Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: progress report - 2021 to 2022

Enabling net zero emissions and environmental sustainability

Decarbonising Transport and Supporting Active Travel

Transport

Within the last year, since the new Charge Place Scotland (CPS) network operator contract was awarded in March 2021, there has been a successful migration of over 2,000 chargepoint assets and 20,000 member accounts making the Scottish Network the largest Electric Vehicle (EV) charging network in the world at this point. The network continues to grow, with over 500 new members joining each week, and over 30,000 charging sessions commencing on a weekly basis

We have completed Phase 1 of a project designed to develop the fleets procurement framework in order to drive efficiencies in public sector fleet transition, and we also provided in excess of £13 million of funding to local authorities and public bodies to facilitate and support fleet decarbonisation activity.

We provided £52.7 million in new and recycled funds in year, to provide Low Carbon Transport Loans for consumers and businesses, and we further enhanced the payment management processes in order to support the impact of COVID-19 on loan repayments. The scheme has seen some of its highest rates of applications, exceeding pre-pandemic levels, particularly across May and June 2021.

In July 2021, we launched the first phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund, designed to encourage a move from funding to finance, the fund encouraged collaboration, innovative business models, and challenged bidders to apply for the lowest possible level of subsidy. In February 2022 we announced awards of £62 million, leveraging in £59 million private investment, to support 276 new battery-electric buses and charging infrastructure for those, and other, vehicles.

We have supported the development of the LOCATE drive train test facility due to be delivered in Summer 2023, overseen by the Hydrogen Accelerator programme in partnership with St Andrews University and Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc. This is progressing following Ministerial approval of an updated funding and delivery plan factoring in the impact of continuing post COVID-19 supply chain disruption.

We designed a Zero Emission Truck Taskforce to develop a decarbonisation pathway for HGVs (heavy goods vehicles) over the next 12 months spanning vehicle trials, energy infrastructure, business models and the potential role of biofuels. Key industry stakeholders and membership bodies have reviewed and support the detailed proposal.

For the year ahead, we will be initiating activity through investing £3 million from the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund which looks to leverage private sector investment into the growth and development of public EV (Electric Vehicle) charging infrastructure in Scotland by transitioning away from current CPS model and introducing a new approach to funding public EV infrastructure. We will continue to support the decarbonisation of public sector fleets by investing a further £12.4 million. We will support householders in rural areas who are often faced with additional financial barriers by installing 1800 chargepoints for EVs.

We will launch new Zero Emission Mobility Innovation Fund to support domestic supply chain innovation to meet Mission Zero. We will invest a further £4.9 million in LOCATE, the Zero Emission drivetrain testing centre which will expand Scotland's sustainable innovation.

We will provide £2 million for the establishment of a Dryroom at the Eden Campus, St Andrews University, which will support battery supply chain development in Scotland. Driving the Electric Revolution Scotland (DERS) Industrialisation Centre is set to open in Autumn 2022. This innovation centre will support the development and testing of components and systems for zero emission vehicles. Further to this, we will invest in excess of 0.5 million to support skills development for those working with zero emission vehicles.

Decarbonising Heat and Boosting the Energy Efficiency of Buildings

Domestic Energy Efficiency: Area Based Schemes

In line with our commitments in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government has maintained its annual investment in local ABS (Area Based Schemes) projects at £64 million in 2022-23 (funding remains at the same level as in 21-22, up by £9 million from £55 million in 2020-21). This has allowed us to increase the scope of ABS projects to provide more whole house retrofits that include zero/low carbon heating and microgeneration (solar PV (Photovoltaics) etc.), where this is technically feasible and will help to reduce fuel poverty.

Every council in Scotland has been offered more funding in 2021-22 than in 2020-21. Changes in individual allocations partly reflect the overall fall in the average proportion of fuel poor households and updates to the reported numbers of properties eligible for SWI (solid wall insulation) measures etc. The average amount of ABS funding available for fuel poor households in 2021-22 across Scotland is £106 per household and increased from £103 per household in 2020-21. Almost all councils have seen an increase in their funding per fuel poor household in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21.

In April 2021, we extended the scope for ABS projects to include zero/low carbon heating and microgeneration measures (solar PV) as part of a `whole house retrofit'. This includes additional funding of £6,000 towards the costs of these measures, in addition to grant funding for insulation and enabling measures.

