Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015: progress report 2019 to 2020

Sector Reports

All planned dates going forward will be subject to the impact of the coronavirus Covid-19 situation.

Transport 

A737 Dalry Bypass
The contract for the A737 Dalry Bypass project was awarded to Farrans Roadbridge Joint Venture on 26 May 2017 and the bypass opened to traffic on 30 May 2019. The project involved the construction of a new 3.8km bypass to the east of Dalry and associated junctions, which connect with the existing A737 trunk road. These improvements on the A737 help to reduce the conflict between local and strategic traffic that occurs along this route, thus improving road safety and journey time reliability.

A77 Maybole Bypass
The construction contract for the A77 Maybole Bypass was awarded to Wills Bros Civil Engineering Limited on 12 April 2019 with completion expected in summer 2021 subject to any unforeseen circumstances such as exceptional adverse weather. The project will provide a new 5km bypass and associated junctions.  The new trunk road bypass will separate local traffic from those travelling longer distances, including to the port of Cairnryan.

A92/A96 Haudagain Improvements
The contract to construct this new link road was awarded to Farrans Construction on 8 January 2019. This 500m urban dual carriageway link road, between the A92 and the A96 in north-west Aberdeen, will relieve congestion on the existing roundabout, which is operating over capacity, improving journey time reliability and decreasing congestion in this area. The project remains on programme with the works expected to be complete by spring 2021, subject to any unforeseen circumstances such as exceptional adverse weather.

A9 Dualling Perth to Inverness
Work is continuing across the route with road users already benefiting from the new dualled stretch between Kincraig and Dalraddy, which opened in September 2017. 

Construction of the second section of the A9 Dualling between Luncarty and the Pass of Birnam is well under way and our contractor for the project, Balfour Beatty, anticipates that the project will be fully operational by spring 2021, subject to weather conditions. 

Design work is also progressing well with the statutory process well underway for eight of the remaining nine schemes. Through negotiation, five Public Local Inquiry sessions have been avoided and the scope of the remaining Inquiries have been reduced. The remaining scheme at the Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing was subject to a co-creative process to identify a community preferred option. A preferred route option for this section is expected to be announced in the coming months.

A96 Dualling Inverness to Aberdeen
Design work is well underway on the dualling programme with draft Orders published on Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) in November 2016. A Public Local Inquiry was held in October and November 2018 to consider objections received and not withdrawn. The Reporters submitted their report to Scottish Ministers on 17 October 2019 and this is under active consideration.

The preferred option for the Hardmuir to Fochabers section was announced in December 2018 and development and assessment of the preferred option is ongoing. Route options assessment work is also well underway on the Eastern Section between east of Huntly and Aberdeen.  Due to the high level of feedback received on the route options under consideration Transport Scotland is working towards identifying a preferred option for this section later this year.

A82 Tarbet to Inverarnan Improvement
The detailed development and assessment of the preferred option, including giving detailed consideration to mitigating disruption to road users during construction of this extremely challenging scheme, is ongoing with a view to preparing draft Orders for the scheme later this year.

This work is being informed by vital information obtained through extensive geotechnical investigation and environmental surveys and has provided an enhanced level of understanding of the complexity and construction related impacts associated with improving this route.

Aberdeen to Central Belt Rail Enhancements
This project will deliver the additional £200 million investment in improving capacity, performance and journey times on key rail links between Aberdeen and the Central Belt as announced in 2016 for delivery by 2026.  As recommended by the Aberdeen to Central Belt Reference Group, this investment will be focussed on signalling enhancements between Aberdeen and Dundee. These will assist in enabling future potential freight/passenger loops, targeted line-speed improvements and electrification of the line in accordance with the Programme for Government de-carbonisation agenda. 

This project is in its early stages, with timetabling work being undertaken by Network Rail to identify the signalling and infrastructure interventions that will be required to deliver the train service specification endorsed by the Reference Group.

Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Improvement Project 
The re-doubling of the east end of the line, between Inverurie and Kittybrewster to the west of Aberdeen, was completed in August 2019.  This enabled the December 2019 timetable change to deliver a half-hourly service between Inverurie and Aberdeen between Monday and Saturday, with hourly services continuing to Montrose to form a “Crossrail” service.  Additional services run during weekday peaks.  

Kintore Station between Inverurie and Aberdeen is on course to open during May 2020 reversing the closure of the original station in 1964.  The May 2020 timetable will see a full hourly day-time service between Elgin and Inverness, enabled by the enhancements earlier in the project to the west end of the line.

It remains a key objective that future phases of the Aberdeen to Inverness Project will help support an hourly service between Aberdeen and Inverness, with an average journey time of around two hours. 

Highland Main Line 
New infrastructure was completed on time and on budget in March 2019.  The completion of this infrastructure will enable enhancements to the frequency of services, with an hourly service between Inverness and Perth extending to either Glasgow or Edinburgh.  An average end-to-end journey time reduction of around 10 minutes will also be enabled.  Unfortunately, delays in the delivery to ScotRail of refurbished high-speed trains will mean that the enhanced service cannot be delivered in full before the May 2021 timetable change date.

Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme 
Due to safety considerations associated with the ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 situation, the Glasgow’s Queen Street Station worksite was secured and closed on 24 March 2020 and construction activity ceased.  Until that point, the station remained on schedule for completion and entry into service on 31 March 2020 as planned.  The redevelopment however is substantially complete and the station remains in operation for passengers. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have written to Network Rail to confirm that the key regulatory milestone for completion by 31 March 2020 has been met and the station is certified to enter service.  Network Rail are working closely with Balfour Beatty to agree a programme for completion of outstanding work and will implement this when it is safe to do so.  EGIP has already successfully delivered the electrification of the Glasgow–Cumbernauld route, the redeveloped Haymarket Station and the new tram/train interchange at Edinburgh Gateway Station. First electric services commenced on the Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk High route using existing Class 380 trains on 10 December 2017. The route is now fully served by new Class 385 Hitachi trains, which has seen an improvement in journey times between the two cities. Seating capacity on the route has now increased by 44% following the introduction of 8-car trains, which was enabled by the extension of platforms at Queen Street. 

Shotts Electrification 
The infill electrification of 74 kilometres of single-track line and various station enhancements was successfully completed in March 2019 thus providing the fourth electrified line between Scotland’s two largest cities. Additional accessibility enhancements are also being delivered at 3 stations with the installation of footbridges and lifts. New electric rolling stock was introduced during 2019 and is operating successfully with reduced journey times, improved connectivity, increased capacity and efficiency that enhance the passenger experience.

