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Town centre regeneratiion
26/01/2010
North Lanarkshire has received 'its fair share' from a town centre regeneration fund, the Scottish Government said today.
Last November, town centres across every region and local authority area in Scotland received £60 million from the Town Centre Regeneration Fund.
Projects in North Lanarkshire were awarded £2.74 million. However, the local authority has publicly expressed disappointment at the scale of funding allocated to the area.
Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil said:
"We received hundreds of applications for the Town Centre Regeneration Fund. Deciding on which areas should be awarded funding was a competitive process.
"North Lanarkshire received £2.7 million. That is, by any stretch of the imagination, a fair share from a fund that was vastly over subscribed.
"It beggars belief that the local authority is now bleating about being short changed.
"We have made it crystal clear to North Lanarkshire Council that it can allocate its award across projects in all seven towns if it so desires.
"The ball is firmly in the Council's court."