We recognise that the costs of delivering energy efficiency measures are higher in many rural areas, in particular in remote rural and island areas. Councils can apply an uplift of 11% where necessary to help meet increased delivery costs in rural areas.

Domestic Energy Efficiency: Warmer Homes Scotland

The annual budget for 2021-2022 was £50 million and this has been further increased to £55 million for 2022-2023. Warmer Homes Scotland has helped over 25,000 households since its launch in 2015, and currently households who receive improvements through the scheme are expected to save an average of £230 per year on their energy bills. The contract for Warmer Homes Scotland has been extended to run until June 2023.

Through Warmer Homes Scotland we have made available renewable heat and new insulation measures some of which may be particularly beneficial to rural and remote communities not served by the gas grid. These include: ground source heat pumps, micro-wind, micro hydro, micro-CHP (Combined Heat and Power) systems and 'Q-Bot' - an underfloor insulation system installed by a robot. Micro-CHP systems are not suitable for off gas grid areas as these are gas powered. Additional enabling measures introduced under the scheme include extraction of failed cavity wall insulation, asbestos removal and the installation of fuel storage tanks and low energy lighting.

The formal procurement for an enhanced successor scheme to Warmer Homes Scotland is underway, with the new scheme due to go live when the current contract expires. The new scheme will have a greater focus on decarbonisation of heat, taking a zero emissions first approach to heating installations with a greater intervention cost per household.

Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund

First launched in August 2020, the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund is making £200 million available to registered social landlords to help install zero emission heating systems and improve energy efficiency in social housing until 2026. The fund is for the retrofit or refurbishment of existing housing stock and provides grant funding to help cover the costs of energy efficiency measures and zero emission heating systems, including connections to district heat networks. This financial year (2022-23) a further £30 million will be allocated to the fund to support both energy efficiency and zero heating emission projects.

Community and Renewable Energy Scheme

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the growth of community and local energy in Scotland through mechanisms such as its flagship Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES). The scheme, which is delivered by Local Energy Scotland, supports communities to engage, participate and benefit from the energy transition to net zero. The current CARES contract, which commenced 1 April 2021 and will run for a period of 4 years, will give priority to decarbonisation as the driver for community-led action.

In 2021-22 our CARES 'Let's Do Net Zero Community Buildings' funding call received 218 expressions of interest. Over £2.6 million has been awarded to 74 organisations to install renewable technologies in community buildings.

The new CARES heat programme, which will begin in 2022-23, will focus on supporting communities to take forward heat decarbonisation projects in their local area. It will provide support for community buildings and bespoke project development. CARES will also provide a package of support in 2022-23 for Scotland's more remote and rural off grid communities to upgrade their energy systems making them more resilient and sustainable in the future to help them decarbonise their energy supplies.

Public Sector Estate: Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Fund

The Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Fund was launched in June 2021. It offers capital grant funding support to enable the delivery of decarbonisation projects across the public sector, specifically supporting retrofit of existing buildings owned by central government organisations with energy efficiency measures and renewable heat technology to help them reach net zero emissions across their estates. The fund also provides resource support to enable the building of a pipeline of investment-ready projects in 2022-23 and beyond, further accelerating investment in energy efficiency and renewable technology across the public sector.

Since establishment in June 2021, the fund has given more than £10 million capital funding, and £700k resource funding to improve the energy efficiency and decarbonisation of a number of public sector buildings owned by NHS boards, further education colleges and other central government organisations. The fund is set to re-launch this Spring, with a minimum of £10 million capital grant funding available for decarbonisation projects in 2022-23.

Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme

The Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme is now closed to new applications after awarding approximately £60 million to projects that decarbonise heat since it was launched in 2015. In 2021-22, it was announced that the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme had awarded funding of £8.7 million to low carbon energy projects that support Scotland's Green Recovery, £6.6 million of which were for projects that will decarbonise how buildings are heated. Another announcement will be made in due course on further projects that have been awarded funding.

