Tay Cities Deal

The Tay Cities Deal will drive the Region’s economy over the next 15 years and bring together public, private and voluntary organisations to deliver a smarter and fairer Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross and North East Fife.

The Tay Cities Deal partnership has the following vision:

“Together, we’re striving to make the Tay Cities Region one of the most exciting, dynamic and desirable areas of Europe in which to live, work, invest and visit ...”

The Heads of Term Agreement, which was signed in November 2018, commits the UK and Scottish Governments to work collaboratively with the regional partners to deliver a Deal that will transform the regional economy.

As identified in the Heads of Terms, the partners are very clear that for the economy to thrive they must:

• grow their base of knowledge-led businesses
• create more, better-paid jobs
• support more businesses to trade internationally
• attract investment
• attract and retain talented people
• improve connectivity to, from and around the Region
• increase economic participation
• reduce inequalities

Under the deal, business, higher and further education, local government and the Third Sector will work closely together to create growth more quickly and sustainably using the significant public investment to bring greater prosperity and equality.

The Full Deal was signed on 17 December 2020. Click on the link to find out more about what the Deal means for the Region.

“The Deal will further energise activity to deliver improved outcomes for the region’s people, places, businesses, and communities.”

The Scottish Government and the UK Government will each invest up to £150 million in the Deal over the next 10-15 years. This investment, which is subject to final approval of strong business cases for each project, has the potential to secure over 6,000 jobs and attract over £400 million in investment to the region over the next 10 to 15 years.

The Tay Cities Deal will enable the region to:

• Empower and promote inclusion - by ensuring that local people have the skills they need to succeed in the modern workplace and that growth is inclusive;
• Innovate and internationalise - by developing globally recognised clusters of academic and business excellence; and
• Connect - by improving physical and digital infrastructure.

You can find out more by visiting the Tay Cities website.

The Mercury Programme

The Tay Cities Deal identifies a £26.5 million capital investment fund for projects in Angus, the Angus Fund. Projects to be funded are being developed collaboratively with Angus Council and other local partners, and are subject to UK Government approval.

The Angus Fund will be used to stimulate The Mercury Programme, which is Angus Council’s visionary £1 billion partnership programme between government, public, private and community sectors.

The purpose of the Mercury Programme is to:

“Increase productivity through clean growth, protecting places for future generations to live, work and visit”

Angus Council will achieve this by becoming a sustainable, low carbon region that is leading the development and implementation of innovative clean technologies to deliver increased economic growth, while at the same time significantly reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to national reductions in carbon use.

To achieve its purpose the Mercury Programme has identified three, very much interlinked, components of investment. These components have been used to focus the work being supported by the Angus Fund, with projects being developed under each component as follows:

1. Clean Growth

We plan to utilise new technologies throughout North Angus and Montrose to improve energy efficiency, whilst using emerging data to understand the required improvements to ensure carbon reduction.

Enabling infrastructure in North Angus

We aim to provide improved transport connections by road, rail and sea in North Angus, creating a master plan for the area to support the planning process and growth in the area.

Learn more about the North Angus Growth Opportunity.

Zero Four Business Park

Angus Council and Crown Estate Scotland have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, entering into an agreement to work together to develop a clean growth enterprise hub, with supporting infrastructure, in Montrose, Angus.

Learn more about the Zero Four Business Park.

Centre of Excellence for drone technologies

This project aims to place Angus at the centre of the growing drone industry by proposing a Centre of Excellence for drone technologies in Montrose.

This would be Scotland’s first drone port and the UK’s first drone port that focuses primarily on the application and testing of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) technology for offshore, marine, agriculture and rural applications.

Initially, drones are likely to be used for low risk, offshore purposes including offshore inspection and deliveries. In the future, drones could potentially be used to carry passengers.

Learn more about the Mercury Drone Port.

2. Low Carbon

This component of the Mercury Programme will focus on the development of low carbon and renewable solutions for transportation and energy across Angus and the wider Tay Cities region.

Low carbon demonstrator housing

The low carbon demonstrator housing project aims to demonstrate how technological innovation in renewables, alongside energy-efficient construction, can achieve zero-carbon targets in new and existing homes at a large scale. These technological innovations include solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, battery storage and hydrogen renewable energy sources.

Learn more about low carbon demonstrator housing.

Angus Rural Mobility Hub

Angus Council’s ambition, along with the private sector, is to deliver an Angus Rural Mobility Hub, within a regional business park to provide the infrastructure, services and skills programme needed to enable the Tay region’s transition to a low carbon, inclusive economy through a range of smart mobility and energy services.

Learn more about the Angus Rural Mobility Hub.

3. Agri Tech

Agriculture is a key industry in Angus. This component of the Mercury Programme will look at the ability to provide a clean growth, data-driven, bio-economy approach to the sector.

Centre for Agricultural Sustainable Innovation (CASI)

The Centre for Agriculture Sustainable Innovation (CASI) will facilitate collaboration between businesses in the agriculture industry and promote farm-based sustainable innovation, supporting an inclusive and green economy through the demonstration of innovation, commercialisation, iconic new food and drink products and world-leading quality control.

Learn more about the Centre for Agricultural Sustainable Innovation (CASI).