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Impact of Borders Railway

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Presentation on theme: "Impact of Borders Railway"— Presentation transcript:

1 Impact of Borders Railway
Maximising the Impact of Borders Railway Sam Smith Danny - Aim of presentation: Danny – to give an overview of the launch of the Borders Railway Blueprint, the work to pull it together, the opportunities it has created and the challenges Sam – to cover delivery of the Blueprint & the achievements to date All – discussions on the lessons learned

2 Blueprint Leaders Group
Setting the Scene Blueprint Leaders Group The Vision: Ambition National & International Significance Impact Balance Consensus Danny - Background to the Blueprint - In August 2014 the First Minister announced a “Feasibility Study” with financial backing of up to £10million to maximise the economic benefits of the Borders Railway This led to the establishment of a Leadership Group – chaired by Scottish Enterprise, with SBC, MLC, CEC, SG, TS and VS This brought a national focus to the Borders Railway project, and the development of a ‘national plan’ to ensure benefits were maximised Borders Railway ‘Blueprint’ launched by FM on 17 November at Abbotsford – developed within 2 months The Vision - Ambition: that proposed investments were ambitious and challenged the partners to ‘raise the bar’ in maximising the economic impact of the railway National and international significance: that investments were capable of attracting international interest Impact: that the investments could deliver net additional economic impact at the Scottish level Balance: that the proposals in the Blueprint reflected the Borders Railway route from Edinburgh to Tweedbank across 3 council areas and a ‘2 way flow’ of opportunities Consensus: the investments were agreed by the participating partners

3 The Partners Commitment:
“We will work together to realise our ambition - great places for working, investing, living, learning & visiting.” The Scottish Government Scottish Enterprise Transport Scotland VisitScotland ScotRail Alliance Scottish Borders Council Midlothian Council City of Edinburgh Council Danny – The Commitment – to create a New Development Corridor for Scotland: 700,000 population 20% Population growth in next 20 years 26,000 Registered Businesses Additional 37,000 jobs by 2030 41% of workforce educated to degree level (2014) UK Assisted Area status until 2020 Whole area - £23 Billion contribution to the Scottish Economy Making the region More Connected - Not just the obvious transport connections but also connecting businesses to new markets and new talent; connecting entrepreneurs to new opportunities; businesses to space for growth; linking people to jobs; and the countryside to the city, and visitors to new destinations.

4 What Are We Delivering? Economic regeneration along the line
Three themes – Great Locations for Working & Investing, Great Communities for Living & Learning, Great Destinations to Visit £10 million pledged from the Scottish Government – match funded by partners and private sector Resulting in £29 million investment commitment to date National agency and local authority coordinated support Danny – What Are We Delivering? As per slide

5 Borders Railway – Edinburgh to Tweedbank
Sam- Borders Railway in Figures – the basis for the economic opportunity: Opened September 2015 £350 Million investment 10 Station Stops 7 New interchange stations 30 miles of Track Service every 30 minutes Edinburgh to Tweedbank in less than an hour Connecting housing and commercial development sites & new business and investment opportunities Making the region More Connected - Not just the obvious transport connections but also connecting businesses to new markets and new talent; connecting entrepreneurs to new opportunities; businesses to space for growth; linking people to jobs; and the countryside to the city, and visitors to new destinations.

6 Working and Investing Inward Investment Prospectus: Joint city region inward investment response Business Incubator Network Feasibility Study Central Borders Innovation Park Hotel Market Assessment ScotRail Borders Railway Development Executive Sam Inward investment Marketing Campaign in partnership with Inward investment unit at Edinburgh City Council and SDI. Borders Innovation Park at Tweedbank, linked to £15m investment in new business space via the Edinburgh City Deal. Hotel Market Assessment study by Hotel Solutions to identify sites for hotel investment opportunities

7 Living and Learning Integrated transport at station hubs
Borders Railway Corridor Development Masterplans Tweedbank Customer Hub ‘Track 2 Train’ Newtongrange Station building regeneration ‘Gorebridge Connected’ Town Centre and Station building regeneration Extension Scoping Study Sam Local Authority led Masterplans: Tweedbank, Galashiels, Newtongrange, Stobhill/ Gorebridge - delivering significant new business & commercial, retail, hotel and housing space. Station building brought back into use: Newtongrange & Gorebridge confirmed, and Stow in the pipeline. Borders Transport Corridors Study

8 Destinations to Visit Marketing Programme – visitscotland.com/bordersrailway Tourism Destination Audit/ Market Assessment Tourism Business Development Programme - MBTAG Destination Project Steam Train Experience Pilot ‘Beautiful Borders Visitor’ Experience Pilot Hop on – Hop off Bus Pilots Great Tapestry of Scotland Visitor Centre, Galashiels Sam VisitScotland led Visitor Marketing Campaign – investing £0.5M in UK and International Destination Marketing. Support Midlothian & Borders Tourism Action Group (MBTAG) – industry led destination development project supporting investment in new tourism products and services. Great Tapestry of Scotland Visitor Centre at Galashiels.

9 The Financial Deal £10 million pledged from the Scottish Government – match funded by partners and private sector Over £9.6 million already spent or committed, resulting in £29 million investment Sam – The Financial Deal As per slide

10 Early Results 16% rise in visitor spend in the Borders, 6.8% in Midlothian 8% increase in tourism employment in the Borders, 4.1% in Midlothian 74% increase in external applications to Borders College New investments in restaurants, breweries, and local businesses 200 new jobs and £100 million economic impact from global IT firm CGI Sam – some published results include (as per slide) Also results of the Year 1 & Year 2 Evaluation research which highlights provided evidence of the railway having an impact on people decision to move to the area, visit the area, to access new employment and education opportunities, including TOURISM IMPACT - 39% of users were traveling on a tourist day trip or overnight stay. 34% of these were traveling to the Scottish Borders or Midlothian. More than 65% of tourist users stated that the rail line was a factor in their decision to make their trip. RESIDENTIAL CHOICES & CHOICE OF WORKPLACE - more than 50% of users who had moved house and over 80% of those who moved employment since the reopening of the line stated that the railway had been a factor in their decision. Commuting is the most common journey purpose, but there was also a large volume of leisure users and a considerable number of trips for education. Approximately 50,000 (36%) of the estimated annual single trips recorded via the sample were ‘new trips’. “Borders – the new Scottish Destination?” - Travel Editor Guardian 2016

11 Early Lessons Learned/ + Key Messages
The power of partnership: local and national level commitment Joint investment and delivery critical Plan for delivery of wider economic impacts pre-construction Transport projects deliver more than just transport benefits Sam – Early Lessons Learned As Per Slide

12 Thank you


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