Scotland's Heat Network Fund

Scotland's Heat Network Fund was launched in February 2022 with a budget of £300 million over the course of this parliament to accelerate the deployment of zero and low emissions heat networks that can provide reliable and affordable heat to consumers. A key objective of the Heat Network Fund is to support projects that will result in wider social and economic benefits for Scotland. It will also help kick start the Scottish heat network supply chain, creating high quality green jobs. The Heat in Buildings Development Funding Invitation has also been launched, worth up to £1 million in 2022-23 to provide grant support to develop Investment Grade Business Cases to help create a pipeline of large heat decarbonisation projects.

Clyde Mission

Work is underway to develop a scheme to distribute funds to support the delivery of zero emissions heat projects along the River Clyde to help to deliver the aims of Clyde Mission to make the Clyde an engine of sustainable and inclusive growth for the city, the region and for Scotland. An announcement on the detail of that scheme is expected to be made summer/autumn 2022. Clyde Mission is Theme 3 of the £1 million Heat in Buildings Development Fund which was launched in March 2022 and will provide pre-capital support.

RBGE - Edinburgh Biomes

The Edinburgh Biomes is a critical infrastructure replacement / improvement project which will see new energy efficient glasshouses, an energy centre and state of the art front of house facilities installed in the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh (one of Scotland's top visitor attractions), including the Grade A Listed Victorian Palm House. The glasshouse structures and energy centre are essential in order to protect and conserve Scotland's National Living Plant Collection.

In 2021-22, we saw commencement of ground works, including preparations for the decanting of species to temporary storage areas, construction of the new low carbon energy centre, and works on the Victorian Palm House.

The Edinburgh Biomes is a complex multi-year project with a large number of interconnecting parts involving 'living' species of rare and protected plants. Like a number of large scale capital infrastructure projects, progress has been impacted by flux in the global construction market, resulting in increased costs, shortage of materials and delays in delivery.

During 2022-23, will see continued focus on the energy centre, decant village and Victorian Palm House. Project timelines and milestones are being reviewed and adapted on an ongoing basis.

Decarbonising Industry

Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF)

Within the last year, there was commencement of on-site activity for decarbonising industrial sectors via projects in receipt of Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) grant offers. Co-investment is already offered to seven industrial manufacturing sites for energy efficiency projects across Scotland, amounting to over £3 million of the c£10 million total (including industries' contributions).

For year ahead, a second call for projects is at due diligence stage from which a greater number of projects and a higher overall value of grants than the initial call is anticipated. This will boost investor confidence across Scottish sectors to progress projects at manufacturing sites that can reduce carbon intensity and deliver energy productivity gains.

Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF)

Within the last year, the Scottish Government has committed £180 million capital funding for the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF) as part of the Climate Change Plan over 5 years (2021-2026). Proposed £100 million on Hydrogen and £80 million on Carbon Capture storage (CCS). Scheme design and stakeholder engagement both commenced during 2021-22. We have also been exploring the links with other low carbon funds, including Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF), Energy Transition Fund (ETF), Low Carbon manufacturing and Low Carbon transport, to ensure these work seamlessly alongside each other to support the development of a Hydrogen economy and CCS network and do not duplicate one another.

Looking ahead, this year we will launch the first tranche of the EETF, the £10 million EETF Hydrogen Innovation Scheme in June 2022 with launch of wider £90 million EETF fund investment programme expected in Quarter 3/4. A finalised Hydrogen Action Plan will also publish in Quarter 3/4.

Energy Transition Fund (ETF)

Within the last year, Grant letters were finalised and awarded for three of the four projects. Awards of £23.6 million for the Energy Transition Zone (UK Government match funding), £16.7 million for the Net Zero Technology Transition Programme delivered by the Net Zero Technology Centre and £6.5 million for the Global Underwater Hub (UK Government match funding) were all agreed. The ETF steering group transitioned to a project board, meeting quarterly with email write round to deal with exceptions.

Delivery on two of three projects was delayed with underspend due to delays in issuing grant award letters. The Global Underwater Hub delivered on time and to budget for 2021-22. The Grant Award letter for Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub is being finalised after delays due to needing additional financial and legal advice before issuing.

For year ahead, the Energy Transition Zone has a delivery plan in place to spend £10 million in 2022-23 – progress is good with £4.19 million spend due for Q1. This includes procurement of the site and building for the National Floating Wind Innovation Centre as announced by the First Minister on her launch visit on 28 February 2022. The Global Underwater Hub has a delivery plan in place for a spend of £2.8 million in 2022-23. They are moving at pace to deliver on the key objectives, and have a spend of £277k due for Q1.

