A GOVERNMENT cash boost of nearly £160m for Yorkshire has received a cautious welcome in Bradford.

Prime Minister Theresa May today unveiled a £556m investment in the Northern Powerhouse project, which will include £67.5m for the Leeds City Region.

Part of the cash will fund flood resilience packages for Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Kirklees and Leeds, designed to complement existing flood protection projects and safeguard more than 11,000 jobs and 1,300 businesses.

The investment would also pay for land assembly and infrastructure to accelerate the development of five M62 corridor Enterprise Zone sites in Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield.

When fully developed, these sites are expected to accommodate almost 6,000 jobs.

It will also fund an extended business growth programme, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to continue to access grants to support growth and job creation.

The extension of the programme is forecast to help at least 160 businesses, create 500 jobs and secure more than £50m of other investment.

On a visit to Leeds and Hull yesterday, Northern Powerhouse Minister Andrew Percy said: “Today’s funding of nearly £160m is more money directly invested across Yorkshire and the Humber.

“It is further proof that we will back the people of the North with the resources they need to reach their full potential.

“In fact, across the Northern Powerhouse people will benefit from £556million extra investment thanks to these Growth Deals to create jobs and infrastructure projects of the future.”

Bradford Council's Labour leader, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, said: “I welcome this Government investment in the region which will support jobs growth and vital flood alleviation work.

“Of course, as the youngest city, Bradford has huge potential for growth so we need this investment and more besides.

“London still gets seven times more investment in transport infrastructure than Yorkshire so you can see the scale of the historic funding disparities which we are trying to tackle.

“We will continue to make the case for Bradford both regionally and nationally to get the investment we need.”