Falkirk Council

The Falkirk Council area has undergone a substantial economic change over the last 10 years. The effects of this change could have been devastating but instead presented us with opportunities. Our area is one of the best linked areas in Scotland and we have used this to our advantage for centuries. We must continue to exploit this geographical advantage if our area is to thrive and prosper.

We understand that businesses create jobs and wealth and are the driving force behind any successful economy. A strong partnership with businesses will provide a sound platform for further developing our economic advantages and we are progressing this through our successful business panel.

In order to compete successfully and collaborate with the neighbouring city regions, we must promote ourselves to take maximum advantage of our central geographic location and strong transport links. We will forge new alliances with businesses to deliver an economic infrastructure required to support a vibrant local economy for our area and Scotland as a whole and promote our local tourist products including the Falkirk Wheel and the HELIX.

We also know that in order for our area to have a wealthy and prosperous future we must harness the ambitions and talents of all our citizens and in particular our young people. We must ensure there are exciting future opportunities for people to work in our area and that our young people have the skills and confidence to benefit from these.

Falkirk town centre has always punched above its weight in terms of attracting shoppers to our area. However we recognise all of our town centres are important as a focal point within our communities. They not only provide diverse shopping opportunities but also promote civic pride. We must work with our local businesses and communities to ensure all our town centres not only survive but also thrive.

Our area will be recognised as having a culture and ethos of aspiration and ambition

Our area will be recognised as having a culture and ethos of aspiration and ambition

This will be demonstrated by:

We will achieve this by:

having an excellent business environment raising the aspirations of our children and families raising the employability of our workforce increasing the number of locally developed and incoming businesses

working with Forth Valley College to ensure they have a state of the art campus and facilities ensuring our schools are of the highest quality to promote learning and achievement continuing to develop our successful business support continuing to encourage and facilitate the diversification of the local economy increasing entrepreneurship increasing levels of employment enhancing our tourism product and support services

The wealth and prosperity of our area will increase

The wealth and prosperity of our area will increase

This will be demonstrated by:	We will achieve this by:
reducing the number of young unemployed adults having fewer people on working age benefits increasing employment and average wage earnings	encouraging social justice for all including young, elderly, migrant populations supporting individuals to come off working age benefits providing money and debt advice services in conjunction with partners developing new business support services and means of engaging with the business community

Our workforce will be highly skilled

Our workforce will be highly skilled

This will be demonstrated by:	We will achieve this by:
providing effective teaching and learning providing training opportunities for young people and workless families being an exemplar employer ensuring our schools curriculum meets the needs of the local economy and employers ensuring the best possible start for all children in the 0–8 agenda	improving leaver destinations for young people raising education attainment especially of secondary school leavers providing opportunities for people within work to continue to learn having an excellent range of business locations developing a skills strategy for a competitive workforce improving the range of support and childcare facilities for parents

The quality of our infrastructure will help promote the growth of the local economy

The quality of our infrastructure will help promote the growth of the local economy

This will be demonstrated by:	We will achieve this by:
upgrading our town centres developing an excellent transport network promoting strong public private sector partnerships	ensuring all our town centres benefit from modern communications including wireless networks managing our car parks to maintain the viability of our town centres ensuring a good supply of business properties developing the potential for the growth of Grangemouth Port improving our transport links promoting the area as a national priority for investment in economic infrastructure