Lews Castle rescue funding blow 2/11/11
Two major community projects in the Western Isles which would have created jobs and regenerated the ailing economy have been dealt a heavy blow after the Scottish Government refused a funding facility.
Western Isles Council applied to join a pilot scheme to reinvest the business rates it would have received from the projects to pay back loans to get them off the ground.
It sought £1.7 million to plug a funding gap in a £13 million last ditch attempt to rescue the crumbling historic Lews Castle on Lewis and convert it into a upmarket hotel and community museum with a cultural centre. Unless separate European funding is approved relatively soon, the castle project may be at risk. Councillors will debate the cash crisis next month.
The council also wanted to set up a separate community trust to reinvest it own income from commercial rates to buy up to eight of the 42 wind turbines from the proposed giant Stornoway Windfarm. The profits from the locally owned machines would be ploughed into new jobs community improvement initiatives over the years.
Each project was previously considered viable by officials running the Scottish Government’s Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) scheme though it was acknowledged the council would never get approval for both schemes at this time.
The council lashed out of the “overwhelmingly” bias towards the central belt and, apart from redeveloping Oban harbour, the exclusion of remoter areas where the cash would have a relatively much greater impact in creating jobs and supporting communities.
Council leader Angus Campbell said: “It is disappointing that the merits of the Western Isles projects have not been recognised. These were good projects and good bids.
“I am particularly disappointed that, with the exception of Argyll and Bute, this scheme seems to be overwhelmingly favouring central belt areas of Scotland.
“These cash injections for Edinburgh, Fife, Falkirk and North Lanarkshire will not be transformational in the way that they would be in remote, deprived areas such as the Western Isles.
He highlighted: “£82 million for Edinburgh, whilst a substantial amount of money, will not have the impact, in terms of jobs, that a few million would have had for the Western Isles. This is an issue we will be raising with the Scottish Government and I would urge the Minister to honour his commitment to a better geographical spread in future funding rounds.
“In the meantime we will work with the Scottish Government to explore alternative funding routes.“