Stirling Dunblane Alloa Electrification 
The project involved the electrification of 100 kilometres of single-track line from
Dunblane through Stirling and Alloa connecting to the electrified Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk High route at Larbert. The electrification works were completed in December 2018 enabling the introduction of new electric services on 9 December 2018. Network Rail anticipate physical completion of outstanding non-critical remedial works and conclusion of commercial negotiations with their contractors to bring the project to final account by summer 2020.    

High Speed Rail
The UK and Scottish Governments made a joint commitment on 21 March 2016 that the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland and Network Rail would work together to identify options that could be implemented between 2019 and 2029 that could improve journey times, capacity, resilience and reliability on the rail routes between England and Scotland. This includes moving further towards the joint target of a 3 hour journey time between London and both Glasgow and Edinburgh and much improved connectivity with the major towns and cities in between.

Completed Feasibility Studies have confirmed that it is technically and environmentally feasible to construct:

• a new line between the outskirts of Edinburgh and Newcastle, which would increase capacity and be capable of a 45 minute journey time between Edinburgh and Newcastle and a journey time of approximately 3 hours between London and Edinburgh in combination with the HS2 lines running between London and Leeds.
• a new line between Bay Horse (near Lancaster) and Low Gill (near Oxenholme) and a new line between which would increase capacity and be capable of a journey time of approximately 3 hours 15 minutes between London and Glasgow in combination with the HS2 lines running between London and Wigan (near Manchester).
• new stations at Eurocentral in North Lanarkshire and Livingston in West Lothian.

Work is now being taken forward to determine if these routes have a strong business case, which will be presented to Scottish and UK Ministers in early 2021 to inform their investment decisions in the light of their 2016 commitment.

Health 

Progress 

Healthcare investments completed during 2019-20 include the following:  

NHS Orkney - Balfour Hospital
In June, the biggest project in NHS Orkney’s history became operational.  The £77.4 million award-winning project saw the development of a purpose built facility to replace the existing Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall, two GP practices and the Public Dental Service.

NHS Lothian - East Lothian Community Hospital
The £70.4 million project includes the new community hospital, which was built on the site of the former Roodlands Hospital, and comprises a range of services, including endoscopy procedure rooms and six wards, totalling 132 beds in single en-suite rooms.  The new build is also able to support patients previously in Haddington Care Home, Crookston Care Home, and Midlothian Community Hospital.  The new hospital is fully operational and the final phase of contracted works are anticipated to be completed in May 2020.

NHS Forth Valley – Stirling Health and Social Care Village
This £37.8 million facility includes GP and Minor Injuries Centre, which houses three GP Practices, a Minor Injuries Unit with X-ray facilities, GP and Primary Care Out-of-Hours services, community nursing as well as accommodation for local healthcare and ambulance staff. The Centre can accommodate up to 116 people in en-suite rooms across four short-stay areas

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Woodside Health and Care Centre
In May, the new £21.2 million state-of-the art health and care centre in Glasgow city centre became operational.  Set over three and a half storeys, the development is a significant investment in the health and wellbeing of the local community, bringing together multiple clinicians under one roof.

The following projects currently in construction are expected to complete and be operational later this year: 

• Golden Jubilee National Hospital’s Ophthalmology Unit Development (which is part of the Elective Care Programme of Investment); 
• Greenock Health and Social Care Centre; and
• Stobhill Mental Health DBFM Beds

The following projects have commenced construction within the last year: 

• Clydebank Health & Care Centre; 
• Redesign of Services for Skye, Lochalsh & South West Ross; and
• Redesign of Services for Badenoch and Strathspey.

Schools (Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme & Learning Estate Investment Programme) 

Overview

• The Scottish Government’s school building programme, Scotland’s Schools for the Future is worth almost £1.8 billion with £1.13 billion provided by the Scottish Government and £665 million by local authorities.
• The programme will see the construction of 117 new or refurbished schools by summer 2020, with at least one new school project being delivered in every local authority area in Scotland.
• The new £1 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme prioritises schools in need of updating as identified by local authorities, to ensure rapid progress where most required.
• The programme will benefit around 50,000 pupils across Scotland by the end of the next Parliament.

Progress

• Since April 2019, 8 school projects within the Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme were completed. This takes the total number of school projects completed to 110 out of the 117 projects that form the programme.
• The remaining 7 school projects forming part of the Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme are expected to be open to pupils as soon as practicable. 
• In September 2019, the First Minister, Deputy First Minister & COSLA’s (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) Councillor Macgregor announced the first phase of 11 school projects to benefit from the £1 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme.
• Scottish Government officials continue to work with local authorities regarding which priority projects may be suitable for Scottish Government support within future phases of the programme.

Early Learning and Childcare 

Overview

• The Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) expansion programme will expand the entitlement to funded ELC from 600 to 1,140 hours per year for all 3 and 4-year olds and for eligible 2-year olds from August 2020. 
• The expansion planning process was undertaken in a collaborative manner between the Scottish Government and local authorities.  This enabled Scottish Ministers and COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) to reach agreement on a multi-year funding package for the ELC expansion programme.
• The Scottish Government will provide local authorities with £476 million of capital funding to support the expansion, over four financial years from 2017-18 to 2020-21 inclusive.
• The ELC expansion programme will comprise of around 900 capital projects including the refurbishment and/or extension of existing facilities, the provision of new standalone facilities as well as investing in outdoor ELC capacity.  Together this will secure around 22,000 additional registered ELC places within the public sector.
• The Scottish Futures Trust is supporting both the Scottish Government and local authorities with the infrastructure elements of the ELC expansion programme.

Progress

• As at January 2020, a total of 361 early learning and childcare capital projects have been completed, delivering an additional 6,105 ELC places.
• In 2019-20, 302 ELC projects with a value of £82.4 million are forecast to have been completed.  These projects will deliver an additional 5,493 additional ELC spaces.
• By 31 March 2020, it had been forecast that a total 405 ELC projects with a value of £110.7 million would be completed since the start of the programme. This would bring the total number of additional places delivered to 7,440.
• 415 further ELC projects are planned to complete thereafter.  These projects are expected to have a combined value of £276.6 million and deliver an additional 10,662 ELC spaces.

