A £500,000 boost to help regenerate a site in a Norfolk town and create hundreds of jobs has been hailed as the first fruits of the county's controversial devolution deal.
The funding towards more development of the £8m Nar Ouse Business Park scheme - which council bosses say will create 1,500 jobs - was announced by the government today (Thursday, February 2).
Currently, the site is mainly wasteland but is already home to a few businesses including the King's Lynn Innovation Centre.
The money was negotiated during discussions over the county deal for Norfolk, said Norfolk County Council's leader Andrew Proctor, who signed an in-principle agreement over devolved powers in December.
He said: "The benefits of this deal are already beginning to flow - £500,000 to unlock the latest phase of the Nar Ouse regeneration site and create 1,500 jobs.
"This is money that would not have come to Norfolk, if we hadn’t negotiated the in-principle deal.
"This is just the start – if we get this deal over the line, we can make a massive difference to Norfolk, its communities and its economy."
The devolution deal, which would include an elected leader for Norfolk County Council and a £20m investment fund over 30 years, has sparked a political row.
Tory councils South Norfolk, Breckland, Broadland and Liberal Democrat-run North Norfolk are mounting a legal challenge over County Hall’s handling of the deal.
John Fuller, South Norfolk Council's leader is a fierce critic of the deal on the table and it is understood he made his views clear in a virtual meeting the county council held on Tuesday night.
And Steve Morphew, leader of the opposition Labour group at County Hall said it was a "nonsense" to tie the latest money to the devolution deal.
He said: "It was an existing scheme that needs no deal, change in governance or anything else to deliver – just the cash, and that’s what government have starved Norfolk of.
"This feels more like a sweetener for the bitter pill of a devolution deal that really sells Norfolk short."
But Stuart Dark, leader of West Norfolk Council, which owns the 120-acre Nar Ouse business park site - one of the largest brownfield sites in the east of England - welcomed the money.
He said: "We are delighted that the county discussions have brought forward significant additional funding that will open up the Nar Ouse enterprise zone further - a development that is already bringing jobs and growth into west Norfolk."
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