year for the next 30 years, and some additional money straight away that we can spend on our priority areas. But importantly it will give us extra powers as well to make sure that we can direct that spending in areas that we know local people need it, around infrastructure, around transport, around housing, flood defence and various other areas where we know we’ve got need in the county.
"I think particularly businesses really understand how important this is because it's not just about getting more money from government, it's not just about getting more powers for government it’s also about working with the private sector.
"We've seen it in other areas like Birmingham, the West Midlands and Manchester that having a devolution deal does unlock that confidence with businesses.
"They will come to the area confident that you're on side with growth and economic development and more importantly, you've got the government behind you supporting as well."