The Net Zero Technology Transfer Programme is budgeting to spend £8.1 million in 2022-23 and work in Q1 relates mainly to developing consortia to deliver on the seven projects making up the programme, with delivery rolling out from Q2 onwards. The Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub has an award for £4.8 million in 2022-23. The focus for 2022-23 will be on delivering procurement of new vehicle fleet and development and upgrading of existing hydrogen refuelling capabilities. Additionally, there will be initial investment in developing Green hydrogen production, though this is expected to take multiple years to complete.

Low Carbon Manufacturing

During 2021-22, we developed and launched a CivTech challenge that aims to find a technological or software solution to help better inform decisions manufacturers take to decarbonise. At the completion of the CivTech accelerator phase, we signed a PCA with a small Scottish start-up called iSumio to work towards a beta product by the end of 2022.

In 2022-23, the Low Carbon Manufacturing Challenge Fund (LCMCF) was launched in May 2022. Administered by Scottish Enterprise, grants are for a minimum of £150,000 with £3 million available this calendar year. The goal is the development of new products, services or technologies that will reduce emissions, energy consumption, waste production and decrease the use of raw materials in the manufacture, and/or end use, of the existing alternative. Alternatively, we want to support the development of new business models based on the principles of a circular economy. Through circular supplies, resource recovery, product life extension or use of sharing platforms, for example.

Work will continue on our CivTech challenge to produce a beta product by the end of 2022 of a software solution to allow manufacturers to better understand their carbon footprint (including their supply chain) and demonstrate improvement measures to customers.

Supporting a Circular Economy

Waste Sector

The Scottish Government has been amongst the leaders in developing policies for zero waste and the circular economy, and has made significant long-term progress, working with many partners, in increasing recycling and diverting waste from landfill. We know that further action is needed to accelerate progress towards Scotland's ambitious waste prevention and recycling targets, to tackle our throwaway culture and to scale up and mainstream circular economy business models in Scotland. Investment is a key part of this, and has the potential to unlock local reprocessing investments, create jobs and a ready supply of recycled material for new packaging. It is part of building a fully circular economy in Scotland, which will drive materials up the waste hierarchy and keep them in high value use for as long as possible.

Last year, the £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund was launched in March 2021 to improve local authority recycling infrastructure. To date, over £20.3 million has been awarded to 13 local authorities to increase the quantity and quality of recycling, marking the beginning of one of the biggest investments in recycling in Scotland in a generation. We are funding a range of improvements, including more frequent recycling collections, the extension of food and garden waste collections, boosting Scotland's capacity to recycle soft plastics and films, and local service redesigns to align with Scotland's Household Recycling Charter. The projects announced to date have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 21,400 tonnes each year - the equivalent of taking 11,400 cars off the road. This landmark investment will make it easier for households to make the right recycling choices, and make an important contribution to meeting Scotland's waste, recycling and climate targets.

The Scottish Government has worked in partnership with COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities), SOLACE (Scottish Branch of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) and Zero Waste Scotland to develop arrangements for the fund. More information on the aims, scope and distribution of the fund is available at Zero Waste Scotland.

A consultation seeking views on plans for the introduction of a mandatory digital waste tracking service in the UK was held between January and April 2022, with funding allocated to support SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) with implementation in Scotland. The ambition is to provide a step change in the quality and timeliness of data on waste and resource flows, to support decision-making. By making it easier to identify opportunities to reduce the waste produced and reuse the materials we consume, this will support our transition to a circular economy.

Work to accelerate landfill gas capture in Scotland was a new boosted policy, as outlined in the recent Climate Change Plan update, working with SEPA and key industry partners to scale up the existing landfill gas capture programme to mitigate effects of landfill and environmental impact of closed landfill sites. This is supported by additional funding from the Low Carbon Fund with the aim to harness the energy generated from landfill gas capture and maximise circular economy opportunities. Due to other unavoidable resource implications, including COVID-19 contingency work, progress on this policy outcome was paused in 2021-22. We are reviewing plans for 2022-23 to ensure progress is made.