Further and Higher Education 

During 2019-20, the following projects were on going:

Forth Valley College (Falkirk Campus)
In 2017, the Scottish Government approved the final design stage of the project and construction commenced on the campus in the same year. The total cost of the project is £78 million with Scottish Government investment in the project being £65 million capital funding. The College opened the doors of the new campus to students on 13 January 2020.

College Estate Maintenance
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) published its College Estate Condition Survey in 2017. Since then the SFC has considered where new approaches may represent better value for money than continuing to address backlog repairs alone and the SFC introduced its new prioritisation framework.  

The Scottish Government provided £26.9 million to fund very high priority estate maintenance issues in 2018-19 and funding has been provided in 2019-20 to continue to address lifecycle and backlog repairs. The 2020-21 draft budget allocated £32.7 million for capital estate priorities.

A Learning Estates Strategy was published in September 2019, which combined the best practices of development policies for schools with future development of Colleges summarising these in a set of guiding principles.  

Building on the publication of the Learning Estates Strategy, the SFC is currently preparing as part of the Programme for Government, a medium term estate strategy for the college sector.  The strategy will help set priorities for investment, improve the student experience and support better outcomes as well as set out how the college estate will contribute to efforts to tackle climate change.

Fife College
Fife College and Fife Council are developing a joint Dunfermline Education Campus.  The aim is to locate the new College building and two of Dunfermline's high schools on the same site.  Fife College purchased the land for the new college site in October 2018 for £4.56 million.  The 2020-21 draft budget allocated £35.7 million of capital funding to the college sector of which up to £3 million has been identified for Fife College and marks the start of a £90 million investment in the Dunfermline Learning Community Campus.

Higher Education
The total capital funding for universities in 2019-20 including Financial Transactions, was £97.5 million. Financial Transactions for the university sector grew substantially to £60 million for 2019-20. Taken together with capital maintenance funding, this represents a significant and welcome source of investment for Institutions. 

Culture, Heritage and Tourism 

Overview

Maintaining capital investment in the culture, heritage and tourism sectors supports the continued delivery of a wide range of key Scottish Government outcomes, providing significant economic stimulus and successfully leveraging additional investment from other sources across the public, private and third sectors. We are investing in key infrastructure – including our historic environment, a key part of our national identity, and an essential driver for our tourism industry.

Ongoing multi-year key programmes are:

• Storage facilities for Scotland’s National Collections;
• Estates conservation for Historic Environment Scotland’s Properties in Care;
• Repairs and improvements for the National Collections estate and Historic Environment Scotland’s visitor facilities; and
• Refurbishment programme for Visit Scotland’s iCentre estate and digital investment for ‘Scotand Is Now’.

Project progress in 2019-20 includes:

• £2 million investment towards the £21.5 million redevelopment project of the Citizens Theatre, to ensure the 140-year-old institution is accessible and open to all audiences, artists, participants and the local community for generations to come. The refurbishment will protect the building’s unique Victorian features and create a new studio, rehearsal and learning space, and a new café and bar. This is part of the Gorbals regeneration programme, and will allow the Citizens Theatre to continue to play a leading role as a key cultural venue in Glasgow.
• Continuing our investment in the redevelopment of the Scottish National Gallery (SNG) in Edinburgh - £5.5 million towards the £22 million project which will showcase the National Galleries of Scotland’s amazingly rich collection of historic Scottish art, which contains masterpieces by Henry Raeburn, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Scottish Colourists as well as giving direct access to the rest of the SNG’s international collection;
• Construction of a new visitor facility in Galashiels - £2.5 million investment towards the £6.7 million project, which will provide a permanent home for the Great Tapestry of Scotland, depicting key episodes from 12,000 years of the history of Scotland and making an important contribution towards the regeneration of Galashiels.

Justice 

Female Custodial Estate
Work to build a new 80-place national facility for women in custody and 24-place assessment centre at the existing site of HMP Cornton Vale is progressing. A contract was signed in December 2019 with construction commencing on site in February 2020.

Contracts for the construction of both the Community Custody Units in Dundee and Glasgow were signed in January 2020.  On-site and completion dates will likely need to be reviewed in the light of Covid-19.  

HM Prison Highland
Notification in December 2018 from Scottish Government on capital funding availability indicated that no funding would be available until at least April 2021.  On this basis, and assuming construction work is able to start on site in April 2021, construction would not likely be completed until towards the end of 2023. 

HM Prison Glasgow
Negotiations to purchase the site at Provanmill, Glasgow have been concluded and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) have concluded missives for purchase of the site and submitted a planning application in principle to Glasgow City Council.  Site purchase is subject to successful planning permission being obtained.  Site purchase will be followed by design, issue of Invitation to Tender (ITT) and then procurement of a Contractor during 2021.  

HM Prison Greenock
The likelihood is that procurement for a works Contractor will be later in 2020-2021 at the earliest, meaning a start on site during 2022 and completion potentially by 2024. 

Inverness Justice Centre Project
The main construction works have progressed and the fit out was completed in March 2020 followed by the opening of the centre. 

Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme
A Home Office-led programme called the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) is progressing the introduction of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) that aims to move the emergency services across Great Britain from their existing critical voice communication system – known as Airwave. 

The original ESMCP ran into difficulties in 2017 due to delays in the delivery of the technology proposed. In 2018 the programme underwent a re-set following a review that considered a range of options, including cancellation, concluding ESMCP was still the right strategic solution and recommended the programme should continue.

A refreshed Home Office Full Business Case (FBC) outlines the accepted recommendations from the re-set process and Scottish Government continue to work collaboratively with the three emergency services (Police, Fire & Ambulance) in Scotland to assess ESMCP’s technical capability, affordability and the wider community benefits it will offer. The completed FBC will require re-approval through our governance processes, which will be completed during 2020.

Police Scotland ICT
Investment in the use of technology is a key objective of the ten-year policing strategy: Serving A Changing Scotland.  Police Scotland's Digital, Data and ICT (DDICT) Strategy and its associated Outline Business Case, describes how the service will utilise technology to enable operational effectiveness going forward.  

Police Scotland continues to make good progress on a number of ICT projects, which are key to delivering on its DDICT Strategy.  Early work to modernise key platform technology has resulted in the delivery of a new national network and national IT domain for Police Scotland, updating and modernising legacy systems.  A key project delivered in 2019-20 has been the roll out of mobile devices to 10,000 frontline officers, alongside investment in Police Scotland’s core operating systems programme.

