Ayrshire Growth Deal: Heads of Terms Agreement
The signing of this document confirms the joint commitment of the partners to achieve full implementation of the Ayrshire Growth Deal.
Documents
Details
Executive Summary
Ayrshire comprises the three local authority areas of East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. The Ayrshire economy is integral to the strength of Scotland’s overall economy. Ayrshire has many advantages; its people, its businesses and its rich natural assets. It is home to approximately 370,000 inhabitants and is the birthplace of a significant number of leaders, artists, innovators and entrepreneurs, including Robert the Bruce, Robert Burns, John Dunlop and Sir Alexander Fleming. The region has the opportunity through this Growth Deal to become central to growing sectors including aerospace, space and life sciences, as well as building on its existing strengths in food and drink, tourism, manufacturing and engineering.
All of the partners who have worked hard to agree this Deal share a vision for Ayrshire to be vibrant, outward looking, confident, attractive to investors and visitors, and for it to make a major contribution to Scotland and the wider UK’s growth.
This Deal will help drive inclusive economic growth across the region. The economy of Ayrshire has under-performed over a substantial period of time, leading to Ayrshire having one of the highest unemployment rates in Scotland and the UK, particularly among younger people. This Deal will enable the creation of new high quality jobs and opportunities across Ayrshire, which will help secure the future prosperity of its many communities.
Led by the three councils the partners have developed their vision, assisted by the Inclusive Growth Diagnostic tool developed by the Scottish Government, to identify the interventions most likely to grow the local and regional economy. Through the key new investments outlined in this document, this Deal will help deliver on that vision and secure transformational inclusive growth for the region.
This Heads of Terms document commits the Scottish Government and UK Government to work collaboratively with the local authorities and other Ayrshire regional partners to deliver a Deal that will help transform the Ayrshire economy. The Scottish Government will invest up to £103 million over 10 years, and the UK Government will invest up to £103 million over 15 years, subject to approval of final business cases for each project outlined in this document.
Regional partners will match this investment with up to £45.5 million. This will result in a Deal worth £251.5 million.
Ayrshire partners believe that these interventions will unlock private investment of around £300 million and deliver around 7,000 new jobs across a wide range of sectors.