Official Report search · Parliament Workbench

Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 16 November 2011

16 Nov 2011 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Regeneration Strategy

Neil, Alex SNP Airdrie and Shotts Watch on SPTV

As the member will know, the Scottish Government has given priority to Ravenscraig; indeed, it is the subject of one of our TIF pilot projects. Along with North Lanarkshire Council, we are determined to work together with everybody involved to make it successful.

My third point is that investing in the economic potential of our communities is also vital. That covers a broad spectrum of activity, including support for projects that deliver physical and economic change, including and especially jobs. That is not an easy task. The limited availability of public-sector funding and private-sector resource means that our funding models need to change and become more innovative, with a move towards financing and investment, as opposed to grant, where possible.

Nonetheless, we will confirm a range of support in the strategy, including confirmation that JESSICA—Scotland’s regeneration loan fund—is open for business. The fund currently totals £50 million and it is anticipated that it will be recycled up to three times in 10 years. There will be continued support for Scotland’s urban regeneration companies in the short term, building on their considerable success to date, and a move to more flexible capital funding for them in the medium term, which will be focused on enabling infrastructure and town centre support. There will be funding to enable local authorities to tackle vacant and derelict land, continued support to enable registered social landlords to carry out their regeneration role and continued support to enable coalfield communities to grow in strength and access opportunities to prosper. In addition, we will continue to work with the private sector and other partners to develop new and innovative methods of funding, building on the initial approach through JESSICA.

The three priority areas of tackling area-based disadvantage, strengthening community-led regeneration and investing in the economic potential of our communities will form the basis of the strategy that will focus the efforts of the Scottish Government on ensuring that all Scotland’s communities are sustainable and promote wellbeing and that, in the pursuit of sustainable economic growth, no one is left behind.

In my view, the central issue is to safeguard existing jobs and to create as many new jobs as we can. Access to decent jobs and reasonable income is an absolute prerequisite for the success of any regeneration strategy at local and national levels. That is why we have given such priority to attracting new investment in Scotland and why earlier this year Ernst & Young classified Scotland as the best location in the whole United Kingdom for new investment. The jobs that go with that are crucial to the success of regenerating the deprived communities.

The actions within the strategy will contribute directly to the Scottish Government’s overarching purpose of sustainable economic growth and increased job opportunities. However, I am clear that the Scottish Government alone cannot deliver regeneration. If it is possible to get cross-party support for our strategy, we would very much welcome it. Successful regeneration is dependent on a wide range of organisations and individuals working together—I believe that that includes the political parties. It relies on co-ordinated action that encompasses economic, physical and social aspects, along with input from the public, private and third sectors and—crucially—the communities themselves.

We are committed to working with partners to deliver on the actions that will be identified within the strategy and to delivering change for the communities that need it most. I hope that, today, the Parliament will support us in that commitment.

I move,

That the Parliament acknowledges that in the current challenging financial climate it is imperative that there is a strategic vision for the regeneration of the most disadvantaged communities across Scotland; acknowledges the importance of regeneration to The Government Economic Strategy and the Scottish Government’s ambition to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, and recognises that successful regeneration relies on a wide variety of organisations and agencies working together and an increased role for communities themselves to help them improve their circumstances.

Search Hansard contributions

Meeting of the Parliament 16 November 2011

In the same item of business