The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has welcomed the Government's announcement setting out £2.5bn of investment in the East of England for housing, regeneration, transport and economic development over the next three years.

EEDA and the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) will be working closely over the coming months to agree a joint response to the government on the region's priorities for this investment.

The Government has also set out the indicative funding for the period 2011-19 for the region, which is estimated to be £7.5bn.

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Richard Ellis, Chair of EEDA, said: "EEDA will be working closely with EERA and regional partners as well as businesses and other partners to develop a clear and effective plan on how this region's prosperity and to ensure everybody living and working in the East of England has an improved quality of life."

Mr Ellis continued: "Transport is a key priority for the region as it unlocks productivity and the region needs to make a strong business case for investment to address congestion and bottlenecks. We are already working with EERA and GO-East in making sure that we dovetail successfully in implementing the regional economic strategy and the regional spatial strategy.

"The region is one of only one of three regional net contributors to UK plc and we and our partners will continue to press the Government for investment to ensure the region can continue to compete globally.

"There will be a joint response from the region to the Government by the end of February 2009."

(JM)