 North Ayrshire is set to benefit from new Scottish Executive funding
designed to help fight poverty in Scotland, with over £3.4m to be invested
locally on regeneration projects. The announcement has been welcomed by
Allan Wilson MSP, who believes the new funding can increase job
opportunities and improve quality of life.
The new Community Regeneration Fund allocation for 2005/2006 sees some £104m
invested into communities across Scotland. The fund incorporates Social
Inclusion Partnership funding, the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund and
the Tackling Drugs Misuse Fund and will be targeted on communities
identified in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Welcoming the announcement Allan Wilson MSP said “I have argued consistently
since being elected that the pre-existing statistical base used for
calculating area deprivation discriminated against North Ayrshire in that it
was postcode based and didn’t take account of smaller communities where
deprivation was concentrated”.
“Thanks to the new Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation this funding will
now be targeted to the communities most in need. The investment will be used
to fund a variety of projects, which will aim to improve health and
education services in these areas. As well as this the funding will also
help to increase employment opportunities, giving people a clear route out
of poverty.”
“North Ayrshire is a clear beneficiary of this new system of funding which
will see substantial new resources released to help communities in this area
most in need of regeneration assistance. It will also mean that other
funding bodies will use this index to allocate resources so there will be an
overall multiplier effect which will benefit North Ayrshire” said Mr Wilson.
“New Community Planning Partnerships will also see agencies such as North
Ayrshire Council, Ayrshire & Arran NHS Board and Scottish Enterprise
Ayrshire working together to meet the needs of communities such as the Three
Towns and the Garnock Valley and with improved planning and service delivery
help transform them”.
Launching the new Fund, Communities Minister, Margaret Curran MSP said “When
I was in Ardrossan last summer I saw for myself the need for investment in
new community provision. Allan Wilson has argued for this change in funding
systems for several years and the new funding regime will benefit areas like
North Ayrshire”.
“This investment can deliver real change and make a difference to people’s
lives and neighbourhoods. It will help build safer, stronger communities
where people want to live and bring up their families.”
Notes:
1. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivations divides
the country into 6505 zones, and lists them from the most to the least
deprived. Agencies can therefore identify “pockets” of deprivation that may
previously have been missed in analyses based on postcode sectors or wards.
It also allows the greater focusing of area based policy initiatives and
service deliver strategies.
2. Community Regeneration Fund allocations for 2005/06:
• Aberdeen City
£1,218,000
• Aberdeenshire
£135,000
• Angus £203,000
• Argyll and Bute
£1,104,000*
• Dumfries and
Galloway £675,000
• Dundee city
£5,775,000*
• East Ayrshire
£4,033,000*
• East
Dunbartonshire £271,000
• East Lothian
£126,000
• East
Renfrewshire £406,000
• Edinburgh
£7,118,000
• Eilean Slar
£338,000
• Falkirk £791,000
• Fife £1,806,000
• Glasgow City
Council £39,886,000*
• Highland
£609,000
• Inverclyde
£5,381,000*
• Midlothian
£68,000
• Moray £361,000
•
North Ayrshire £3,403,000*
• North
Lanarkshire £9,847,000*
• Orkney £0
• Perth and
Kinross £203,000
• Renfrewshire
£4,527,000*
• Scottish Borders
£203,000
• Shetland £0
• South Ayrshire
£1,767,000
• South
Lanarkshire £6,861,000*
• Stirling
£406,000
• West
Dunbartonshire £4,956,000*
• West Lothian
£677,00 |
