Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015: progress report 2017

Regeneration

Regeneration policy delivers inclusive growth by supporting interventions that respond to local circumstances, addressing market failure and increasing opportunities to attract investment and jobs to disadvantaged and fragile areas, contributing to community and regional cohesion.

We invested £56 million towards regeneration activities in 2016-17, with a further

£56 million to be invested in 2017-18.

The key elements of the Regeneration Strategy are:

• tackling area-based deprivation by reforming how mainstream resources are used and working together more effectively;
• a focus on community-led regeneration; and
• realising the economic potential of Scotland's communities through focused funding and other support mechanisms.

Key funding measures across 2016-17 and 2017-18 include:

• The SPRUCE fund (Scottish Partnership for Regeneration in Urban Centres), initially capitalised with £50 million has provided investment in the form of loans to deliver regeneration and energy efficiency schemes across Scotland. Those loans are now being repaid with the receipts being recycled and used to deliver further regeneration projects.

• The Regeneration Capital Grant Fund ( RCGF) delivered in partnership with Convention of Scottish Local Authorities ( COSLA) and local government, supports locally developed regeneration projects that involve local communities and helps tackle inequality and support inclusive growth in disadvantaged and fragile rural areas.

• £17.7 million to tackle vacant and derelict land through the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund, which is intended to stimulate economic growth and job creation, with a focus on temporary and permanent greening, whilst supporting communities to flourish and tackle inequalities.

• The £20 million per annum Empowering Communities Fund comprising a programme of funds and projects that support disadvantaged communities to tackle poverty and inequality on their own terms, and to support community empowerment more broadly. The fund reflects our commitment to investing in communities so that they can develop the resources and resilience to decide their own priorities, needs and aspirations; and, to develop their own social, economic and environmental solutions in response. The bulk of this revenue funding is used to support hundreds of community organisations through programmes such as the People and Communities Fund, Strengthening Communities Programme, Community Choices Fund, the Community Ownership Support Service, Aspiring Communities Fund and work with the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

Progress since 2008 includes:

• Over £488 million directly invested in regeneration including activity in 2017-18.

• SPRUCE, Scotland's Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas ( JESSICA) investment loan fund is now recycling loans which have being repaid into further regeneration projects. An additional £15 million in Financial Transactions was added to the fund in 2016-17 with a further £5 million available during 2017-18 with ten infrastructure projects supported to date. It is estimated that SPRUCE will lever in an additional £158 million in private funding, creating 4,750 jobs.

• £260 million invested in Urban Regeneration Companies ( URCs). The following outputs have been delivered up to March 2017: over 144,000 square metres of new or refurbished business space; over 8,450 jobs created or retained and over 1,800 training places; over 238 hectares of vacant and derelict land remediated or developed; over 2400 houses and 2 primary schools built. In addition, over £500 million of direct and indirect private sector investment has been generated on the back of public sector investment. The Scottish Government continues to support Clyde Gateway with £5.5 million being provided in 2018-19. Remaining URCs continue to have access to funding through the RCGF.

• Since 2014, 95 projects from the disadvantaged areas across Scotland have been recommended for support from the RCGF. These projects are anticipated to support or create more than 5,300 jobs, refurbish/bring back in to use 100 buildings, including a number of historic buildings, create more than 73,600 sq metres of business space and support numerous community facilities and services. A further 24 projects have been recommended for funding in 2018-19.

• Over £100 million provided from the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund to tackle long term vacant and derelict land in five local authority areas.

• Town Centre Regeneration Fund: £60 million of funding provided to town centres across Scotland in 2009-10 to deliver a range of regeneration outcomes.

• In 2015-16, 21 community organisations were supported to deliver innovative town centre initiatives across Scotland through the £1.7 million Town Centre Communities Capital Fund.

• The Town Centre First Principle developed in partnership with COSLA and local government, calls on central government, local authorities, communities and the wider public sector to put town centres at the heart of decision-making process.

• £2.75 million in 2013-14 through the Town Centre Housing Fund to support a range of demonstration projects to test how empty town centre properties can be brought back into use for affordable housing.