East Ayrshire Council’s plans for one of its key Ayrshire Growth Deal projects have been hit by the failure to secure key funds.
But the council says that the need to relocate the Ayrshire Manufacturing Investment Corridor (AMIC) from Bellfield to Moorfield in Kilmarnock will have a silver lining.
The project was due to be built to the west of the Bellfield Interchange, between the A71 and A76.
A £20m bid to the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund came up short earlier this year. The project was also left out of the Strategic Transport Projects Review.
A report to the council’s cabinet recommends that the project be relocated to Moorfield, which was the other site considered at the outset.
Councillors will be asked to approve the co-location of another Ayrshire Growth Deal project, the Ayrshire Engineering Park (AEP), at Moorfield.
A total of £23.5m is being invested by the UK and Scottish governments in the AMIC project, with a further £16m, including £4m from EAC, allocated to the AEP.
The report states: “£10 Million from the UK government supports the development of a food and drink centre of excellence and incubation units and £13.5 Million from the Scottish government supports development of infrastructure and advanced manufacturing industrial units for the food and drink sector.
“Sector specific support for the food and drinks industry is currently not available in the South West of Scotland. The AMIC centre aims therefore to fill the gap.
The AMIC includes:
- Advanced manufacturing industrial units
- Food grade incubation and manufacturing units which are currently unavailable in the area
- New food & drink product development & innovation support
- Technical support in relation to food safety, labelling, allergens and accreditations.
- Pilot plant facilities to facilitate the next stage in the product development
The report outlines the reasons for relocation, including a reduction of floorspace by around a third.
It states: “Like many construction projects, construction inflation has affected the scale of the proposed physical development.
“The site at Bellfield Interchange was selected as the preferred option on the basis that improvements, which were anticipated to be funded through the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) and thereafter the Levelling Up Fund (LUF2), would relieve challenges the location has in relation to capacity and pedestrian and vehicular safety.
“Due to the Bellfield Interchange not being included in STPR2 and not being successful in LUF2, the site therefore remains constrained. Given the challenges faced the site location is no longer favourable compared to the site at Moorfield.”
The proposal for the AEP project has also been hit by construction inflation and the cost of achieving carbon reductions, also reducing the planned floorspace considerably.
This project will provide industrial premises for engineering and supply chain manufacturing companies; access and utilities infrastructure, units for growth and expansion of the existing engineering business base, and to attract inward investment.
The report continues: “The project team has developed an innovative solution to co-locate AMIC and AEP on the site at Moorfield. This proposal has numerous advantages which make it a more attractive proposition than the original site proposal.”
The new proposal would reduce the impact of inflation by splitting costs for roads and infrastructure between the projects. The site is also owned by the council and already has ‘large and successful food and drinks manufacturers’ in the Moorfield site.
The report concludes: “With many of the AGD projects suffering from delays associated with construction inflation, this proposal allows two of our projects to move forwards with effective, deliverable business cases.”
The cabinet will consider the report on Wednesday, May 31.
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