Industrial Promotion
Both central government and local authorities have tried to encourage economic growth by promoting their areas for industrial development. For most of the 20th century, local authorities relied on town planning legislation to enable them to develop areas for industrial premises and sites. They also co-operated with voluntary bodies such as the Scottish Development Council and with central government bodies such as the Scottish Development Agency and the Highlands and Islands Development Board. Outreach could include the printing of tourist brochures, and the advertisement of industrial opportunities through film, of which some samples survive in the National Library of Scotland Moving Image collection.
The Local Government and Planning (Scotland) Act 1982 formally added industrial promotion to local authority functions.[1] District councils were limited to promotion within their own areas or to participating in initiatives led by the Secretary of State for Scotland or the regional council for the area or a national body set up for that purpose (such as the Scottish Development Agency). Regional councils were responsible for the implementation of planned policies, such as those carried out by Tayside Regional Industrial Office (TRIO), which provided advice on new investments and expansion of businesses in the region and conducted marketing programmes for the promotion of business opportunities.[2] In 1996 this function transferred to the unitary authorities.[3]
Compiler: Elspeth Reid (2021)
Bibliography
Ferguson, Keith, An introduction to local government in Scotland (The Planning Exchange, 1984)
References
[1] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (c.43).
[2] Athugalage, T. S. K. ‘Tayside economy: an input-output approach to analysis and planning’ (Unpublished doctoral thesis, Dundee College of Technology, 1983) pp. 88-90.
[3] Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 (c.39) Sch. 14.