Cardiff Capital City Region

With an investment of £1.2 billion, the programme aims to deliver up to 25,000 new jobs and leverage an additional £4 billion of private sector investment.

Both the UK and Welsh Government are contributing £500 million to the Capital City Region Investment Fund respectively, while the ten local authorities will contribute a minimum of £120 million over the 20-year duration of the Fund. £734m of the investment will fund the Metro network for South East Wales.

The City Deal is building on the region’s sectoral strengths, its current skills base and three successful universities, creating a regional way of working which has never been seen before in South East Wales, developing a region where people want to live and work.

With two cities (Cardiff and Newport) at its core, the region has seen significant regeneration and investment over recent decades. Today, it accounts for approximately 50% of the total economic output of the Welsh economy and is home to a range of competitive business clusters.

However, despite these strengths, numerous challenges remain. Gross Value Added, which is a measure of goods and services produced in an area, is one of the lowest in the whole of the UK. There are also connectivity issues across the region, which make it more difficult for people in Valleys communities to access economic opportunities.

The CCR partners’ transformative approach provides an opportunity to continue tackling the area’s barriers to economic growth, by developing stronger local leadership; improving transport connectivity; increasing skill levels still further; supporting people into work; delivering an increase in house building; and giving businesses the support to innovate and grow.

The ten local authorities have set up a joint committee - the CCR Cabinet. The Cabinet, which comprises the Leaders of the ten participating local authorities, is the ultimate decision-making body for the City Deal.

The CCR Cabinet is supported by a number of advisory bodies:

• The CCR Transport Authority
• The CCR Skills Partnership
• The CCR Economic Growth Partnership
• The CCR Business Council

The CCR local authorities are Blaenau Gwent; Bridgend; Caerphilly; Cardiff; Merthyr Tydfil; Monmouthshire; Newport; Rhondda Cynon Taf; Torfaen; and Vale of Glamorgan.

A foundational period saw the establishment of:

• An Industrial and Economic Growth Plan
• And a more recent post Covid-19 addendum to that plan
• An investment and intervention framework
• Agreement to three funding priorities  – innovation, infrastructure & challenge
• A set of evergreen revolving, co-investment and leverage investment principles 
• Introduction of an Investment Panel to act as an advisory body to the  Regional Cabinet
• A Common Assessment Framework for transport and infrastructure projects

As at July 2020 there were approved projects worth approx. £101.5m with leverage of c£1.5BN and a further £120m+ in the immediate pipeline with similar forecast levels of investment leverage.

Current Approved projects include:

IQE Foundry

£38.5million to support the development of a compound semiconductor industry cluster in the region. Click on the case study below to read more about this investment.

Metro Central

An in principle commitment to  £40million to support the proposed £180million Metro Central Development, a project that will deliver a new Central Transport Interchange at the heart of Cardiff’s city centre Core Employment Zone.

In March 2020 Full approval was given for phase 1 Metro Central – design & business plan with DfT and first drawdown of £4m of the £40m scheme.

Metro Plus 

£15m committed to joint fund the development of 10 local transport initiatives across the 10 Local Authorities EG the Park and Ride scheme at Porth which was completed in March 2020. 

The CCR Graduate scheme 

 £1.5m committed in March 2020 for expansion following a successful pilot in 2019.

Homes for the Region 

A £45m housing investment fund to help stimulate the housing market in areas where there has been little new housing development. Called “Homes for all the Region”, the fund is intended to deliver 2,800 new homes across the region’s 10 local authority areas. The fund is divided into two sub-funds: a Housing Viability Gap Fund of £35m, and an SME Finance Fund of £10m.

The Viability Gap Fund is designed to address viability issues which have prevented certain sites from being developed for new housing. It will also kick-start construction and create jobs, enhance the long-term growth prospects and competitiveness of the region, and address the uneven distribution of house building across Cardiff Capital Region. 

Medical Technology 

£2m awarded to Creo Medical to develop its Cool Plasma technology which could provide a valuable weapon in the fight against Covid-19. The £2 million loan, repayable over five years, is part of CCR’s response to the global emergency caused by the coronavirus.

Further Pipeline Projects at an advanced stage:

In addition, Regional Cabinet has endorsed but not finally approved, a further £120M plus of projects as part of its Investment & Intervention Framework.  

All projects go through a 3 stage approval process and these projects are currently at the final stage and are expected to be presented for final consideration in Q3/4 2020 

Some of the additional projects currently being worked through include:

Creation of a Challenge Fund - £10M 

The focus of our new £10m Challenge fund is on re-building local wealth for a post-Covid world, through solving societal challenges that have significant economic impact and potential commercial-scale opportunities. 

Science Park - £26M

This is a co-investment proposal with a Cardiff based developer to establish the site as a strategic hub for fuelling regional medtech growth. The project proposal seeks to provide up to 225,000 sq. ft. of Grade A office/ R&D and space and services for about 2000 high-value jobs. This project is of strategic significance to the region and will help facilitate the development of the characteristics associated with more mature sectors such as Compound Semi-Conductors.

Sites & Premises - £50M

This is a £50m plus investment intended to support otherwise viable industrial development projects where there is evidence of market failure affecting financial viability. There will be particular emphasis on projects that support innovation and job creation and make use of brownfield sites to create Grade A or equivalent space. This is a great example of putting investments into initiatives that help the CCR City Deal move away from “business as usual” investments  and enable it to support initiatives that bring about differentiated approaches, approaches that will support home and local working and, in turn, help create positive new futures.

CS Connected - £3.3m

This is part of the £43m project to develop CS Connected - our CCR Compound Semiconductor Cluster. £25.4 m of the funding has been awarded by the UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund with the other funding coming from the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, Welsh Government, Cardiff and Swansea Universities, IQE, SPTS, NWF, MicroChip, the CS Centre and the CS Catapult. The CCR £3.3mcontribution will be for a “front of house” facility.

Primary Contact: info@cardiffcapitalregion.wales