North Lanarkshire Council wants £18 million from Levelling Up fund to advance plans for Ravenscraig

The council’s policy and strategy committee heard that the funding would be used to support the development of a seven-hectare site with mixed use town centre plots building on the development of the Sports Facility, the Park, the new Employment Access Road and related plots as well as transport routes and other infrastructure.

Depute leader Paul Kelly (Labour, Motherwell West) welcomed the bid and said the report showed the transformation being achieved by the current administration on the site of the former steelworks.

He asked if there would be similar opportunities in future to apply for funding for other community hubs in North Lanarkshire as the council is in the process of finalising sites for multiple town hubs across the boundaries of the local authority.

Head of planning Pamela Humphries replied that it could be possible to attract further funding.

However, she stressed that this bid would accelerate development of Ravenscraig, and chief executive Des Murray confirmed no development was considered in isolation and that the success of this bid would also bring benefits to the Motherwell town hub project.

The committee agreed unanimously to proceed with the bid and, if successful, find another site for the primary school it intends to build in the location as this would instead be used for other purposes.