Orkney Towns Board welcomes extension of deadline on how to spend £20m funds
The Chair of the Orkney Towns Board has welcomed a decision by the UK Government to extend the deadline for submission of how it intends to spend £20m of funding for the county.
In March, Orkney learned that it would receive £20m as part of the UK Government’s Long Term Plan for Towns Fund, and since then an independent board has been established to decide how the funding will be spent, chaired by Stephen Hagan.
It was originally outlined by ministers that the Orkney Towns Board would need to submit a 10-year vision and 3-year investment plan – including public engagement on the plans and approval by Orkney Islands Council – to Whitehall by 1 November. But the Board have been advised by the government that they will have further time. The Board were advised that the government will be in touch in due course with “further details on next steps and confirmation of the revised timetables.”
Commenting on this news, Stephan Hagan, Chair of the Orkney Towns Board said:
“I welcome this update from the UK Government to suspend our deadline to outline what this funding can deliver in Orkney over the next decade.
“Since learning earlier this year that this funding would be coming to Orkney, council officers, board members, and our public engagement partners Aquatera, have been working around the clock to meet this previous deadline.
“Whilst we would have ensured that all submissions would have been in place by November, these additional weeks will allow us a little more breathing space to carry out further engagement with the Orkney community on how these significant funds can be spent to improve the lives of people living here.
“We were delighted with the fantastic response to our public engagement event last week at the King Street Halls, where over 100 local residents engaged with us.
“The Orkney Towns Board will be running a stall at the County Show on Saturday 10th August and we would encourage folk to come along to that and discuss any ideas or thoughts they have with us in person.”
