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Chamber and committees

Question reference: S5W-24516

  • Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: 30 July 2019
  • Current status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 August 2019

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with its £50 million town centre fund.


Answer

The £50 million Town Centre Fund was developed in partnership with COSLA and launched on 1 March. The fund will be distributed across all local authorities to enable them to stimulate and support a wide range of investments which encourage town centres and city neighbourhoods to diversify and flourish. The distribution was agreed jointly by Scottish Government and COSLA Leaders and local authorities have received the first two rounds of funding.

It will be for local authorities to allocate this fund against the themes of the Town Centre Action Plan, however we have issued guidance and, with Scotland’s Towns Partnership, held information sessions to discuss the fund and how partners can provide advice, support and co-funding.

We want our towns and town centres to be vibrant, creative, enterprising and accessible. It is essential that we support town centres to become more diverse and sustainable as they face the challenge of changing and evolving retail patterns. We will invest to deliver inclusive growth so that town and neighbourhood centres can be thriving places for communities to live, work and enjoy.