£500,000 fund needed for city deal bid, says council

A city deal could mean as much as £1bn of public investment in and around Cardiff

Cardiff council has said a £500,000 fund is needed to develop a business case for a deal to attract hundreds of millions of pounds of investment cash.

"City deals" are designed to fund major transport and building projects.

The UK government says its promise of money depends on the Welsh government and local councils contributing too.

Council officers recently raised concerns Cardiff might be unable to afford its share, which former leader Russell Goodway said could be £10m.

Cardiff council leader Phil Bale told the assembly's business committee on Wednesday he was in discussions with other local authorities in south Wales to see if they wanted to be part of the deal.

He said that if they were interested they would contribute to the development fund on a "pro-rata" basis and he expected the business case to be finalised by the end of the year.