Moving forward the service intends to take an incremental approach to ICT development, building on learning that is available from a range of other ICT projects.

Digital 

Overview

Digital connectivity is an essential part of Scotland’s infrastructure.  From allowing people and businesses to communicate on a global scale to supporting the technology that helps us deliver our low carbon ambitions – access to good quality digital infrastructure enables countless economic, social and environmental improvements.  

Broadband
The £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme has far exceeded its target to extend fibre broadband access to 95% of premises across Scotland by the end of 2017.  Over 946,000 premises can now access fibre broadband as a result of DSSB, with the programme due to conclude in the first half of 2020.

Through the Reaching 100% (R100) programme, superfast broadband access will be extended to 100% of homes and businesses across the country.  This commitment will be delivered via three strands of activity – the R100 contracts, a nationwide broadband voucher and commercial coverage.

During 2019, contracts for the central and south lots of the R100 procurement were awarded to BT with contracts signed on 16 December 2019.  These contracts will deliver far beyond our original superfast commitment with a significant proportion of gigabit-capable full fibre connections set to be delivered.  

The fact that much of the technology that will be delivered will go beyond our original commitment does mean that the civil engineering works will take time.  Pre-Covid, engineers aimed to reach around half of the target premises in the central and south lots by the end of 2021, with the majority of the contracted build completed by the end of 2023.

In the meantime, to ensure that everyone who wants to, can access superfast broadband services by the end of 2021, a national demand-led voucher scheme will be introduced. This will be available to anyone that will not be able to access superfast broadband by the end of 2021, regardless of whether or not built through the R100 contracts.  The voucher scheme will launch during 2020.

The R100 contract for the north of Scotland is currently subject to a legal challenge and people residing in the north of Scotland will also be eligible for the voucher scheme, ensuring that they can access superfast broadband by the end of 2021. 

Scottish 4G Infill Programme
The Scottish Government has committed to investing up to £25 million in our Scottish 4G Infill Programme which is delivering future-proofed 4G infrastructure to selected mobile hotspots.  The project is currently focusing on the delivery to up to 24 sites, with a further 16 potential sites in the pipeline.

The first S4GI funded site went live in February 2020 providing 4G services to people in New Luce in Wigtownshire, with another 12 masts either built or in the build phase.  

5G
The Scottish Government published its 5G Strategy in August 2019 setting out our aspiration to position Scotland as a 5G leader and a forward-looking digital nation.  This was followed by the establishment of The Scotland 5G Centre, which will lay the foundations in place for the development and deployment of 5G throughout Scotland.

The Scotland 5G Centre is a collaboration between government and academia with industry.  We provided £2.3 million funding to the Scotland 5G Centre in the 2019-20 financial year with further support totalling £3 million to be provided over the following two financial years. The Scotland 5G Centre’s aim is to be Scotland’s national platform for collaboration, innovation and knowledge sharing across all aspects of 5G from research to delivery and exploitation.

Energy

Overview

The Scottish Energy Strategy, launched in December 2017, set out a clear vision for the development of energy systems across Scotland that will create economic opportunities whilst supporting work to achieve Scotland’s long-term climate change targets.  It is recognised that a well-balanced energy mix will remain essential as we continue to decarbonise Scotland’s heat, transport and electricity systems – providing the basis for secure and affordable heat, mobility and power for consumers. 

The Scottish Government currently supports infrastructure across a number of programmes and initiatives with the aim of developing a decarbonised energy system for Scotland.

Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP)
Launched in 2015, the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP), which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, focuses on supporting the acceleration of low carbon energy infrastructure projects across the public, private and community sectors to develop investment grade business cases to help projects secure public and private capital finance.

The programme aims to stimulate commercial investment and maximise Scotland’s vast potential in the low carbon sector whilst contributing to the positive progress in reducing Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions.  Since 2015, LCITP has supported the co-development of over thirty proof of concept and development proposals for low carbon projects.  LCITP has also run a number of open funding invitations, including the Scottish Low Carbon Heat Funding Invitation, Transformational Low Carbon Demonstrator Invitation and the Innovative Local Energy Systems Invitation and has offered over £40 million of capital funding to 18 low carbon projects.  This funding has been matched by equivalent investment from both the public and private sector. 

• LCITP provided support of £2.9 million to Dundee City Council for a low carbon energy hub at the new Regional Performance Centre for Sport at Caird Park in Dundee. The hub incorporates a ground source heat pump system and a heat distribution network of flow and return pipework buried below ground. Solar thermal heat will also be generated from photovoltaic panels on the roof.

• The Stirling Renewable Heat Project is the first project in the UK to demonstrate the use of heat generated from waste water. Built on Scottish Water’s Stirling Waste Water Treatment Works, the energy centre consists of combined heat and power engine, a waste water heat pump system and thermal stores. LCITP provided £2 million of financial support.

Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) 
Our flagship Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) provides funding (grant and loans) and free advice delivered by development officers based throughout the country to support the growth of community and local energy.

A priority for CARES is to support the Scottish Government to reach our community and locally owned targets of 1 GW by 2020 and 2 GW by 2030 and a commitment for at least half of newly consented renewable energy projects to have an element of shared ownership.  Work began in 2019 to develop a Local Energy Policy Statement setting out the key principles for developing local energy systems in Scotland. The final Policy statement is due to be published in spring 2020.

Since 2013, £35 million has been made available through CARES to support community and locally owned projects. Up to £5 million been available through CARES for activity in 2019-20. CARES has directly supported:

• An estimated minimum of 731 MW of operational community and locally owned renewable capacity in Scotland.
• 43 operational shared ownership projects throughout Scotland under the current CARES contract (April 2017 to present).

Energy Investment Fund (EIF)
In the Scottish Energy Strategy, the Energy Investment Fund (EIF) was announced as the successor to the Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF) delivered on the Scottish Government’s behalf by the Scottish Investment Bank, part of Scottish Enterprise.  It has built on the success of the Renewable Energy Investment Fund, providing commercial investment for both renewable and low carbon energy solutions.  As well as addressing market failure, a key aim of EIF investment is to leverage benefits both in terms of wider private sector investment and other benefits aligned with Scottish Government policy priorities, including community benefits and maximising community investment in commercial schemes - £76m million had been invested, with up to £20 million made available to support EIF activity in 2018-19 and 2019-20.  Projects supported include:

• 16 community-owned wind and hydro schemes,
• 8 community investments in commercial wind farms; and
• 11 marine energy projects

Wave Energy Scotland (WES) 

Wave Energy Scotland (WES) was established in 2014.  WES is fully funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).  It funds the development of disruptive technologies that will improve the performance and cost effectiveness of wave energy devices and is recognised as a truly innovative approach to pre-commercial procurement delivering both value for money and innovation.  

