Councillors in Perth and Kinross are to be asked to back a joint bid with other local authorities to unlock £400 million of funding for Tayside infrastructure projects.
The benefits of a “city bid” will be outlined at a full meeting of the council on Wednesday.
Glasgow and the Clyde Valley already have a similar agreement in place between the UK and Scottish governments and their local authorities.
A report to councillors by Jim Valentine, executive director (environment), notes: “The analysis undertaken by the Scottish Cities Alliance (SCA) indicates that the potential for a city deal between Dundee, Angus, Perth and Kinross and Fife would be a fund of around £400m.
“As with Glasgow’s city deal, there would be a clear ambition to invest for growth.”
The overall aim would be to improve the regional transport network, including public transport, unlock strategic development sites and support key growth sectors.
The massive cash injection could also support an overall increase in the number of jobs in the area, while helping long-term unemployed people back into jobs.
The idea would be to spread the benefits of economic growth across Tayside, ensuring deprived areas and low wage earners benefit from this growth.
“Perth can only benefit from a city deal by collaborating with other authorities,” predicts Mr Valentine.
“The key issue is to get agreement on the extent of the partnership and governance arrangements.
“Whilst informal discussion have taken place, formal engagement is necessary at political, as well as officer, level.
“Once such engagement is achieved, much technical work will be necessary to arrive at a long list of projects that will then need to be tested against agreed criteria for project selection to ensure that performances measures can be achieved.”
Councillors will be told that a bid could cost Perth and Kinross Council around £150,000 as the authority’s contribution towards the preparation of a development proposal.
It will be recommended that they approve allocating that sum towards the cost of appointing external advisers and that the council chief executive, Bernadette Malone, liaises with Angus, Dundee City and Fife to prepare a bid for a city deal.