Moray Growth Deal Annual Report 2023 released
The Moray Growth Deal (MGD) annual report 2023 details the extensive work carried out in the last year to progress projects from development to delivery.
The £100m Deal was signed in December 2021 and aims to deliver a range of projects across Moray to attract and retain young people and families in Moray; create new high-quality jobs in existing sectors and support diversification into new high-value areas; create opportunities for future community prosperity; and address inequalities such as the gender pay gap.
The MGD entered 2023 with one project in delivery, Digital Health. By the start of 2024, four of the eight Growth Deal projects are in delivery with this expected to rise further in the coming months.
The Annual Report highlights key milestones for the projects:
- In March 2023, the Bus Revolution project launched aimed at increasing the number of people using public transport to get to and from rural areas for work, education and leisure. This project was rebranded to the m.connect on demand services from May 2023 and was official launched by Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing, Economy, Fair Work and Energy, Neil Gray MSP, in August 2023.
- Strategic progress made on the Housing Mix Delivery, Manufacturing Innovation Centre for Moray (MICM) and Business Enterprise Hub projects with their Full Business Cases being approved by MGD programme board in September 2023.
- Housing Mix Delivery: The project has now launched to support the delivery of up to 360 affordable houses and plots; 150 short-term construction jobs annually; town centre regeneration of brownfield sites; and provision of housing in rural towns and villages.
- Manufacturing and Innovation Centre for Moray (MICM): Aims to bring world-leading research and development expertise in advanced manufacturing to increase productivity, create jobs, attract inward investment and grow the region's manufacturing outputs is now in delivery.
- Business Enterprise Hub: Supporting the scaling-up of existing small and micro-businesses, as well as providing support to start-ups, university spin-outs and inward investors will enter the delivery stage shortly once final clearance is confirmed.
- Digital Health was the first project to achieve Full Business Case approval in 2021/22. It aims to establish a centre for research and innovation, to establish new technologies in the health sector including technology for use in smart homes and independent living.
- Highlights for 2024 includes the development of Full Business Cases (FBC) for the Cultural Quarter and EY STEM projects, along with generating further clarity on the direction of the Moray Aerospace, Advanced Technology and Innovation Campus (MAATIC).
Full details on the projects and their key milestones so far are available in the MGD Annual Report. Further work to showcase the individual Growth Deal projects will be shared over the coming weeks via the My Moray website.
Moray Council Leader, Cllr Kathleen Robertson, said: “Our Annual Report highlights the excellent work being carried out to drive innovation and growth in Moray. It’s fantastic to see the benefit of the partnership working between different organisations and this has been key to seeing real progress, with a number of the projects now in delivery.”
“We look forward to continuing this momentum and reaching more milestones this year.”