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Publication - Speech/statement

Town Centre Action Plan: Scottish Government response

Published
7 November 2013
Topic
Building, planning and design
ISBN
9781782569497

Our response to the National Review of Town Centres.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Enterprising Communities

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting community-led regeneration by supporting local people to take responsibility for the economic, social and environmental action that will make a difference within their communities. There is already a vibrant and diverse range of community-led and enterprising activity within our town centres. The Creative Place Awards showcase achievements and ambitions in using creative activities, both for the benefit of local communities, and to attract visitors. We want to celebrate the value of creativity to the wellbeing of communities, and to reward the hard work and imagination that lies behind the creative activities and programmes to promote the identity of the place. The Scottish Government agrees that enterprising communities and individuals can be key players in dealing with the problems of vacant and empty properties and meeting local demand for new activities, events and services on offer over the course of the year. The Scottish Government will undertake the following:

Actions

Timescale-
Short/Medium/Long
  • We will carry out a town centre asset audit demonstration project, specifically working with public sector bodies to model ways in which communities can take occupation of public buildings when they are no longer required by the public body.

Medium
  • We will work with Creative Scotland, Historic Scotland and Architecture + Design Scotland to identify where specific policies can be aligned strategically to provide further support and opportunities to our town centres.

Short
  • We will continue to work with Creative Scotland, Cultural Enterprise Office, Business Gateway, WASPS and other relevant partner agencies and organisations to facilitate support for local enterprise in mixed-use existing town centre facilities.

Short
  • We will strengthen existing guidance to respond to the need to provide support for commercial premises that will require to comply with EPC ratings at point of sale and new lease in January 2014 to ensure historic properties are not considered too difficult to deal with and therefore left vacant.

Short
  • We will investigate with Prince's Trust (Youth Business Scotland) the potential for setting up a retail space to sell the products of some of the new businesses that the Trust has helped to establish.

Short
  • We will support community-led activity that supports our town centres by strengthening communities to implement initiatives that benefit town centre regeneration.

Short

Contact

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