For 2022-23, the £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund is open to all local authorities to develop and submit applications for funding, and we will provide further updates on investment in Scotland's recycling infrastructure throughout the lifetime of the Fund. Local authorities across Scotland are encouraged to apply to the fund, to help drive new innovations and improvements to recycling in their area and across Scotland.

We know that textile waste and throwaway culture have a disproportionate environmental impact - textile waste makes up just 4% of household waste but 32% of the carbon impacts. In the first half of 2022, we will introduce a new £2 million Textile Innovation Fund, to support businesses working in this sector to address issues associated with textile waste and throwaway culture. When the fund goes live, we will consider applications from across all sectors for projects that will reduce aspects of textile waste, contribute to Scotland's overall waste reduction targets and reduce overall consumption.

Our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for single-use drinks containers (which will be implemented from 16 August 2023) and the UK-wide packaging extended producer responsibility reforms (to be implemented from 2024) are designed to increase the quantity and quality of recyclate, creating a significant economic opportunity and providing greater incentives for domestic reprocessing. Through DRS, we expect a number of collection and sorting centres to be established across Scotland and, as part of extended producer responsibility reforms, funding will go from producers to local authorities to fund effective and efficient collection systems for packaging waste.

We are committed to introducing a Circular Economy Bill later in this parliamentary session. The Bill will put in place legislative measures to support and encourage reduction of consumption, reuse, repair and recycling so as to reduce waste. As part of the work towards that Bill, in May 2022 we launched a public consultation on a number of proposals for legislation, including a potential provision to ban the destruction of unsold durable goods. Alongside the consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill, we also published a consultation on a waste Route Map, which set out proposals for further action to facilitate Scotland's transition to a zero waste and circular economy, and accelerate progress to meet our waste, recycling and emissions targets.

Boosting Resilience and Adaptation

Flood Risk Management

£42 million continues to be been spent annually on reducing flood risk to properties and businesses. A number of flood protection schemes are under construction around Scotland. These include a £90 million scheme at Hawick which will reduce the risk of flooding to over 900 properties.

Updated flood risk management plans for Scotland were approved by Scottish Ministers on 22 December 2021. These plans produced by SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) in partnership with responsible authorities, identify flood management actions for over 440 priority communities. This work is split into six year cycles and covers a range of actions including furthering the understanding of climate change impacts, increasing community resilience, and developing and implementing flood protection scheme.

Consideration is being given to how the additional £150 million allocated to flooding in 2020 will be allocated. A joint SG/COSLA Flood Risk Management Working Group has been set up and is considering funding arrangements for flood risk management actions going forward. This group will consider and make recommendations to Ministers on the funding arrangements in 2022. Funding and coordination of the proposed actions set out in SEPA's flood risk management plans will be developed in the local flood risk management plans which are due for publication in December 2022.

Coastal change

The Dynamic Coast 2 project, which assessed coastal erosion and accretion rates along our coastline was published in August 2021. It investigates how already increasing erosion rates along soft coasts might be exacerbated by climate change sea level rise and identifies the assets that could be at risk.

Scottish Ministers and COSLA have agreed a methodology to distribute the new capital budget of £11.7 million for coastal change adaptation to coastal local authorities in 2022-23 and 2023-24 based on evidence from the Dynamic Coast 2 project. Further information can be found at Dynamic Coast. The Scottish Government will continue to work with councils and COSLA to agree a distribution methodology for 2024-25 and 2025-26 budgets.

Transport (Road Adaptation)

The programme of Trunk Road Minor Improvement Schemes to address the impacts of climate change, improve network efficiency, safety and resilience contributing to a low carbon economy, is progressing well. Over the next four years, Transport Scotland aim to deliver an estimated total investment of £60 million to drive inclusive economic growth and build resilient and sustainable places. Budget has been allocated from 2022-23 and will be utilised accordingly in due course. A programme of projects across Scotland has been commenced with several schemes due to be delivered this financial year.

The fund enables significant value multidisciplinary schemes to be progressed, ranging from specific roads schemes, to joint schemes that interface with rail, sea and active travel. Schemes contribute to economic development by improving connectivity, journey time reliability and safety of the road network, which includes a number geotechnical improvements in complex locations across the north of Scotland.

