LEADER of Newport City Council Bob Bright has revealed he and 10 other local authority leaders have been invited to meet the Secretary of State for Wales, Stephen Crabb, to discuss the Cardiff city deal.

The Cardiff Capital City Region deal is an agreement between the UK Government, Welsh Government and surrounding authorities.

It is a way to provide infrastructure investment for the region, which is made up of 10 councils including Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen.

The deal would ensure Newport makes the most of developments such as the electrification of the South Wales mainline and the natural resources of the Severn Estuary.

A city deal was announced for Glasgow last year, with Newport benefitting from funding worth £1.3 billion.

The aims of the city deal programme are to devolve control to cities to take charge and responsibility of decisions that affect their area, do what they think is best to help businesses grow, create economic growth and decide how public money should be spent.

At a meeting of Newport council’s cabinet earlier this week, councillors approved the next step in negotiating a city deal and agreed for Newport to contribute £49,076 for the initial work to take place.

Each of the authorities have been asked to contribute a sum depending on their population size, making a total of £500,000.

Blaenau Gwent will contribute £23,366, Caerphilly will send £59,989, Monmouthshire will give £30,832 and Torfaen is to pay £30,597.

Councillor Bob Bright said: “It’s important to realise this is a developing situation and as recently as last week the Secretary of State issued invitations to the leaders to meet him in Cardiff to discuss the city deal.

“There’s the possibility to make huge benefits. But we want to make sure we have some influence and we are able to calculate the benefits and be fully involved in the process.”

The cabinet agreed to pass the proposal but also added an amendment to add security that Newport council will be involved in the process.