To date, WES has funded 88 contracts, invested almost £40 million and been involved with around 200 organisations across 13 different countries.  The two best wave energy prototypes from the programme are due to be deployed for real sea testing in Orkney later this year. 

Saltire: Tidal Energy Challenge Fund
Scotland has tremendous tidal stream energy resources and remains a world leader in the development of tidal energy technology.  In February 2019, the Scottish Government launched the £10 million Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund to support the commercial deployment of tidal energy generation in Scottish waters by driving innovation and a reduction in the cost of electricity generated.  Details of the first award under the Fund - £3.4 million to Orbital Marine Power to deliver the next generation O2 2MW floating tidal energy turbine were announced in August 2019.  The Fund closed for applications on 6 December 2019, and details of any further projects being supported will be made in due course.   

Water 

Overview

On 1 April 2015, Scottish Water began to deliver the investment requirements for the 2015-21 period as directed by Ministers on 1 October 2014. The Delivery Assurance Group is carefully reporting on the delivery of the improvements in line with Scottish Water’s delivery plan and quarterly reports are published on the Scottish Government’s website.

In the current regulatory period 2015-21, Scottish Water will invest £3.9 billion in maintaining and replacing its infrastructure and in delivering further improvements to drinking water quality, protecting the environment and supporting the Scottish economy. These vital services are part of Scotland’s critical infrastructure and certain works remain essential during the Coronavirus outbreak.  Since April 2015, Scottish Water has delivered over £2.6 billion of investment and is investing an average of over £50 million a month.

Scottish Water reported for the financial year 2018-19 that £660 million capital investment was made which delivered a significant contribution towards a number of the Government's key strategic objectives. This investment enabled it to:

• Deliver better services to customers;
• Improve drinking water quality;
• Provide additional capacity to meet the demands of new housing;
• Reduce leakage; and
• Protect Scotland's environment.

Examples of improvements include:

• Levels of customer service for 2018-19 were at an all-time high and are amongst the best in the UK (in 2009-10 Scottish Water ranked amongst the worst);
• Environmental compliance has improved significantly over the last five years with significant reductions in numbers of pollution incidents - in 2018-19 there were 219 pollution incidents, compared to 939 in 2009-10;
• Drinking water quality is at a high level in 2018-19 and 99.90% of samples taken met strict quality standards;
• Scottish Water supports Scotland‘s economy by investing over £54 million a month;  
• To deliver this investment, it works closely with alliance partners and delivery teams who bring with them, dedicated, well trained people;
• This includes more than 200 suppliers, employing around 3,000 people, many of whom are young apprentices and graduates;
• Scottish Water is committed to playing its role in responding to the climate emergency as set out in the Programme for Government;
• Scottish Water is now facilitating enough renewable generation to meet over 200% of its electricity requirement;
• Scottish Water’s operational carbon footprint for 2018-19 decreased by nearly 13% compared with 2017-18 and by 41% since it started reporting in 2006-07. 

Investment Pipeline

Scottish Water's investment programme is defined and funded for the period 2015-21. The investment programme is set out in the form of Ministerial Directions and a supporting Technical Expression in the form of a list of outputs.

Scottish Water's Delivery Plan sets out how Scottish Water intends to deliver the investment over the five-year period.  The 2015-21 investment plan contains many thousands of projects.  

In 2019-20, the following key projects were completed:

• Scottish Water's £17 million investment project in Paisley's waste water infrastructure won the Community Engagement Initiative of the Year award at this year's New Civil Engineer Tunnelling Festival Awards.  The tunnelling project to improve the water quality and natural environment in the Espedair Burn and White Cart Water, and tackle flooding in the Paisley area, was completed in June 2019. 
• Scottish Water has opened a new £21 million waste water treatment works at Inverurie. The plant uses award-winning ‘Nereda’ technology to deliver faster settlement, making the treatment process quicker and more efficient by avoiding the need for pumps and mixers. 
• The project to help protect and enhance the environment of the Firth of Clyde and coastal waters in Largs has been completed.  The improvement work involved the renewal and upgrade of sections of the existing wastewater infrastructure near to the beachfront in Largs thereby reducing the potential impact on the bathing water and the wider marine environment.
• Between April and December 2019, Scottish Water delivered three further solar photovoltaic projects at Assynt Water Treatment Works, Camphill Water Treatment Works, and Glenconvinth Water Treatment Works.
• Supported by funding from the Scottish Government’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, Scottish Water Horizons commissioned a low carbon energy centre at Stirling WWTW in October 2019. The energy centre comprises waste water heat pumps, a gas combined heat and power engine (CHP) and back up boilers supplying heat for a district heating network operated by Stirling Council. The CHP also supplies electricity to the WWTW.

A number of high profile, complex projects are currently underway including:

Ayrshire Strategic Resilience Scheme 
This will provide improved water supply resilience to around 85,000 properties in 4 water operational areas: Bradan, South Moorhouse, Corsehouse and Amlaird. Phases one and two of the scheme are already complete.  Phase 3 – to augment the supply available across the City of Glasgow – will involve the reconfiguration of three existing trunk mains and the building of a new pumping station and trunk main.  This scope has been the subject of significant design development, enabled by improved network intelligence available from the hydraulic models that have been built over the past 3 years. Compared with the original proposal, this option offers better network resilience across Greater Glasgow.

Water of Leith
Scottish Water is improving Edinburgh's wastewater systems with a multi-million pound investment.  The project will improve the environment around the Water of Leith.  The work includes the installation of new pipework, chambers and screens to reduce the risk of sewage related debris entering the Water of Leith and removing the Unsatisfactory Intermittent Discharges (UIDs) thus improving the aesthetics and reducing the environmental impact of storm overflows on the Water of Leith. This will result in an improved watercourse for all its users.

Drinking Water Resilience
Final construction and commissioning work is under way on the South Edinburgh Resilience project.  When complete, it will provide improved water supply resilience for customers normally supplied by Marchbank (around 137,000 customers) and Glencorse (up to 450,000 customers) water treatment works.

