Inverclyde Council’s Regeneration Convener has welcomed the final piece in the funding jigsaw for the new Greenock Arts Guild.

The Big Lottery Fund has announced a £378,000 grant for the theatre at East India Harbour.

Regeneration Convener Councillor Jim Clocherty said: "The new Arts Guild is one of the flagship projects in our regeneration plans for the whole of Inverclyde. We have committed £2.5 million and I am delighted that significant extra funding has been secured from the Big Lottery Fund. Once completed the new Arts Guild will be at the centre of a transformed waterfront and at the heart of the community."

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The grant is among the last to be made from the Growing Community Assets programme which aims to empower and strengthen communities by allowing them to take control and ownership of local assets.

Big Lottery Fund Scotland Director, Dharmendra Kanani said: "What do you get when you mix an historic location with a deep issue of need and a healthy dose of enterprise? You get the new Inverclyde Arts Centre. This is a classic example of what happens when people, community and entrepreneurs are put in the driving seat of change.

“This area of Scotland has one of the highest levels of deprivation. Many funders have struggled here in the past but what we have today is a shining example of how you can bring together place, opportunity and ownership to start to turn a community around.”

The new arts centre will be sited on a prime location on a former dockyard site in Greenock. It will be adjacent to the historic Georgian Customhouse and will overlook the River Clyde. The new building will form part of the wider regeneration of former industrial land throughout the Inverclyde waterfront.

(GK)