BBC's River City helps £91m flow into economy

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 14:16

RIVER City, the BBC Scotland soap, has helped a regeneration project deliver a £91.7 million boost to the economy, according to an independent report.

Lomondgate was created in 2002 by Strathleven Regeneration Company, a non-profit agency set up by Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire and Diageo.

The site near Dumbarton houses a drama production facility used for filming River City, which employs up to 300 people and has an annual production budget of 8m.

A report by Roger Tym & Partners claims that by 2019 Lomondgate will have brought 450m into the local economy, and have supported around 1,400 extra jobs.

Last week Aggreko, a Scottish firm which supplies power to large events, was granted planning permission to build a 20m factory at Lomondgate that will safeguard 125 jobs and could create an extra 100.

SRC, in partnership with developer Walker Group, plans to provide 300 new homes, a business park and leisure and retail facilities at Lomondgate. Walker has invested more than 14m in infrastructure so far.

David Hastings, executive director at SRC, said: "It is great to see our plans to transform 120 acres of vacant land on the north-western edge of Dumbarton into a thriving business, leisure and residential hub starting to come to fruition."