Loch Ness Project
Scottish Water is progressing with a £21 million project to provide a single, improved water supply to around 1,250 customers in the heart of the Great Glen, as well as catering to significant seasonal demand in the area from tourism.  The Loch Ness Project covers a range of different activities including the installation of a new water main along part of the Great Glen Way, the crossing of the river and canal in Fort Augustus and the installation of a new raw water intake from Loch Ness.

Rural Economy and the Environment

Rural Economy  

The Agriculture and Rural Economy (ARE) Directorate’s purpose within the Scottish Government is to influence, develop and implement innovative policies in partnership with our customers and stakeholders in order to grow the rural economy and maximise the social, economic and environmental benefit for rural Scotland. In doing this, we provide income and support to rural business, farmers and crofters.  We are Scotland’s Paying Agency for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).  

Following on from the Simplification consultation, the CAP Simplification and Improvement project is looking at improvements to existing schemes under the stability and simplicity agenda under the Agriculture (EU retained Law and Data) (Scotland) Bill over the period 2021-24.  This project also takes into account the climate emergency and wider environmental stability.  

We will remain under the current CAP schemes until 31 December 2020 and under powers of the Agriculture Bill, we will be able to pursue changes using secondary legislation.  We have launched an agricultural transformation programme to co-ordinate our activities to support increased bio-diversity and reducing the carbon equivalent emissions of the sector.

Environment

Flooding is one of the greatest climate risks in Scotland.  In 2016, Scottish Ministers and COSLA agreed a 10-year funding plan to support delivery of 40 prioritised flood protection schemes and works set out in the Flood Risk Management Strategies published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in December 2015.  The agreement guarantees that until 2026, the level of flooding capital grant in the local government settlement is set at a minimum of £42 million per annum.

During 2019-20, work was completed on Phase 3 of the White Cart Water Flood Protection Scheme and on works to the Camlachie Burn, which will reduce the risk of flooding to over 500 properties in Glasgow.   Both projects received 80% funding from the Scottish Government through the general capital grant.

Housing

Overview

We want everyone in Scotland to live in affordable, quality homes that meet their needs. This is central to building and sustaining a fairer and more prosperous Scotland. Scotland has a strong record in housing delivery. 

Over the last Parliamentary term 2011-16, we exceeded our 30,000 affordable homes target. A total of 33,490 affordable homes were delivered, 22,523 of these homes were for social rent, including 5,992 council homes. Building on this success, we and our partners want more homes delivered across all tenures. 

During the current Parliamentary term, 2016-21, our target is to deliver 50,000 affordable homes, 35,000 of which will be for social rent backed by investment of over £3.5 billion. This is the single biggest investment in, and delivery of affordable housing since devolution.  The Coronavirus outbreak has currently paused work on housing construction sites making the meeting of our target more challenging.  However, sufficient sites were active for that goal to be met.  

Over the period 1 April 2016 to 31 December 2019, a total of 31,136 affordable homes have been delivered towards the 50,000 affordable homes target, including 20,336 for social rent, 3,684 for affordable rent and 7,116 for affordable home ownership.  

We have listened to our partners and will continue to work with them closely to deliver More Homes Scotland - our overarching approach to support the increase in the supply of homes across all tenures.

Progress

• In 2019-20, we have made available over £120 million to help prospective buyers to access homeownership; £70 million has been allocated to the Open Market Shared Equity scheme to help around 1,700 first time buyers on low to moderate incomes and £50 million was allocated to the Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordable New Build and Smaller Developers Schemes to help around 2,000 first time buyers and existing homeowners buy a new build home.
• In 2016, we launched the five year Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), linked to the delivery of the 50,000 affordable homes target. The fund provides grant and loan support for housing related infrastructure projects which have stalled or cannot proceed due to the level or cost of infrastructure. Local authorities are invited to submit strategic sites for consideration as part of their Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs). While HIF can support all tenures, priority is given to those projects, which will deliver affordable housing. 
• We are supporting affordable housing provision through loan funded mid-market rent (MMR) schemes. Most recently, Scottish Government loan funding of £47.5 million has been provided to the Place making and Regeneration Group, Places for People Capital to set up an investment fund to deliver 1,000 affordable MMR homes across Scotland and has attracted £85 million from pension fund investors plus £10 million from Castle Rock Edinvar to generate a total investment package of £142.5 million. In addition, £55 million loan funding to LAR Housing Trust has resulted in a total investment package of £120 million, including £65 million private investment, towards delivery of up to 1,000 MMR homes. 
• Innovative delivery through the National Housing Trust – the first guarantee based scheme for housing in the UK, has contributed over 1,700 affordable homes across Scotland.
• We have supported local authorities to develop plans to boost the supply of affordable housing through prudential borrowing, and delivering City Deal commitments on housing. This includes consent to on-lend up to £248 million along with a £16 million capital grant to City of Edinburgh Council to support a new city region housing company to deliver a minimum of 1,500 homes at mid-market rent and competitive market rent levels. This company, known as Edinburgh Living, had its first affordable housing development completion of 22 units in January 2019.
• We launched the Rental Income Guarantee Scheme (RIGS) on 12 October 2017 to support Build to Rent in Scotland, with support from Scottish Futures Trust. It is designed as a high-leverage stimulus to attract further institutional investment in the emerging Build to Rent market, delivering new high quality professionally managed PRS (Private Rented Sector) homes. RIGS was developed in consultation with the industry, addressing the uncertainty around rental income streams in this emerging market. 
• The £150 million Building Scotland Fund (BSF) was introduced as a precursor to the Scottish National Investment bank.  Funding is directed towards the development of housing, modern industrial and commercial property and business-led research and development and has a focus on projects and investments that support sustainable economic growth, reduce carbon and sustain and create places. It is designed to stimulate investment and boost the supply of much needed housing, helping to build a Scotland that is innovative, inclusive and attractive as a place to live and work. Housing, regeneration and industrial and commercial developments are being supported by the Fund.  The BSF has now agreed investments of £100 million, unlocking projects in excess of £238 million and providing a significant boost to the Scottish economy.  BSF has agreed investments of £76 million in a range of housing projects, from large-scale transformational projects to smaller developments being delivered by small and medium-size enterprise (SME) housebuilders. This is supporting the expansion of SME housebuilders, the development of more than 5,500 homes and around 600 full time jobs.
• We have maintained £30 million funding for the Rural and Island Housing Funds for viable project approvals by March 2021. These Funds are open to a wide range of applicants including community bodies, private landlords and landowners and are specifically targeted to increase the supply of affordable housing of all tenures in rural Scotland. 

