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19th January 2009
Conservatives Want Town Centre Regeneration Fund
Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament are pressing for a
multi million pound Town Centre Regeneration Fund to be
included in the 2009-10 Scottish Government budget.
Commenting after talks in Edinburgh, Scottish Conservative &
Unionist Leader Annabel Goldie said,
“Local communities the length and breadth of Scotland are
suffering as a result of Labour’s recession. This only
compounds the decline we have seen in recent years of many
town centres. The Scottish Conservatives are asking the
Scottish Government to help fix them and build them back up,
because town and village centres are the lifeblood of local
communities.
“The Scottish Conservatives have been talking to the
Scottish Government in a bid to establish a Town Centre
Regeneration Fund, worth millions every year. Along with
the business rates cut we secured for more than 100,000
small businesses in last year’s budget, we feel this
proposal will help tackle Gordon Brown’s broken economy.”
Welcoming the progress, North East MSP Alex Johnstone said,
“The SNP budget needs to help local businesses. Our
proposals could provide a welcome boost to town centres in
Aberdeenshire and help to build up the local economy in a
time of economic crisis. This scheme not only nurtures and
reinforces local pride but more importantly, it will assist
the small businesses that ply their trade in their own local
communities. Our town centres are finding it difficult to
compete with larger chains and supermarkets that benefit
from economies of scale in their pricing structure.
“While we support local people making the choice to benefit
from lower prices wherever they can find them, there is no
doubt that towns and villages in the Mearns need a bustling
High Street to maintain their distinctive character and
deliver increasing demand for local produce from local
suppliers. A Town Centre Regeneration Fund is a great way to
achieve that and I urge the SNP Government to work with the
Scottish Conservatives and turn this idea into reality.”
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