Have your say on the future of the region’s economy in upcoming consultation

Regional Prosperity Framework

Residents, businesses and organisations across south east Scotland are being urged to take part in a major upcoming consultation to help shape the economic future of the region.

Draft plan for building the economy

The Regional Prosperity Framework is a draft plan for building the economy of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region. It looks at everything from transport and housing to education and digital inclusion, economic development and climate change. Views are being sought from around the region to inform the further development of the plan.

14 June launch

The consultation, which will go live on Monday 14 June, is relevant to individuals, businesses and other organisations, professional bodies and the third sector.

Key to Scotland’s economy

The Regional Prosperity Framework will inform future policy creation across a range of organisations – all aimed at ensuring the region is as resilient as possible going forward, despite current challenges, and has the right infrastructure in place to be a key contributor to the economy of Scotland. A copy of the framework will be available alongside the consultation from Monday.

Key themes

The key themes of the draft framework are:

• FLOURISHING economy, environment and ecology, households and places
• RESILIENT workforce, climate responses, infrastructure and buildings
• INNOVATIVE Private Sector, Third Sector (including Further and Higher Education), Public Sector

Get involved with the Regional Prosperity Framework

The consultation will be available online from Monday 14 June until Monday 26 July. To submit a consultation response please complete the online survey.
Responses to the consultation can also be submitted by:

• post: Aleks Bogacz, Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, Area 2.1, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh, EH8 8BG
• email: ESESCR.CityDeal@edinburgh.gov.uk

Hugely important to pandemic recovery

Claire Pattullo, Chair of the Regional Enterprise Council:
“This is a hugely important piece of work, particularly as we move into the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and are still assessing the effects of Brexit. The draft has been created to stimulate debate and invite comments to help shape a finalised framework. This will be a document that sets out long-term aspirations for the region and informs policy development for the next 20 years.

“It has been developed with input from public, private and third sector organisations and aims to address the region’s challenges and opportunities to make Edinburgh and South East Scotland a better place to live, work, study, visit and invest for current and future generations.”

Easy to give views

Councillor David Ross, Chair of the City Region Deal Joint Committee, said:
“Although it covers a lot of important topics, the consultation has been broken down into sections with guided questions to make it as easy as possible for everyone to give us their thoughts and views on whatever aspects are relevant to them.

“The draft strategy has a strong focus on addressing the challenges of climate change, sustainability, biodiversity loss, inequalities, health and well-being, and the need to create new jobs and businesses while enabling a transition to a net zero economy. In a rapidly changing environment it’s also important that the plan is adaptable, so it will be subject to regular review and update over its lifetime.”

Urging local people to get involved

Councillor Russell Imrie, Midlothian’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said:

“The final framework will be a critical document to helping a wide range of partners right across the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region to shape national, regional and local plans and strategies, both individually and collaboratively.

“For that reason it is really important that we get as much feedback as possible on the draft plan through this consultation.

“The City Region area has always been of critical importance to the Scottish economy and it is important that we all continue to work together to ensure that this remains the case.

“Midlothian has a crucial role to play and has particular challenges being both rural and urban and its close proximity to Edinburgh.”

More information on the Regional Prosperity Framework

The draft Regional Prosperity Framework has been developed by a range of organisations who recognise the significant benefits of coming together and working collaboratively to support the best possible future for the region. The full document is available to view here.

Key partners include the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal partners (the six local authorities, together with regional universities, colleges and the Regional Enterprise Council, UK and Scottish Governments), as well as a range of other organisations with a key role in the region such as Scottish Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise, Transport Scotland and SEStran.

More information about the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal can be found online.