Government aid for Scottish local high streets

Friday the 13th was very lucky day for 41 Scottish towns, as today they get government money to revitalise their town centres.

Among the benefited towns are, inter alia: Brechin, Aberdeen, Stornoway and Lerwick. Each of them was granted between £300,000 and £1.8 million from a £20 million share of government cash. As we can read on their websites, their citizens are very happy and in some cases they even feel like early Christmas. Government money will be spend on a range of project, including: open-air entertainment venues, soft play centres, wi-fi zones, town hall and theatre upgrades, facilities for weekend markets and shop-fronts improvements. The funding will support 320 jobs, so the total number of jobs supported by the fund - established earlier this year - will be 960. Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil said:

It's vital we support innovative public and private sector companies and community groups to move forward with ideas that will support local jobs, businesses and families.

This will provide a boost to our nation's prosperity and is part of our wider economic recovery plan to ensure Scotland gets through the economic downturn in the strongest possible position.