The Housing and Equalities Portfolio is led by West Dunbartonshire Council, with representatives from our eight councils and including Clydeplan and academic partners from the Glasgow City Region Economic Commission.
The policy and delivery connections between housing, transport, land use planning, investment and economic growth are often considered separately. However, the inclusive growth agenda increasingly requires us to consider these issues alongside one another.
Since its inception the Housing and Equalities Portfolio has strengthened our Regional housing voice contributing to national, Regional and local housing issues and policy.
The following issues will shape the work of the Housing Portfolio in 2021:
- Home energy efficiency retrofit feasibility study
- Funding and procurement – establish a GCR approach to funding and procurement that continues the upward trend in delivering new housing
- Standards – establish a region-wide standard to provide housebuilders and contractors with a consistent high standard of build and renovation that meets the challenges of the futures in relation to energy and space standards
- Skills – establish a skills supply chain for a sustained trained workforce that can deliver the needs of housing construction and refurbishments.
The Glasgow City Region City Deal will fund major infrastructure projects; create thousands of new jobs and assist thousands of unemployed people back to work; improve public transport and connectivity; drive business innovation and growth and generate billions of pounds of private sector investment.
Our ground-breaking City Deal, the first in Scotland and one of the largest and the most advanced in the UK, was signed in August 2014 by the eight member authorities with the UK and Scottish Governments.
The partnership, with Glasgow as the lead authority, was the first to benefit from City Deal funding from both the UK and Scottish Governments, with £500 million provided from each for infrastructure investment and the local authorities contributing a further £130 million.
The City Deal will support the local area to achieve its shared long-term vision for the local economy through:
- Improved infrastructure – £1.13 billion fund to support the delivery of improved transport and connectivity across Glasgow and the Clyde Valley and key development and regeneration sites.
- Growth in life sciences – establishment of world class research and development and commercialisation facilities.
- Supporting business innovation – providing additional business incubator and grow-on space for entrepreneurs across the Region enabling more small and medium enterprises to grow.
- Tackling unemployment – creation of thousands of new jobs and establishment of programmes to provide targeted support to 16-24 year olds and vulnerable residents, and testing new ways of boosting the incomes of people on low wages to make them more self-reliant.
View a short overview film about the Glasgow City Region City Deal.
