Good progress is being made on the first round of schemes that received Growth Deal funding from the Government in 2014.

Two of the most visible projects are in Lincoln, where the emerging Lincoln Transport Hub is taking shape and where the East-West Link Road and Tentercroft Street Growth Corridor are now complete. The area between Sincil Street and Pelham Bridge in Lincoln has been flattened to make way for the multi-million pound transport hub, and steel frames started going up in March.

Work to expand Bishop Burton College's Riseholme Campus near Lincoln is also complete, as is the Boole Technology Centre on the Lincoln Science and Innovation Park, which offers new offices and laboratory space.

Elsewhere in the county a contract for work on the new Skegness Countryside Business Park is soon to be awarded, and plans are developing quickly for an innovation centre on the site.

In North Lincolnshire contractors have been appointed and infrastructure work has started on the Normanby Enterprise Park, while the Northern Junction Roundabout scheme is at the formal contracting stage and works are expected to start in July 2017. Work on the planned Scunthorpe Town Centre infrastructure improvements are now also scheduled to begin in late 2017/18.

The first planning application for Lincolnshire Lakes near Scunthorpe was submitted in October and will go out for further consultation. We anticipate a start on site during the summer once archaeological works have been completed. Phase one of work on the South Humber Industrial Infrastructure Programme relating to strategic mitigation but focused on land assembly in North East Lincolnshire is almost complete, and procurement for phase two (Humber Link Road) will commence in June 2017. Feasibility studies are progressing well and the initial clearance of vegetation prior to nesting season has now been completed.

The Boston Quadrant mixed-use development will include a number of uses, including more than 500 new homes. Work on site is well under way, and the main A16 roundabout has been completed ahead of programme. The commercial access and residential access roads are shaping up too, and finishing works will be completed for these by October 2017. Works to the remainder of the on-site distributor road through to London Road will start in March 2017. The design details for the remaining junction on London Road are being finalised in conjunction with Lincolnshire County Council ahead of the works being tendered. Works should start in June 2017.

The Grantham Southern Relief Road is an important project which will open up housing and employment land and unlock significant economic growth potential for the town. Phase one is now fully complete, and phase two is likely to start in July 2017. The road will relieve congestion and unlock significant housing and employment land.

The Unlocking Housing Programme will facilitate the delivery of 427 affordable housing units. Most of the projects are on site with Broadfield Lane now complete and Tytton Lane East reaching completion very soon.

Go Skegness Sustainable Transport will improve bus and cycle services in the town and is progressing, with all elements of phase one of the construction works either in progress or completed. Section one of the Gibraltar Point footway/cycleway and the bus stop infrastructure improvements on both Roman Bank and Lumley Road are both now complete. Section 3 of the Gibraltar Point footway/cycleway improvements will be constructed during March/April 2017 with the proposed new section 4 scheduled during September/October 2017.

Works are soon to start on the Holbeach Peppermint Junction programme of investment which will enable large-scale economic growth for the area. These enabling highway works on the A17 and A151 will unlock the development of the Holbeach Food Enterprise Zone and housing growth, for which additional funding has been secured.

The planned Agri-food Centre of Excellence in Holbeach is at a formal contracting stage and is awaiting confirmation of match funding from the European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF). If approved, the main building work should start later this year delivering high-level skills, innovation support services and applied research for Greater Lincolnshire's agri-food businesses, helping to create a world-leading food industry in Lincolnshire.