Dumfries and Galloway Council has been awarded almost £18 million from round two of the UK Government's Levelling Up Fund (LUF), for their proposed 'Reactivating Galloway' scheme.

This bid included three interlinking and distinct projects under the Regeneration and Culture themes within the LUF with a strategic focus on developing opportunities for outdoor activities, building on the boom in staycations and the increased desire within communities for outdoor activity that occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the Council intends to use this funding to support town centre regeneration through re-using vacant or derelict buildings, providing new focal points to attract visitors and facilities to be enjoyed by the local community.

Dumfries and Galloway submitted three bids –the successful bid, as stated above, for projects situated within the UK Parliament constituency of Dumfries and Galloway; one for a transport bid within our region, focussing on 'sustainable connectivity' and access to 'green' energy; and one within the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency, the 'Three Rivers Active Tourism Project' – working with South Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Borders Council.

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Our Council is disappointed that we have not had success with the other two, but we will continue to look for other funding and opportunities to fulfil these projects. In particular we will support our partner group for the Annan Harbour Regeneration project

For our successful bid, Dehenna Davison MP provided the following feedback on behalf of the UK Government: "You submitted a strong application, which performed well against our assessment criteria, and I was pleased to hear about the projects that you plan to deliver with this investment. I appreciate the hard work that went into the application and am very keen, as I am sure you are, to get delivery and spend underway quickly."

Co-Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council, Stephen Thompson said: "This is great news for our region, particularly the West where this investment, in addition to our Council's existing projects at the Marina, Stranraer Waterfront and the George Hotel in the town centre, will provide a real boost to regeneration and improving the local economy. The announcement earlier this week of Scottish Government funding for the regeneration of Lockerbie Old School and our ongoing delivery of projects through the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal is evidence of the strides our Council is taking to bring in additional funding to deliver investments for the benefit of the region."

Co-Leader, Linda Dorward said: "Our success has proven that we recognised these very worthy priority projects for our Council. I have stated in the past that our Council will do all that it can to address the impacts of the pandemic on our local economy and this funding will help bring a lot of our ideas and proposals to fruition. We will continue to develop and support local organisations to bring forward projects that support their local places and the region."