City Deal signed

30 January 2014

The Oxford & Oxfordshire City Deal was signed today (Thursday 30 January). It brings £67m of investment in a network of new innovation and incubation centres to help nurture small businesses:

• The Harwell Innovation Hub: focused on open innovation;
• The UKAEA Culham Advanced Manufacturing Hub: focused on remote handling technologies;
• The Oxford BioEscalator: focused on the life sciences sector;
• The Begbroke Innovation Accelerator: focused on advanced engineering sectors.
• Invest in Growth Hub to help small and medium enterprises to grow through better business support – with a particular focus on supporting innovation.

Download the full document here.

The Deal aims to accelerate the delivery of 7,500 homes across the county; and recognise that the provision of quality housing will be fundamental to the delivery of innovation-led growth.

£22m of central government funding is earmarked for three new transport schemes to support developments at the Enterprise Zone, Northern Gateway and the first phase of the “Science Transit” public transport scheme all of which which will ease congestion on the A34.

It is claimed that these developments will create 18,600 new jobs, with a further 31,400 jobs during the construction phase; deliver over 500 new apprenticeships for young people. There will be a total of £55m central government investment, another £40m from local authorities, and £600m of private sector investment through site development, transport infrastructure, skills schemes, business support services and innovation centres.