Figures published by British Waterways Scotland have shown the full extent of how Scotland’s canals contribute to the nation’s economy, stimulating £282million of private investment and supporting almost 5,000 jobs.
Spring 2009
The results of the report into the economic outputs of Scotland’s Canal Network show that investment in projects like the Millennium Link and upgrading of the Caledonian and Crinan Canals have had terrific success in stimulating further private sector investment.
Between 1999 and 2007 the Millennium Link project, which connects the Union and Forth & Clyde canals, delivered over £260 million of investment and helped create over 3,500 full time jobs. The investment and employment figures are ahead of the original forecasts in 1999 which predicted £100million of investment and the creation of 3420 jobs by this stage. Projections show that the restoration of the Lowland canals has the potential to generate £1.5 billion of investment and over 12,500 jobs by 2015.
Other benefits included the construction of 1,240 new homes and over 92,000 sq metres of commercial floorspace.
British Waterways Scotland Director, Steve Dunlop, said: “Whilst we recognise that we are currently faced with challenging times, these figures show what an important contribution canals make to Scotland’s economy. With a number of exciting new canal side regeneration projects in development, we expect canals to deliver even more in the way of economic development in years to come.”