Council bosses have written to ministers seeking talks on the national roll-out of ‘City Deals' aimed at boosting local growth, amid concerns red tape is stifling efforts to devolve economic powers.

In a letter to cities minister, Greg Clark, the chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), Sir Merrick Cockell, this week calls for high-level discussions to ‘consider how we could develop this policy to support the ambition for economic growth in our smaller cities, in our counties and in the sector as a whole'.