Businesses have voted in favour of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough devolution deal following a meeting of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) board this week.

In a unanimous decision, the board voted in favour of the current proposals for devolution that will see more money and powers brought to the local area. This makes them the first of the new Combined Authority partnership to fully back the plans.

The Devolution Deal would create a new £20 million annual fund for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for the next 30 years to support economic growth, development of local infrastructure and jobs.

An additional £70 million would also be made available for affordable housing in Cambridge, and £100 million for non-housing revenue account affordable, rent and shared ownership homes across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, as well as providing access to a range of other funds and powers.

Mark Reeve, chairman of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP, said: “We have been working closely with businesses throughout the Devolution process to ensure we get the right deal that will meet their needs and help us overcome key barriers to economic growth. After some robust negotiations with Government earlier this year, we have now got a new and greatly improved Devolution Deal that provides more money for housing and more powers that will not only be good for our local area, but for the region and UK Plc as a whole.

“With a strong partnership between the public and private sector, we are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities that Devolution brings both in this first deal, and future deals. We are therefore keen to press on with both round one of the Deal, as well as future rounds, as soon as possible.”

The LEP will be a full voting member of the proposed new Combined Authority, enabling them to fully represent the views of businesses and work closely with the Mayor.

Whilst the devolution deal covers only Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the LEP will continue to cover the full Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough area and work with all its local authority partners and businesses to ensure economic growth across the entire local area.