Scottish Cities Alliance hails £100m boost to economy
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The alliance, a collaboration between Scotland’s seven cities and the Scottish Government, works to promote the country’s economic potential around the world and attract investment.
The £100 million includes £30 million for the mill quarter project in the centre of Perth and £50 million for Dundee waterfront investments.
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Hide AdSCA officials hope to promote £7.5 billion of investment opportunities in 2017 in areas including low carbon, hydrogen and “smart cities”, which use new technologies to help deliver services.
Councillor Andrew Burns, chair of the SCA, said: “By working together, the cities are creating economies of scale and are driving innovation through shared learning from across the alliance operational programme and the cities’ city deal activity, transforming services and making the work we do more economically viable.
“We believe that by attracting investment to Scotland’s cities, using smart cities, hydrogen and low carbon programmes, we will make the cities some of the most desirable and sustainable places to live and work in the world.
“Working together, we’ve brought more than £100 million into the Scottish economy, with the promise of much more to come as the hard work behind the scenes of the many strands of the alliance comes to fruition.”
The alliance is working collaboratively to promote development opportunities around the world, such as Aberdeen’s £1 billion capital programme, Dundee’s £1 billion waterfront project, Edinburgh’s bioquarter, Glasgow’s Clyde waterfront, Inverness Campus, Perth’s food and drink industry and Stirling’s rapidly-emerging digital-tech sector.
Earlier this month, the alliance announced the smart cities programmes that will be adopted across the seven cities which will use data and digital technologies to make services - from street lighting to waste collection and healthcare provision - more efficient and more environmentally-friendly.
Economy Secretary Keith Brown said: “This has proven to be a landmark year for the Scottish Cities Alliance, with more than £100 million invested into our cities through the programme of work to date, to make our cities smarter, greener and more productive.
“We look set to build on this success in 2017, securing more investment from the £7.5 billion of opportunities that the alliance is promoting and entering the delivery phase of the £24 million smart cities programme, taking our cities closer to becoming internationally-competitive digital hubs.”