Funding of just under £2 million has been awarded to Falkirk Council from the Scottish government's Town Centre Capital.

The grant will be invested across Falkirk, Grangemouth and Bo'ness in a number of projects designed to make the town centres more "vibrant, enterprising and accessible".

At a meeting on Tuesday 18 June, the Council's Executive agreed to work up details and costs for a number of projects, including:

• In Falkirk, WiFi will be introduced to the town centre; new luggage lockers for tourists; allocation of funding to help protect heritage buildings and future public art projects

• In Grangemouth WiFi will also be added along with new engagement with private land owners on potential developments as consideration of demolition of vacant and unlettable commercial property


• Bo'ness will see access to the town's library improved as well as its layout to benefit the community; a drive to bring vacant property back into use and town centre WiFi.

In addition the partnership formed to regenerate Falkirk's town centre has now established itself as 'Revitalising Falkirk'.

The partnership will be made up from a range of agencies from the public and private sectors and will oversee the work of the action plan being devised to boost opportunities in the town.

Councillor David Alexander, spokesperson for Economic Development said: "The investment in our town centres will help us make them more prosperous and attractive for local residents and visitors alike.

"We appreciate the role town centres have in our communities and we are confident the plans will bring longer term benefits.

"The Revitalising Falkirk partnership will have a wide remit and has the right mix of experience and knowledge to help us deliver significant changes in the future. This will also involve working with businesses in the town centre and we want to ensure that they are kept fully aware of plans through a newly created Town Centre Forum."