SNP Look For Wider Regeneration Opportunities

More of the same within our smaller communities is what the SNP are calling within Falkirk Council.

The hugely successful SNP economic development strategy has seen work commence in the regeneration of Stenhousemuir and Bo'ness with work on the regeneration of Denny and Grangemouth town centres due to commence within the next year to eighteen months.

Now the SNP want the attention of the council to be turned towards smaller areas of population once the major district centres have reached the stage where they are all self propelling.

In a motion to Falkirk Council to be debated at the council meeting on 3 October the Nationalists will seek to begin the process of seeking solutions to the commercial ills of areas such as Bainsford and Bonnybridge.

Said SNP Economic Development spokesperson Cllr Angus MacDonald, said,

"What we faced in 2001 was a district that had been neglected for the best part of 30 years. Our district centres of Bo'ness, Denny, Grangemouth and Stenhousemuir were in a terminal state of disrepair and required our undivided attention.

Now all of these centres are at various stages of redevelopment and while the council can not afford to take our eye of the ball, particularly in Denny and Grangemouth where physical work has not yet begun we can begin the process of survey and planning for other smaller centres of population.

Areas such as Bainsford, Bonnybridge and Banknock are communities within their own right with substantial commercial interest and populations.

What we require is an extension of the community planning process that commenced under the SNP to take advantage of regeneration opportunities that can come our way if we are ambitious enough for our communities.

We did have the Villages Working Group and invested several hundred thousand of pounds in these areas during the period of our Administration. However, this was never designed to tackle the greater needs of these communities in economic development which require the type of human resources directed towards the district centres. I believe we are now approaching that stage in the wider regeneration program."