Accounting Errors at CCC - Post 2/15 in a series - What is City Deal?

2 - What is City Deal?

City Deals 1 and 2 are two, five-year government grant arrangements sponsored by the DLUHC and the Treasury.  The grants were awarded to the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP).  CCC is the accountable body for the GCP, which means it holds funds and oversees payments to its delivery partners under the scheme (Cambridge City Council and South Cambs District Council) and suppliers where relevant.

The first City Deal (City Deal 1) ran from 2015/16 to 2019/20.  It comprised five annual grants, with conditions, worth £20 million each, i.e. £100m over all five years. 

City Deal 2 began in 2020/21.  It too comprises five annual grants, with the same conditions, worth £40m each, i.e. £200m over the five years to 2024/25.

The conditions are contained in grant determination documents signed by authority of the Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (now DLUHC).  The grant determination documents have been sent to CCC each year since 2015/16 to accompany the corresponding annual grant payments.  The conditions in all City Deal grant determination documents to date have been the same.  They state:

“Grant paid to a local authority under this determination may be used only for the purposes that a capital receipt may be used for in accordance with regulations made under section 11 of the Local Government Act 2003.”

That means if any grant monies are used for purposes, outside those specified, the grant monies may need to be returned, or the government may cease to pay the grants.