Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney has today confirmed that £4 million of funding from the UK Government will be passed on to help flood hit residents across Scotland, including Alyth.
Last week, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that around £40 million of support will be released through the new Community Recovery Scheme, meaning Scotland would receive £4 million in extra money.
Former Alyth resident and Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser welcomed today’s news and said he expects Perth and Kinross Council to receive a fair proportion of this funding.
Commenting Murdo Fraser MSP said:
“In August I witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by severe rainfall in Alyth and met with flood hit local residents who were evacuated to the town hall and can only express how pleased I am that funding provided by the UK government will be passed on to local residents.
“Given the destruction in Alyth, to its historic bridges and town centre, I would hope that the area sees a significant proportion of this Barnett Formula cash.
“Elsewhere in the budget I was pleased to see that the SNP took the decision not to hit hard working local families with tax increases by keeping the Scottish rate of income tax the same as the rest of the UK.
“However, it is disappointing that there is no restoration of the Scottish Government’s swingeing college cuts, nor greater changes to its land and buildings transactions tax, which is having a detrimental impact on the market.
“Over the coming days I will carefully scrutinise the budget and put forward changes that can benefit communities across Mid-Scotland and Fife.”