Scottish Cities Alliance

Our cities play a crucial role in driving economic growth. So, if our cities thrive, then Scotland thrives. Ambitious plans are being drawn up across the country to boost growth, with a particular focus on revitalising our city centres post-pandemic.

Over the course of 2012-2022 the then Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy, Kate Forbes MSP worked with City Leaders to consider the specific impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on city centres and identify immediate priorities to support city centre recovery. The report of the Taskforce was published in March 2022 with the intention of the Scottish Government working with the cities via the Scottish Cities Alliance to progress the strategic objectives in the report as part of the Alliance’s Operational Programme 2022-2026. Last year the task force published an action plan to make our cities vibrant, connected, healthy and safe places.

Objectives included:

• encouraging more people to live in city centres
• reducing city centre carbon footprint
• transforming vacant and derelict sites
• expanding cultural attractions
• speeding up planning processes.

A short-term priority for the City Centre Recovery Taskforce, was for The Alliance team to develop a peer-to-peer network programme. We developed an oversight group comprised of officers from, Glasgow, Dundee, and Perth, along with the Improvement Service, Innovate UK, and the Built Environment – Smart Transition innovation centre to help steer the programmes direction. The aim of the network is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices among officers from various cities, leveraging expertise from academia, private, and third sectors. With focus on taking forward the strategic objectives of the City Centre Recovery Taskforce and identifying collaborative opportunities. We look forward to hosting these events next year.

The objectives of the City Centre Recovery Task force report, also play a central role in the new Glasgow City Centre Strategy, which is out for public consultation until December 3^rd 2023.

The strategy aims to transform Glasgow city centre by doubling its residential population, working to achieve Net Zero carbon and supporting innovation and the digital economy.

Cllr Angus Millar, City Convener for City Centre Recovery, said:

We know that we must encourage a diverse, vibrant and sustainable mix of economic uses in our city centre.

We will take forward efforts to support the conversion and repurposing of vacant city centre buildings, and work to proactively seek positive solutions for key city centre sites.

Dundee City Council has published its approved City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050, which includes “radical ideas for our future city centre”.

The ambitious vision hopes to create 3,000 new jobs, as well as new homes, leisure and business properties.

Dundee City Council leader Cllr John Alexander said:

The City Council and its public partners cannot deliver this vision alone, and we will need to attract significant levels of private investment. 

We will use the City Centre Strategic Investment Plan as a prospectus to secure external investment by providing a clear vision of the future.

In Aberdeen, entrepreneur Robert Keane has set his sights on regenerating the city’s Trinity shopping centre, with plans that could see it become a major food and drink destination.

He has already helped transform Aberdeen’s historic Shiprow street into a vibrant hotspot that includes offices, new homes and a cinema.

Robert Keane, who runs a number of businesses across Scotland, told the Press & Journal:

We have seen what works in Edinburgh and Glasgow… and saw a similar opportunity at the Trinity Centre. It needs a bit of care and attention, but it can become a ‘go-to’ destination.

It can’t be just retail on its own. That doesn’t work anymore. It needs to be a vibrant centre – and that’s where we are going.

Aberdeen City Council hopes to regenerate buildings on Union Street with a £500,000 grant scheme to bring empty shops back into use. The fund offers awards of up to 50% of project costs towards eligible renovation work to make vacant units fit for retail, cultural, hospitality or office space.

With so much innovative change on the horizon, the outlook for Scotland’s city centres has never looked so bright.