The Borderlands Partnership Board marked the end of the year with a flurry of activity at its December meeting.
As part of a busy agenda, the Board agreed to support a key change to the Star of Caledonia project which will create a new visitor destination and attraction in Gretna Green and approved the £13.6m investment across Hadrian’s Wall which aims to make the most of one of our two world heritage sites in Borderlands. The Board also had updates on the calls for new projects as part of our £29.9m Energy Programme, and the £7m South of Scotland learning and skills project.
The Board endorsed the latest Place Plans as part of the £50m Place Programme. The plans for Gretna, Hawick and Wigtown and Bladnoch joined the other towns moving towards the next stage. With their Place Plan already endorsed, the Stranraer Town Investment Plan was agreed setting out their projects seeking funding through the Borderlands Deal.
The Board also signed off the Deal Annual Report covering the last financial year. By the end of 2024 there has been significant progress made in continuing delivery of the Deal. Over £230m of investment is now committed to specific projects and programmes. Almost £155m is Deal funding and £75m is other matched funding has been brought to the area thanks to the Deal. The funding is supporting projects across our region which have already helped create over 107 jobs, welcomed over 223,000 new visitors and improved digital connectivity to over 1,688 premises.
This is only the start. Whilst the first three Deal projects have now completed, we are currently working with nine other projects, ranging from smaller local projects to the £50m Carlisle Citadels. In 2024 five new projects have been approved. This includes £10m towards the Destination Tweed, Tweed Trail project, a new walking and cycling route integrated with a high quality environment improvement programme and will attract new visitors; £1.4m for two pilot projects as part of the £5m Natural Capital programme in Scotland covering species rich grassland and supporting farm audits, and nearly £600,000 through the Place Programme.
During 2024 we have also approved two other Town Investment Plans, for Penrith and Ulverston, the Place Plan for Prudhoe and the first two projects for Penrith Station and Penrith Playhouse which set up further activities in 2025.
Existing projects including Carlisle Station Gateway, Dairy Nexus (a dairy innovation centre), and Coldstream business units have all also continue to make progress with Coldstream and Dairy Nexus expected to complete in early 2025.
The Board celebrated the hard work undertaken to bring these projects forward in a difficult context and looked forward to more activities coming forward in the new year.
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