Falkirk Council: First project in £140m Growth Deal could be ready to start by next April - if councillors get a move on

Members of Falkirk Council’s executive agreed that in order to move things along, they should not oversee every “dotted i and crossed t” of the ten projects that will get £90 million of funding from UK and Scottish Governments. Originally, councillors were to approve all change to business cases from draft until finalised, no matter how minor.

But Head of Invest Paul Kettrick told members that the UK and Scottish Governments had requested changes to make sure that projects could be responsive to issues that were often just technical matters. He assured them there would be transparent and detailed information provided to all councillors and the final projects would be signed off by members.

Mr Kettrick told the meeting that the “strong progress” has already been made on the projects, with the first outline business cases on track for submission by the end of June 2023, and the final deal document to be submitted by the year end.

Councillor Paul Garner, the SNP’s economic development spokesperson, told the meeting that the governance structure being proposed would allow business cases to be developed “without going back and forth to this committee, which will only slow down the process and prevent the progression of our Growth Deal”.

The deal will not only involve £90 million of UK and Scottish Government funding, it will also involve £45 million from Falkirk Council to build a new town hall and £5.8 million from Scottish Canals for its new headquarters. The Growth Deal projects are also expected to attract around £2 billion of private investment into the area.

Mr Garner said the projects “will create extensive high value jobs and support the just transition to a more sustainable and greener economy and help regenerate our town centres”. He added that delays were likely to increase the costs of projects which could lead to them being revised or even abandoned if they became unaffordable. But he assured the committee that the approach would not lessen the input from members, who have already agreed the ten projects and will continue to have oversight as the business cases are developed.

He said: “I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to stand in the way of Growth Deal projects which will deliver massive and unprecedented investment in our local economy. We do not want to risk the delivery of significant numbers of well-paid jobs for the sake of scrutinising every dotted i and crossed t.”

He assured councillors they would be kept up to date through briefings and will retain ultimate approval of the final business cases. “If we want to increase our local prosperity and continue to attract both UK and government support, we need to be seen to get on and deliver it as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

Grangemouth councillors Robert Spears and Alan Nimmo both expressed doubt over the lack of scrutiny by elected members. But overall the Executive was supportive of the report and of the changes.

Mr Garner said: “It’s great to hear that members are so supportive of the Growth Deal and as one elected member has just texted me – ‘can we just get a move on with this, please?’”

What’s in the Falkirk Growth Deal?

• £21 million will help create a Central Sustainable Transport Hub to be known as ‘Falkirk Central’ at the current Falkirk Grahamston Station and an associated ‘Green Corridor’ that will connect local communities.
• £4 million will help create Scotland’s Canal Centre, bringing a derelict site in Camelon back into use offering opportunities for employment, training and recreation. It will also be the site of a relocated HQ for Scottish Canals who will contribute £5.8 million to the project.
• £3 million has been earmarked to create Scotland’s National Outdoor Art Park with work along stretches of the Forth & Clyde canal, linking key visitor attractions.
• £10 million will develop ‘strategic innovation sites’ in a bid to attract investment in areas such as chemical sciences, and industrial biotechnology.
• £10 million will contribute to a Carbon Dioxide Utilisation Centre that will capture CO2 to manufacture more sustainable products.
• £10 million towards a Bioeconomy Accelerator Pilot Plant to develop new sustainable processes using feedstocks such as food processing and whisky by-products
• An Innovation Skills Transition Centre, led by Forth Valley College will be established, with £4 million to help school pupils and young people get the right skills for local industries.
• £3 million each from the Scottish and UK Governments will support the creation of Falkirk Arts Centre. This sits alongside £45 million of capital funds the Council has committed towards delivery of its civic headquarters and arts centre project, its match funding contribution to the Investment Zone package.