By Lucy Ashton
Ten major infrastructure projects across Scotland have today (Thursday) been given the green light after landing more than £177 million in support from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund.
The successful bids range, geographically, from a new ferry for Fair Isle in Shetland to a regeneration plan in Dumfries and Galloway. They were chosen from hundreds of applications received for the second round of grants awarded under the scheme.
The Fund is designed to support projects that will drive economic growth, create jobs and help to restore people’s pride in the places where they live, in keeping with PM Rishi Sunak’s policy of levelling up across the UK.
The full list of Scottish projects that secured funding is as follows:
- £20m for the refurbishment of Kilmarnock’s Palace Theatre and Grand Hall, and a new park near the town square
- £19.4m to demolish the A78 dual carriageway to transform Greenock town centre into a modern, vibrant hub based around public squares and green spaces
- £19.4m to improve access to the River Leven in Fife
- £14m for the transformation of a multi-storey car park into a sustainable transport hub in Dundee
- £19.1m for the regeneration of the Forthside area of Stirling, helping to create 1,000 jobs
- £20m to turn Peterhead’s disused Arbuthnot House into a new museum, library and cultural hub, and modernise and expand the Macduff aquarium
- £9m for the demolition and regeneration of two failing shopping centres in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire
- £26.8m to provide a new, lifeline roll-on, roll-off ferry for Fair Isle, Shetland
- £17.7m to turn redundant spaces and buildings into cultural and leisure facilities in Dumfries and Galloway
- £11.3m to free up land at a former coal-fired power station for green regeneration in East Lothian
The Scottish Conservatives have welcomed this support from the UK Government – part of the biggest financial package Scotland has received since devolution – and hailed it as “levelling up in action”.
“The grants received from Rishi Sunak’s (pictured right) Levelling Up fund will enable a wide range of transformative projects across Scotland to go ahead that might otherwise have remained pipe dreams.
“The projects will bring huge benefits to the areas in question. Not only will they enhance economic growth, they will restore people’s pride in the places they live.
“It is brilliant to see so many projects secure funding as the UK Government continues to deliver for the people of Scotland.
“The Levelling Up Fund highlights how our country can collectively tackle regional challenges by working together as one United Kingdom.
“We hope all parties will join us in warmly welcoming the UK Government empowering our communities by investing in so many innovative projects. This is levelling up in action.”
Picture at top of page is of Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Local Government, and fellow Conservative Maurice Corry, Provost of Argyll and Bute, which includes Helensburgh, Cardross, Rhu and Lomond.