Going Forward

Below, we set out plans made before Covid-19 which impact the construction sector.  Many of these will be significantly affected in the 2020-21 financial year:  

• £827 million was made available during 2019-20, of which £685 million was capital funding: £843 million will be available in 2020-21 of which £707 million will be capital funding. 
• We have already given councils and housing associations the long-term certainty needed to deliver our ambitious target by allocating full resource planning assumptions to March 2021. 
• Our investment in housing will, on average, leverage economic output in the region of £1.4 billion per year supporting around 10,000 to 12,000 jobs per annum in the construction and related industries in Scotland.
• We have provided a commitment of £300 million interim funding certainty for 2021-22 ahead of the spending review later this year, to ensure that affordable homes continue to be delivered.
• We have put in place a programme, Achieving Excellence in Housing Development, which is driving value for money and quality in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.  This involves developing a performance improvement system for housing development (a prototype report is due to be published in the summer ahead of wide sector engagement), working with housing associations to improve their procurement capability.  The programme is demonstrating potential significant improvements, and developing a sector wide approach to modern methods of construction following the publication of jointly commissioned research to provide an evidence base for future policy in relation to offsite construction for affordable homes.  We are also working with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and other partners to develop an approach to measuring the wider social and economic value added by affordable housing and expect to have a prototype tool available in the summer.
• We have led ground-breaking innovation in housing financing approaches and delivery models enabling delivery of over 20,000 new homes across all tenures - positioning Scotland as a leader in this field. 
• Innovations have included use of government guarantees, loan and equity funding, and collaboration and risk sharing with local authorities and the private sector. Public and private sources of funding and financing have been combined to create new investment opportunities for our partners and secure major additional investment in housing and social infrastructure programmes. 
• We are also supporting and enabling investment in the emerging Build-to-Rent housing market with the potential for delivery of an additional 2,500 new homes for market rent stimulating up to £500 million private investment. Through the Building Scotland Fund, the Scottish Government has provided Sigma Capital with a £30 million revolving credit facility to enable delivery of up to 1,800 suburban Build to Rent homes across Scotland.
• We are the first, and remain the only, government in the UK, to invest in Charitable Bonds, a form of ethical investment, which creates loan finance to fund affordable housing, and generates charitable donations. Investment spend for the financial year 2019-20 was £89.4 million, generating charitable donations of around £26 million. Total spend on the Charitable Bond programme is expected to be £221.9 million by the end of 2019-20, supporting the delivery of around 2,300 homes. 
• The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the supply of new homes and it is crucial that this is taken forward in a way that supports the right housing in the right places not just in terms of numbers, but as an integral part of a place-based approach to planning for housing. The measures introduced through the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 together with the existing structures supporting housing delivery will ensure that we are meeting the housing needs of Scotland’s population and providing sufficient land to meet those needs.   

Regeneration 

Overview

• The Scottish Government’s Regeneration Strategy recognises that a sustained and coordinated place based approach across the public sector and its partners, working with people and communities, is needed to address the deeply ingrained economic, environmental and social issues faced by some of Scotland's most disadvantaged, fragile and remote communities. 

• Community-led regeneration delivers inclusive growth by supporting interventions which respond to local circumstances and increases opportunities to attract investment and jobs in those communities, while building community and regional cohesion.  Improved economic, social and environmental outcomes are achieved through community-led solutions, which deliver projects and services specific to community aspirations and needs, through collaborative partnerships invested in those areas and outcomes.
• Regeneration across Scotland’s cities, towns, villages, communities and remote areas is underpinned through a combination of funding and investment; and, creating the conditions to support community empowerment, place based approaches and inclusive growth.
  The Place Principle was adopted by Cabinet and COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) in March 2019. A Place website to promote place based working and share supportive materials and innovative examples of how the Place Principle is shaping investment and decision making to improve nationally and locally prioritized outcomes for communities, is under development.

Key funding measures include:  

• The SPRUCE fund (Scottish Partnership for Regeneration in Urban Centres), provides investment in the form of loans for commercial and industrial property and sustainable energy projects that support regeneration and inclusive growth.  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 COSLA, supports locally developed, place-based regeneration projects that involve local communities and helps tackle inequality and support inclusive growth in disadvantaged and fragile rural areas.  
• The Vacant and Derelict Land Fund aims to tackle long-term vacant and derelict land bringing it back into productive use in order to stimulate economic growth and job creation, with a focus on temporary and permanent greening, whilst supporting communities to flourish and tackle inequalities.  
• The Empowering Communities Programme comprising a suite of strategic partnerships and funds  that together 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.  
• Funding is used to support hundreds of community organisations through two key community funds the new Investing in Communities Fund and Aspiring Communities Fund and funding to key programmes such as the Community Ownership Support Service. 
• We launched the Investing in Communities Fund in 2019-20, bringing together five former community funds to provide a simpler, more flexible process for communities. Importantly the fund offers multi-year funding grants to support communities in longer term planning to address deep ingrained issues of poverty and inequality, and develop more sustainable solutions.

Progress  

• SPRUCE, Scotland's Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas (JESSICA) investment loan fund is now recycling loans, which have been repaid into further regeneration projects. In addition to the initial £50 million of capital, further contributions of £45 million in Financial Transactions, including £25 million provided by the Building Scotland Fund have been provided by the Scottish Government to support investments taking the total contributions to £95 million. A total of 15 projects have now received investment of over £97 million, supporting estimated development costs of over £282 million and creating more than 5,000 jobs. 
• The Scottish Government continues to support Clyde Gateway URC with more than £161 million of support provided up until March 2020. 
• Since the first year of RCGF (2014-15), a total of 163 projects across Scotland have been recommended to receive an offer of grant, at a total of over £160 million.
• RCGF projects recommended for grant support to date would be anticipated to support or create more than 8,800 jobs, refurbish and bring back into use 216 buildings, create more than 181,900 sqm of business space, support a combined total of over 490 community facilities and services and benefit more than 2,900 businesses or enterprises. 
• Over £121 million provided from the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund to tackle long-term vacant and derelict land in five local authority areas.  
• We established a £50 million capital Town Centre Fund to enable local authorities to stimulate and support a wide range of investments, which encourage town centres to diversify and flourish, creating footfall through local improvements and partnerships.  Specifically, this fund will contribute to transformative investments, which re-purpose and diversify town centre use and promote inclusive growth through place-based approaches. Local authorities are currently delivering on projects supported by this fund. 
• This builds on previous investment of £10 million against the themes of the Town Centre Action Plan through the Town Centre Housing Fund, Town Centre Communities Capital Fund, Town Centre Empty Homes Fund and the Town Centre Action plan demonstration phase. 

