Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to help diversify high streets.
We have established a Place Based Investment Programme, backed with £325 million capital investment over 5 years, to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre revitalisation and community led regeneration. This programme will include support for repurposing of land and buildings, creating new space for local enterprises, facilities and services and support the resilience and wellbeing of communities across Scotland.
We have also launched a £10 million multi-year Scotland Loves Local Fund to support local people, businesses and community partnerships to bring new ideas and activity to towns and neighbourhoods to support local economic recovery and resilience.
The Town Centre Action Plan and our UK-leading town centre first approach provide a framework for those working to revitalise town and neighbourhood centres so that they can become more diverse, sustainable and thriving places for communities to live, work and enjoy. An independent review which considered the impact and lessons from the Town Centre Action Plan and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was published in February 2021. We are working collaboratively with COSLA and partners to respond to the review.
We support Scotland's Towns Partnership to work with local authorities, communities and businesses to provide information, support and services which contribute to the vibrancy, viability and diversity of our town centres and neighbourhoods, and to support the development of Business Improvement Districts.
To support the small businesses that will be vital to the recovery of our towns and high streets, we will maintain the Small Business Bonus Scheme for the lifetime of the Parliament - ensuring that 100,000 business properties pay no rates and that the majority of ratepayers continue to pay a lower poundage than elsewhere in the UK.
Our City Centre Recovery Task Force is working to identify innovative actions aimed at assisting city centres through their economic recovery. To kick-start the Task Force, we invested £2 million in a City Centres Recovery Fund. This has supported innovative actions with a focus on inclusive and sustainable growth to aid the recovery of our city centres.