The Health Secretary is due to visit the county today (Monday) as a £200 million Hertfordshire Growth Deal is announced.

MP Jeremy Hunt will be in Hertfordshire this morning as £199.3m in Government funding is awarded to the Hertfordshire Local Enteprise Partnership (LEP).

As part of the Government’s plan to invest £12 billion in local economies, £53.3m has been confirmed for Hertfordshire in the first year and a further £146m expected from 2016/17 onwards.

The money has been earmarked for the building of 17,000 homes – including housing along the A1(M) corridor– and to generate up to £180m public and private investment, hoping to create 13,000 jobs.

There are also plans to ease congestion on the A1(M) and A602 and fund the life sciences sector – with the BioScience Catalyst set to benefit with investment in research and its campus facilities.

The Conservative minister was set to visit the centre in Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, but is now due to head to Welwyn GC instead.

The Hertfordshire LEP, set up in October 2010, is a business-led partnership between local businesses, academia, not-for-profit organisations and local government with a remit to boost the county’s economy and create new jobs.

Along with 38 other LEPs across the country, it submitted a strategic economic plan prior to the March 31 deadline to bid for a portion of the Government’s Local Growth Fund – which guarantees £2 billion a year for the next six years to be allocated to LEPs.