Question reference: S4W-28076
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 19 October 2015
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Current status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 November 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it began discussions with Fusion Assets regarding financial support for its project at Strathclyde Business Park in Bellshill and when the decision was taken to provide financial assistance.
Answer
The funding for the project at Strathclyde Business Park was provided by SPRUCE (Scottish Partnership for Regeneration in Urban Centres). The SPRUCE fund was developed by the Scottish Government (SG) utilising the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas – which is an innovative way of using SG/European Structural Funds monies to lever in significant co-investment from public/private sectors; providing loans or equity investment to revenue generating projects.
Decisions on projects to be supported are made by the Amber Infrastructure Group who adheres to the guidelines laid down in an agreed investment strategy. They were appointed by the European Investment Bank as the independent investment manager for the fund. The Scottish Government is not involved in discussions with applicants around potential investments and does not make decisions on whether or not to support projects.
Amber has indicated that it was in regular discussions with Fusion Assets on this project since 2012 with a final investment decision made in August 2015