Key deadlines already missed by Ayrshire Growth Deal projects

The £251million deal will see investment from the UK and Scottish Government and the three Ayrshire authorities. In total the AGD aims to create up to 7,000 new jobs across the three Ayrshires by 2030, while attracting £300m in private investment by 2045.

The main focus of the deal in South Ayrshire is around Prestwick Airport, with the much heralded spaceport development sitting alongside manufacturing facilities, an aerospace technology centre and related infrastructure.

However, at a meeting of the Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee, it was reported that there have been some early difficulties in making key deadlines.
In most cases this has seen targets for getting an outline business case approved by government come and go.

The four South Ayrshire projects aim to create over 1,600 new direct and indirect jobs, over and above 765 construction jobs.

Both East and North Ayrshire have their own AGD projects on the go at the same time, including the HALO enterprise and innovation centre and Ayrshire Engineering Park in Kilmarnock, the Community Renewable Energy Project (CoRE) in Cumnock, the International Marine Science and Environmental Centre in Ardrossan and the Hunterston Strategic Development Area.

While some are on schedule, the likes of the CoRE project have also missed early milestones targets.

With so many major projects coming under the Ayrshire Growth Deal banner, it has always been seen as likely that deadlines would be in need of fine tuning.

In a report to the Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee, it states: “The key changes to the Implementation Plan have provided an opportunity to reset the management of projects.

“This includes adjustments to project timelines where early stages have not been met.

“This reflects recent delays for some projects in progressing to the OBC stage. Elsewhere adjustments have been made to reflect the complexity of projects and phasing of the business case development and project delivery.

“It has been sought to ensure that the changes made will not comprise the expected long term delivery of projects.”

The implementation plan was agreed by Governments and the councils.

Prestwick Spaceport
Completed – Feasibility study, environmental screening and launch service providers
Missed – Outline Business Case (due October 2021)

Targets
10 new direct and indirect jobs by 2026
135 construction jobs by 2024
3,200m2 development space  by 2024
£3m private sector investment by 2025
Operational spaceport by 2024
Two launch service providers by 2027
Prestwick commercial build project
Commercial office space and facilities to meet future growth in aerospace, maintenance repair and aircraft decommission and space markets.

Missed – Agreement on development strategy, financial model approval, (both May 2021) and Outline Business Case approval by government  August 2021)

Targets
1,434 jobs by 2030
475 construction jobs by 2030
54404 m2 business space by 2030
Leverage £57m by 2031
Prestwick Roads project
Prestwick East aerospace park link road, new route corridor to extend link road to northern end of site and new road infrastructure to service spaceport

Missed – OBC approval by gov due June 2022

Targets
94 Construction jobs by 2026
3.5km of new road by 2026
1 km road upgrade by 2026
4 new roundabouts by 2026
3 upgrade roundabouts by 2026
footway cycleway by 2026
75% reduction of commuters through Monkton by 2026 Project Prestwick Aerospace and space technology application centre.

The design, development, build and fit-out of an in-situ “innovation” centre to enable the delivery and manufacture of new flight products in Scotland.

Complete – Pilot aerospace and space supply chain programme start and
pilot aerospace digital visualisation suite programme start

Missed – OBC approval by government.

Targets
68 new and maintained direct and indirect jobs by  2030
61 construction jobs by 2030
4.390 m2 business space by 2030
1250 visitors by 2030
Support for 50 small and medium size businesses by 2030.