COUNCILLOR Andrew Morgan was today (June 30) elected Chair of the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) City Deal Regional Cabinet.
The Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council Leader was unanimously elected to the role by the leaders of the nine other CCR City Deal local authority partners at the annual general meeting of the Regional Cabinet.
Coun Morgan said: “I am deeply honoured to be elected to this role. I would like to pay tribute to the Leaders and officers who have got the City Deal to this position, particularly in terms of reaching agreement on the governance and accountability of the Regional Cabinet.
“Working with stakeholders, and in particular business, we will bring about an economic and social step-change in the Cardiff Capital Region, through improved transport, supporting innovation, an improved digital network, developing skills, supporting enterprise and business growth, and through housing development and regeneration.”
Councillor Peter Fox, Leader of Monmouthshire County Council, and Councillor Huw Thomas, Leader of City of Cardiff Council, were elected as Vice-Chairs of the Regional Cabinet.
The CCR City Deal is a £1.2 billion deal to unlock significant economic growth across the Cardiff Capital Region.
The specific aims of the Deal are to: improve productivity; tackle worklessness; build on foundations of innovation; invest in physical and digital infrastructure; provide support for business; and ensure that any economic benefits are felt across the region.
The Regional Cabinet was set up in 2016 to provide the leadership, vision and strategic direction for the Cardiff Capital Region; help shape and manage the City Deal programme and structure; integrate and align the City Deal agenda with the Metro; prioritise projects which demonstrate the potential to achieve real economic improvements across the region; establish a secure platform for development encouraging alignment of relevant functions and activities and strategic application of funds as part of a fully integrated City Region approach; engage with wider stakeholders to encourage and support a collaborative approach to make the Cardiff Capital Region a success.
The City Deal includes funding of £734m for the South Wales Metro, of which more than £500 million is provided by the Welsh Government and £125m from the UK Government.
The CCR Deal was formally signed on March 1, 2017, and the programme entered a transition phase
Its first funding agreement was an investment of £37.9 million to support the development of a Compound Semiconductor industry cluster in south-east Wales.
The project is expected to leverage up to £375 million of private sector investment over the next five years, and the creation of up to 2,000 high value, high-tech jobs, with the potential for hundreds more in the wider supply chain and cluster development.
A state-of-the art facility will be constructed in the CCR to house Compound Semiconductor applications development and high volume Compound Semiconductor manufacturing, greatly helping the establishment of the world’s first Compound Semiconductor Cluster in the region.
The ten local authorities are: Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen, and Vale of Glamorgan.