Over the next three years the fund will contribute to a number of high profile schemes across Scotland including, concluding the short term mitigation works at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful, the new Lhanbryde Cycleway as well as the A893 Ullapool Harbour and Shore Street upgrades. In addition, there are planned improvements to A830 Borrodale Bridge, collaborating with Network Rail, and non-motorised unit improvements on the A9 Raigmore Interchange, working with Highland Council. Trunk road widening of key pinch points on the network is also planned for the A86, A95 and A889. These schemes will provide safety and active travel improvements.

As well as large notable projects, the fund also allows smaller improvements to be made to the network. These often provide significant betterment to existing outdated provisions such as linking cycle paths / footways, review of Vehicle Restraint Systems, and layby upgrading/provision. This contributes to reliability and road safety for transport of goods, general travel and connectivity across Scotland.

Investing in our Natural Capital

New planting and forest expansion

The Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) Acquisition Strategy was approved by Ministers in December 2021. This sets out the principles under which FLS will use both the £30 million of Scottish Government low carbon funding and the FLS strategic funds to acquire land in order to grow Scotland's national forests and land.

Utilising these funds, in 2021-22 FLS acquired 1,082 ha of new land at a total cost of just over £7.2 million. Roughly, half of this land will be plantable for trees with the remainder being managed for habitat, ecological and/or recreational outcomes.

Stepped increases in new planting targets have been set with the aim of achieving 18,000 ha planting in 2024-25. Annual targets are 2021-22 13,500 ha, 2022-23 15,000 ha, 2023-24 16,500 ha and 2024-25 18,000 ha.

Scottish Forestry have approved claims for over 13,000 ha of new woodland creation in 2021-22, however actual planting achieved will not be confirmed until July 2022. It is anticipated that planting will be slightly below the target due to various factors including winter storms and the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit on resource availability.

Plans to implement required infrastructure and resource for longer term ambitions remain in progress and on course with recently publicised recruitment for 33 new posts across the organisation.

Peatlands

Peatland restoration continues to be progressed across Scotland through the work of our current delivery partners (NatureScot (Peatland Action), Forestry and Land Scotland, Cairngorms National Park, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park and Scottish Water). In 2021-22, around 8,000 hectares of degraded peat were put on the road to recovery as part of our ten-year commitment to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030.

In October 2021, a new Scottish Government Peatland Programme was established. The Programme will develop and deliver policies which: protect peatlands, limiting negative impacts from extraction and development; restore degraded peatlands to reduce carbon emissions and support restoration of unique peatland habitats and landscapes; and manage peatlands holistically and sustainably within the context of a changing climate.

Within this new programme, we continue to work with our partners to understand and address the structural, operational and resourcing challenges around significantly upscaling rates of restoration.

Working with delivery partners, we will upscale the rate of peatland restoration in 2022-23. The governance structure of the Peatland Programme will expand to include a Technical Advisory Group and Stakeholder Engagement Group. These groups will work to identify and address barriers to peatland restoration including evidence on techniques and monitoring, contractor capacity and skills gaps. Looking ahead, we will also explore a range of funding models including increased private finance, to accelerate delivery of peatland restoration in Scotland.

Low Carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme

The £50 million Low Carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) is a capital programme to help with tackling persistent vacant and derelict land. It is supporting place based approaches to delivering regeneration and sustainable inclusive growth as part of a 'just transition' to net-zero by 2045. It is a competitive fund open to all 32 local authorities and the Clyde Gateway URC (Urban Regeneration Company). Scotland currently has more than 11,000 hectares of registered vacant and derelict land which offers significant potential to be brought back to positive use to the benefit of communities. This fund supports projects that prioritise such sites and protect our existing natural capital. This ensures that future infrastructure investment goes into areas where it is needed the most, stimulating economic growth; creating jobs; promoting environmental justice and supporting communities to flourish and tackle inequalities.

In September 2021, 10 successful projects were announced to receive a total of £5 million from the first round of funding for financial year 2021-22. In May 2022, a further 10 successful projects were announced representing an additional £5 million of funding. Successful projects from both 2021-22 and 2022-23 can be viewed at Low Carbon Fund: Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme projects

We are now seeking applications for round 3 of the fund for financial year 2023-24. The two stage application process will take place over the summer and autumn with successful projects being announced by the end of 2022.