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New funds available for town centre schemes |
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Monday, 04 February 2008 |
The Scottish Government will extend support for Business Improvement Districts in Scottish town and city centres, Finance Secretary John Swinney announced today.
From 1 April, towns around Scotland will be able to apply for a one-off
£15,000 'seedcorn' grant to help launch their own Business Improvement
Districts (BIDs).
A BID is an area of a town, city, commercial district or rural area
where local businesses vote to invest collectively in local
improvements, services and projects for the benefit of the community.
Visiting a pilot project in Falkirk, one of six across Scotland,
Swinney said BIDs had a key role to play in the regeneration of town
centres.
"Our town and city centres should be the beating heart of Scotland's
economic revival – the drivers of economic growth both locally and
nationally.
"BIDs can bring together the key players in transforming towns and
cities and make a real difference to the centre of our communities.
"Having seen how the six pilots have worked, including this project in
Falkirk, and the enthusiasm among the business community, I believe
BIDs can play an important and positive role across Scotland."
Central support from the Scottish Government for the BIDs programme is
set to continue in 2008-09 and beyond. In addition, from 1 April,
one-off Government support of up to £15,000 will be available as
'seedcorn' funding for each new BID project that comes forward, subject
to some minimum criteria.
These grants will be intended to act as a catalyst to enable
partnership working and the development of realistic BID proposals that
are likely to be attractive to local private and public sector
stakeholders, including the local authority.
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