Development & Housing

We have led the Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) programme as a way of securing infrastructure investment that unlocks regeneration and inclusive economic growth.

TIF seeks to capture locally generated, incremental public sector revenues (e.g. business rates) that wouldn't have arisen were it not for investment in the delivery of “enabling” public sector infrastructure.

The use of TIF is normally predicated on a ‘but for’ test i.e. that but for TIF, the anticipated outcomes from a regeneration and economic perspective would not occur or not occur in the time frames which TIF would enable.

A TIF project must therefore demonstrate that the enabling infrastructure will generate additional public sector revenues to repay the financing requirements of the enabling infrastructure.

There are currently four active TIF projects:

• Glasgow City Council’s City Centre TIF has the capacity to deliver significant benefits to the City Centre
• Fife Council will invest TIF enabling funding to improve vehicle and marine access to Energy Park, Fife, allowing the potential for further renewable, offshore and wind project capability to be developed
• Argyll & Bute Council’s Lorn Arc TIF is aimed at further enabling Oban’s wider economy and ensuring the economic infrastructure which will act as a catalyst to grow marine tourism, renewables and aquaculture is in place
• Falkirk Council is investing to support commercial activity in manufacturing, distribution and support sectors in Grangemouth. This will include strategic road improvements and flood defences to enhance and protect the region

Two further TIF projects, one based in North Ayrshire and the other again in Fife, are in place and we will work with the relevant Councils to advance thinking for both.