Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal Leaders’ report, March 2021
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Updates from the ESES City Region Deal Joint Committee on Friday 5 March 2021
Easter Bush City Region Deal investment
On Friday 5 March, the City Region Deal’s Joint Committee approved £74m investment for the Easter Bush agritech campus – the last of the six Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) hubs to have its business case approved.
This latest investment will support the use of data to develop genetics and health innovations in the agriscience and agribusiness arenas, forming part of a solution for global food systems and the transformation of the agritech sector to a net zero carbon future.
The Hub will bring together researchers from the University of Edinburgh and other higher education institutions, along with industry partners. It will engage with existing and emerging areas of innovation such as data-driven breeding and aquaculture to encourage, enable and analyse data that will improve the agriculture industry worldwide.
To date, the DDI programme has created 1000+ jobs, generated £90m in start-up investments, co-located 150 companies at its hubs and agreed collaborations with 120 companies.
For more information, visit ddi.ac.uk
Glenrothes industrial units completed as Fife City Region Deal programme approved
As works are completed on the first business units that are part of Fife’s flagship City Region Deal Industrial Innovation Investment programme, the business case that sets out the arrangements for a further three years was approved at the Joint Committee.
Fife’s ten-year £50m Industrial Innovation Investment programme (i3) is already being delivered as part of the City Region Deal’s innovation theme, and is providing much-needed serviced employment land and new industrial, office and business space.
The finishing touches are now being added to the first nine new business units at Queensway Industrial Estate, Glenrothes, as the internal works and landscaping are completed to increase the local supply of new buildings and serviced sites. A video showcasing the units can be found here.
The programme is creating 1,000 new skilled permanent jobs and almost 600 short-term construction jobs over the 15-year lifetime of the City Deal. Joint working between the region’s universities, Fife businesses and Fife Council means more high value jobs.
Elected Member Oversight Committee
We were delighted that the Joint Committee confirmed Councillor Altany Craik of Fife Council as Convener of the Elected Member Oversight Committee. The Committee will oversee the development of a Regional Growth Framework, which aims to inform future approaches, strategies and policies across sustainability, transport, planning, housing and economic development to enable the region to generate and spread sustainable inclusive growth and enable it to transition to a low carbon economy.
Proceedings from the Joint Committee are available at: https://edinburgh.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/552288
Coming up at the next Joint Committee meeting…
· Dunfermline strategic housing site
· The Edinburgh Innovation Park – Food and Drink Hub business case
· Benefits Realisation Implementation Plan
· Regional Growth Framework draft for consultation
In case you missed it:
News of the start of construction at the Edinburgh Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University picked up significant news coverage last week, including in the following titles:
· Scotsman
· Digit
