APPENDIX 6: STIRLING
The City Vision
A6.1 Stirling was in a unique position amongst Scotland's 6 cities in 2003. Despite becoming a city in 2002, it was too late to be fully included in the document Building Better Cities, and as such did not feature in the analysis. However, it was felt that many of the issues raised in the analysis of the other cities would be relevant to Stirling. 19 Stirling only became aware that the City's Growth Fund included an allocation to Stirling in early 2003. The vision had to be prepared immediately preceding the 2003 Local Government Elections. Whilst the overall vision and strategy was agreed later in 2003 - the detailed commissioning of projects only began at that stage and involved in both Streetscape and City Marketing commissioning consultant work that was not completed until 2005. This consultancy works set out a framework which will extend well beyond the City Growth fund allocations.
A6.2 The City Vision document, published in May 2003, used SWOT analysis to outline the challenges that the newly designated city would have to respond to. Despite a range of strengths, including low crime, low unemployment, deep-seated heritage assets and proximity to Glasgow and Edinburgh, it was felt that the city had a number of weaknesses, including:
- Public infrastructure that suffered from a lack of investment;
- Lack of maintenance of the public realm;
- Poor quality roads into the city itself; and
- A general lack of resources.
A6.3 Despite a comparatively modest Cities Growth Fund allocation of £1.9m, Stirling prepared its response to these weaknesses around 4 main themes:
- Sustainable Stirling- using best practice approaches from other cities and supporting the business sector, whilst also creating a modern Sustainable Business Centre;
- Healthy Stirling-developing Stirling as a Healthy City recognised by the WHO;
- Inclusive Stirling-creating an Urban Regeneration Company to deliver the Raploch Masterplan to roll out good practice in this field across Stirling, and creating equality of opportunity for all Stirling's citizens; and
- Vital Stirling-upgrading the public realm in the city centre whilst increasing it's attractiveness to residents.
A6.4 The Vision was developed by a Working Group established in April 2003. It was facilitated under the umbrella of the Community Planning Partnership and involved the following partners:
- Stirling Council;
- Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley;
- Central Scotland Police;
- NHS Forth Valley;
- Communities Scotland;
- Historic Scotland;
- Stirling Assembly;
- Stirling University;
- AILLST Tourist Board; and
- Chair of the City Centre Partnership.
City Growth Fund Projects
A6.5 Stirling developed nineteen specific projects that were to receive CGF funding in the first round allocation. These are outlined in Table A6.1. The purpose of this table is to outline the nature of each of the projects, and to demonstrate the "fit" that each has within the typological framework developed by the consultant team. However it should be noted that Stirling's City Vision document did not contain any original allocations for any of their themes or the individual projects within them. The figures that have been provided in Table A6.1 are therefore based on the Forecast Total Budget figures provided in the final evaluation report.
A6.6 The figures demonstrate that Stirling allocated the largest sum of CGF funding to the category of Streetscape (£1,193,500). Of this, £580,000 was budgeted for environmental improvements to Port Street. The second biggest sum of £480,000 was allocated to City Marketing, of which £410,000 was budgeted for the development of a strategy to market the city more effectively.
