Funding will ‘open up links’ for our region
North Lanarkshire and its seven partner councils in the Glasgow City Region have received a £250 million funding boost for new infrastructure projects.
The investment is set to “help kickstart the region’s post-Covid-19 economic recovery and play a key part in supporting thousands of jobs and businesses”, and was announced following a successful first independent review of the city deal.
It was initially implemented five years ago, with the projects completed to date including Medicity and the Glenboig link road.
Council leader Jim Logue said of the long-term project: “City Deal includes construction of the panLanarkshire orbital corridor, building and upgrading roads, cycle and foot paths from the M74 at Motherwell through Ravenscraig to the M8 at Eurocentral, and onward past Airdrie on a new link road to the A73 south of Cumbernauld.
“This will open up links with the rest of the Scotland, bringing new opportunities for investment from the private sector and contributing significantly to our ambition to make North Lanarkshire the place to live, learn, work, invest and visit.
“City Deal will see more than £200 million of investment in roads and active travel infrastructure to regenerate the Ravenscraig site and wider area, creating homes, businesses, community facilities and jobs to benefit the North Lanarkshire economy.”
Glasgow City region cabinet chair Susan Aitken, the leader of Glasgow City Council, added: “As we plan for our re-emergence from the greatest crisis in generations, it’s crucial that we accelerate activity on the things we already know we need to build a city region economy – the city deal has a critical role on that road to recovery and renewal.”
The latest five-year funding instalment – unlocked after the review recognised the partnership’s “significant successes to date” – forms part of the overall £1.13 billion city deal, which is being jointly funded by both the UK and Scottish governments.
Running over two decades, the city deal includes 27 different projects including the planned creation of 53km of cycle routes and 30km of new pedestrian routes by 2035 to encourage active travel, plus road and bridge improvements.
Scottish secretary Alister Jack said: “It is great to see the UK government’s investment of £523m in the Glasgow city region deal continue to bring many benefits, [and] this funding for vital infrastructure work will help significantly as we look to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and plan for the future.”
Holyrood Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Secretary Michael Matheson said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented global crisis which has fundamentally changed every aspect of our lives.
“This further investment into the Glasgow city region deal from our total funding of £500m will support the region to plan its economic recovery from Covid and thrive in the future.”