That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the importance of creating stronger, better connected and more resilient communities across Scotland, including in Falkirk West constituency; understands that ScottishPower, SSE, Scottish Water and Openreach have set out plans to invest £46 billion in Scotland’s infrastructure between 2025 and 2030, which, it considers, is an unprecedented level of investment; believes that this investment in electricity, water and digital infrastructure will unlock economic growth, injecting more than £32 billion into the Scottish supply chain and supporting more than 27,000 jobs; considers that growing the workforce of the future is a key element of success to maximise early career, retraining and upskilling opportunities to ensure the right people, skills and expertise are in place right across industry to deliver; welcomes the commitment by these companies that communities will be at the heart of the investment plans, with, it understands, around £350 million of community benefit to deliver lasting positive impacts; notes a commitment from the companies to working with local people to deliver the best possible outcomes that focus on progress for the greater good; understands that the environment will also be a key consideration with projects taking a nature positive approach that will see more than 14,700 hectares of land restored to nature, which, it believes, is the equivalent of more than 20,000 football pitches; considers that it is important to ensure that a nature positive approach is central to these plans, and looks forward to this investment being delivered in the very near future.
Supported by: Colin Beattie, Annabelle Ewing, Kenneth Gibson, Bill Kidd, John Mason, Kevin Stewart, Paul Sweeney