TABLE A6.1 Stirling City Growth Fund Projects and Original Budget Allocation
Project | Description | Allocation |
|---|
Transport Infrastructure - Public | £24,000 |
|---|
Stephenson's Bridge | To carry out repair work to the bridge | |
|---|
Streetscape | £1,193,500 |
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Albert Place | Environmental improvement of "key gateway to the city", Albert Place | £80,000 |
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Port Street Environmental Improvement | Environmental improvement scheme involving design improvements, replacement of poor quality pavements etc | £580,000 |
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Friar Street | Funding used to allow consultation process to take place | £35,000 |
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Cowane Street | To enhance the aesthetic appeal of a prominent Gateway route into the city | £25,000 |
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Landscaping and Planting | To provide structural planting to high amenity areas in the city centre | £170,000 |
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Kings Park Gates | To enhance the entrance to the park | £30,000 |
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City Centre Floodlighting | To permit all of the core city centre streets to be floodlit | £40,000 |
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Stirling City Framework for Action | To permit the evaluation of projects for the Cities Growth Fund | £40,000 |
|---|
The Waterspace Strategy | To investigate the potential of further enhancements to river activities, centred on Forthside. | £20,000 |
|---|
Station Square Redevelopment Area | To explore the possible transport options in this area that would allow the project to advance | £50,000 |
|---|
Dumbarton Road Street Lighting | To improve the lighting in this area | £58,500 |
|---|
Street Nameplates | To replace street nameplates in core city centre streets | £30,000 |
|---|
City Centre Miscellaneous Works | To provide low cost enhancements to city infrastructure | £35,000 |
|---|
Property (business uses) | £165,000 |
|---|
Sustainable Stirling | To explore the feasibility of a Sustainable Business Centre; to encourage location and relocation of businesses/organizations prominent in sustainability sector; to encourage corporate social responsibility amongst the business sector | |
|---|
Community Participation/Community Planning Partnership | £57,000 |
|---|
Inclusive Stirling | To support the development of an Urban Regeneration Company to deliver the Raploch Masterplan and to disseminate this good practice to other deprived areas | |
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City Marketing | £478,000 |
|---|
Public Relations and Communications | To appoint Press Officer | £30,000 |
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Orientation and Interpretation | To enhance the branding and marketing of the city | £410,000 |
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Healthy Stirling | To acquire WHO status for Stirling ; to adopt 'Health for All' principles across the Community Planning Partnership | £38,000 |
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The Capital/Revenue Split
A6.7 Table A6.2 shows the proportion of Stirling's allocation that was used for capital and revenue projects.
TABLE A6.2 Capital and Revenue Split of Stirling Projects
Type of activity/project | Percentage of CGF Allocation Accounted for | Percentage of Capital Allocation | Percentage of Revenue Allocation | Mixed |
|---|
Transport Infrastructure | 1% | 2% | | |
|---|
Streetscape | 64% | 86% | | |
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Property (business uses) | 9% | 12% | | |
|---|
Community participation | 3% | | | 11% |
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City marketing | 22% | | | 89% |
|---|
TOTAL | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
|---|
Note: The Final Evaluation Report for Stirling indicates a range of projects that have exclusive revenue funding, such as Healthy Stirling. However when these have been fitted into the typology framework, capital projects have also been included which has, in the case of Community Participation and City Marketing, led to these typologies being classified as "mixed"
A6.8 Stirling's biggest allocations of CGF funding went to projects in the categories of Streetscape (63%) and City Marketing (22%). Streetscape projects were of a purely capital-based nature, and they accounted for 86% of spend across typologies that consisted of capital projects. The remaining 2 typologies contained both capital and revenue projects, so these have been classified as "Mixed". Of these, 89% was allocated to City Marketing. This was largely due to the Orientation and Interpretation study, which had a budget of £410,000. None of the typologies contained projects that were purely revenue funded.
Leverage
A6.9 It is not clear from the documentation the extent to which any private or public sector investment was attracted to complement the CGF funding in Stirling. Discussions with the project manager however suggest that Stirling Council has brought forward a number of investments in complementary transport projects to support the streetscape projects funded through CGF. The leverage of additional private sector investment is now becoming evident from the pump priming of Streetscape works. Lets of properties in Port Street have increased substantially since the onset of this work and this has included significant refurbishment of retail properties in the City Centre. The importance of pump priming funding such as the City Growth Fund cannot be underestimated and it may be worthwhile for this aspect of the City Growth Fund to be evaluated in more detail at a later date once the benefits of capital infrastructure provision have been more fully established. However, in the absence of any figures that quantify leverage the assumption in the calculations (see Tables 3.6 and 3.7) is that there has been no leverage to date.
Fit between Projects and City Vision
A6.10 Table A6.3 indicates the "fit" that the initial project set had with the City Vision. There is only one area of mismatch, in that there are no Transport Infrastructure projects mentioned in the Vision, and it could be argued that the improvements to Stephenson's Bridge was a project of this nature. However it could also be argued that this project was a form of Streetscaping; as such this is a minor issue.