Cities / Regions  

Overview

City Region and Growth Deals are one of our key economic levers. They galvanise key partners to come together to drive regional economies in ways that go well beyond the investments that they deliver, leveraging local and regional intelligence about how best to drive inclusive growth. 

In 2019-20, we formally signed the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region full deal document. This represented an investment of £45.1 million from the Scottish Government, bringing our total investment in City Region Deals to over £1.25 billon over the next 10-20 years.

Glasgow City Region Deal 
The Scottish Government is supporting all three strands of the Glasgow City Region Deal and contributing £500 million over 20 years to the Infrastructure Investment Fund a further £20 million committed to the Imaging Centre of Excellence at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. 

The Deal empowers Glasgow and its City Region partners to identify, manage and deliver a programme of investment to stimulate economic growth and create jobs in their area, spreading the benefits of economic growth across Glasgow City Region and ensuring deprived areas benefit from this growth. Additional to the infrastructure investment, the deal includes a £72 million life science and business support strand and a £24 million employability strand. 

The Deal was signed in August 2014 and the vast majority of projects are underway with a number having already been completed. Construction has now started in Sighthill in one of the largest urban regeneration projects of its kind outside of London. The area will welcome over 800 new homes, a new school campus and an iconic pedestrian bridge - providing improved connections across the M8 to the near-by city centre.

The Sauchiehall Street pilot for the Avenues project has now been completed. Further Avenue sites are in development to create an integrated network of continuous pedestrian and cycle routes across the city centre.

Aberdeen City Region Deal 
The Scottish Government along with the UK Government have committed to investing up to £125 million each in the Aberdeen City Region Deal, alongside further contributions from Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils and Opportunity North East.  The deal was signed in November 2016 and is now well underway. 

The Oil and Gas Technology Centre has just celebrated its third year of operation, and is either meeting or exceeding stretched targets, building an excellent reputation in the industry for advancing the adoption of new technologies. 

The Food Hub for Innovation- now branded SeedPod – is expected to begin building this year. The hub is to be located in the Sunnybrae area of Aberdeen, co-located with the Scottish Rural College and is due to open in 2022. 

An appraisal of options for improving access to Aberdeen South Harbour is underway with completion expected in the second half of 2020. Further stages of engagement are planned for summer 2020, the outcomes of which will feed into the assessment of the options in terms of their public acceptability. This work will inform what supporting infrastructure is necessary for the Aberdeen Harbour Expansion.

The Scottish Government is also investing a further £254 million in addition to the deal to deliver a more significant step change to the economy of the North East supporting Transport, Digital and Housing proposals. 

Inverness City Region Deal 
The Scottish Government has committed to investing up to £135 million in the £315 million Inverness City Deal and with the UK Government providing up to £53 million and the Council and regional partners a further £127 million over 10 years. The deal will support a step change in digital connectivity, digital healthcare, skills, innovation and infrastructure in the region.  The deal was signed in January 2017 and is now underway. 

The first 35 homes have been built as part of the Affordable Housing project enabling young people to stay in the region and retaining a young, vibrant workforce.  Development of further sites across the Highlands is ongoing with a further 42 homes due for completion by 31 March 2020. 

Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region Deal
The Scottish Government is a full partner in the £1.3 billion Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal and along with the UK Government has committed to investing up to £300 million each in the 15 year deal. Regional partners, including the six local authorities and the region's universities and private sector, will contribute £730 million. 

The Scottish Government's investment will contribute towards 41,000 new homes, 21,000 jobs and improve the skills of an estimated 14,700 people. The deal was signed in August 2018 and is now well underway. The Scottish Government is working together with the UK Government and regional partners during the implementation phase. Business cases for several projects have now been signed off by governments and the region's Joint Committee.

Progress is ongoing with the design and construction of a new grade separated junction on the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass at Sheriffhall. The development and assessment of the preferred option for the scheme has now been completed with draft Orders and Environmental Statement for the scheme published on 5 December 2019 for formal comment.

Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal 
The Scottish Government, UK Government and regional partners formally signed the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal on 26 February 2020.  Both the Scottish and UK Governments have committed to jointly invest £90.2 million on a 50:50 basis.  Regional partners have committed investment of £123.8 million, meaning the deal is worth £214 million overall.  The Scottish Government will also invest a further £5 million in addition to the deal to deliver a new business park at Kildean and to help unlock enabling infrastructure in Callander. 

An early project for delivery is Scotland’s International Environment Centre, which comprises a research and policy centre on the University of Stirling Campus and an innovation campus located in Alloa.  Through the Regional Active Travel improvements programme, investment will be made in projects to provide strategic linkages in key population and education centres across the region, linking the more rural communities whilst reducing carbon. 

Tay Cities Region Deal
The Scottish Government, UK Government and regional partners signed a Heads of Terms agreement on 22 November 2018. The Deal will deliver over £700 million into the region, including £150 million each from both governments and investment from regional partners of £400 million. 

The Scottish Government will also invest a further £50 million in the region to deliver a new cross Tay link road and a strategic regional Industrial Investment Programme.

Work continues between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and regional partners to secure the signing of the full deal as soon as possible. 

Ayrshire Growth Deal
The Scottish Government, UK Government and regional partners signed a Heads of Terms agreement on 9 March 2019.  Both the Scottish and UK Governments have committed to investing £103 million each.  Regional partners will contribute £45.5 million to a total deal worth £251.5 million. 

Scottish Government investment includes £40 million for an Economic Infrastructure Programme, including innovative projects around engineering, manufacturing and digital automation, £30 million for an Aerospace and Space Programme and £18.5 million for tourism and regeneration.  

Borderlands Growth Deal
The Heads of Terms agreement for the Borderlands Deal was signed on 1 July 2019.  The Scottish Government will invest £85 million in the deal over 10 years and the UK Government will invest £65 million in its Scottish aspects of the deal over 15 years bringing the combined deal value for Scotland to £150 million. 

Officials are working with regional partners and the UK Government to identify suitable projects for early delivery.