Falkirk Council has approved £194 million of investment plans across the Falkirk area for the next five years.

Funding for the programme will mainly be carried out through 'Prudential Borrowing' from diverse sources to facilitate the implementation of investment plans. Over the course of five years, this entails borrowing up to £127 million for general fund services.

The projects detailed below highlight some of the service areas of planned investment across the five year capital plan totalling £194m:

•Energy efficiency & Carbon footprint works £8.3m

•Flood Assessments & Minor Improvements £2.8m

-- Advertisement --

•The new Falkirk Town Hall £45.4m

•Cycling, walking and Safer Routes to Schools £1.7m

•An already agreed investment in Sports & Leisure in secondary schools of £3.0m with an additional £7.5m for community access at Braes, Denny and Bo’ness High Schools at the meeting today.

•Structural maintenance in roads and street lighting £26.7m

•£4.5m to Connected Falkirk, the nationally acclaimed scheme that is providing the roll out of c.17k iPads for use by pupils across local schools

•Additional investment in ICT of £2m

Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, Leader of Falkirk Council said: "This capital investment plan represents our commitment to enhancing services and infrastructure for the long-term benefit of our local communities. "There continues to be a clear need to deliver large scale projects that are an investment in our area’s communities as well as ensuring we can continue to provide priority services. However, big gaps remain in funding for essential projects such as backlog maintenance requirements across various areas of the Council’s operations. We acknowledge these challenges ahead but will continue to remain optimistic about securing the necessary funding to address these needs."