A6.11 However there is real lack of clarity between the Vision and the projects i.e. in the Vision only 3 projects are mentioned by name, however projects are alluded to in the descriptions of how CGF monies will be spent. There is no initial breakdown of projects in the Vision and no indication of spend. This is probably due to the fact that Stirling was a 'new' city and did not have time to fully scope out and develop a project set. However there is a breakdown of projects in the 2003-2006 evaluation report, and it is this upon which the analysis is based.
TABLE A6.3 Fit Between Projects and City Vision
Type of activity/project | The Vision | Areas of mismatch |
|---|
Transport Infrastructure | | v |
|---|
Streetscape | v | |
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Property (business uses) | v | |
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Economic diversification | v | |
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Community participation | v | |
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City Marketing | v | |
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Note: Economic Diversification has been included here as it is argued that that the Sustainable Business Centre (which is part of the Property category) contributed to the diversification of Stirling's economy
Progress with City Vision Projects
A6.11 The extent to which projects had progressed, in terms of CGF funding that had been spent as of July 2006, is outlined in Table A6.4.
A6.12 Projects which spent the greatest proportion of their allocations were in the categories of Community Participation (100%), Streetscape (67%) and Transport Infrastructure (39%). However there was a degree of underspend across 4 of the 5 typologies. The most significant of this was in Streetscape, which accounted for 46% of total underspend, and City marketing, which accounted for 39%. However, Stirling's approach to prioritising expenditure involved a comprehensive review of city centre streets and other related infrastructure. This resulted in contracts being awarded in Autumn 2005, with completion during 2006/07.
A6.13 The main contributor to the underspend relates to the awarding of Streetscape contracts. This underspend is expected to be made up over the next 18 months. Prior to committing to the City Centre streetscape projects, Stirling Council carried out a strategic assessment of over 50 different potential areas where investment in streetscape could be made. Each location was assessed against a range of criteria including footfall, attractiveness and potential impact. As a result the Council now has a prioritised action plan to guide future investment.
TABLE A6.4 Project Spend and Underspend
Type of activity/project | Project value (£) | Total Spend (£) | Underspend (£) | Percentage of total underspend |
|---|
Transport Infrastructure | £24,000 | £9,375 | £14,625 | 2% |
|---|
Streetscape | £1,223,500 | £818,902 | £356,086 | 46% |
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Property (business uses) | £165,000 | £58,785 | £106,215 | 14% |
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Community participation | £57,000 | £57,000 | £0 | 0% |
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City Marketing | £483,000 | £178,114 | £304,886 | 39% |
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TOTAL | £1,952,500 | £1,122,176 | £781,811 | 100% |
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Spending Outwith the City
A6.14 The project set that was finalised after the consultation process contained no projects outwith the city of Stirling itself.
Impacts
A6.15 The project set which Stirling developed covered 5 of the 11 typologies, and this is fairly broad when the size of its allocation is considered. Of the £1.9m in first round funding, Stirling has spent around £1.2m (57%) of its Cities Growth Fund allocation.
A6.16 In terms of what has been delivered using this funding, it is clear that much has been achieved in the Streetscape projects. Many of the projects have been completed. However assessing the impact of these projects is premature at this stage.
A6.17 However following investment in projects in the Property (business uses) category, Stirling Council has decided to move to sustainable offices. The decision to invest in an Orientation and Interpretation Strategy, which includes; gateway signage; a website; orientation blades and City marketing, will undoubtedly assist in promoting the City as an attractive destination for visitors. Stirling met its target of achieving World Health Organisation Healthy City status in 2004.
Additionality
A6.18 The consultation with the Project Manager suggested that the City Growth fund has brought time and scale additionality. Investment in the City Centre streetscape had been recognised as an issue prior to the development of the City Vision, however the Council had no means of funding investment.
Other Benefits
A6.19 The period 2003-2006 has seen the establishment of a City Centre Partnership and a City Centre Initiative. Although the extent to which these developments are attributable to the Cities Growth Fund is not clear, it has been a key development which has enhanced communication between the Council and their Community Planning Partners.
The Future
A6.20 Future strategy centres around future Streetscape works, with particular emphasis on the continued development of Port Street and Friars Street. Provision has also been made for a continuation of the City Marketing strategy, which involves Phase II of the Orientation and Interpretation Strategy and Phase II of Healthy Stirling.