Business Briefs - June 25

Two multi-million pound health centres have been given the green light thanks to funding from theScottish Government.

Deputy first minister John Swinney announced that Clydebank Health Centre and Greenock Health and Care Centre will be funded as part of the Scottish Government’s £409 million investment in the non-profit distributing (NPD) programme.

The announcement sees Mr Swinney double the £19m for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde secured from the £409m extension to the Non Profit Distributing (NPD) programme announced in November.

Scots patent applications falling

There was a sharp year-on-year drop in the number of patents applied for and granted in Scotland in 2014.

According to the UK’s Intellectual Property Office, applications dropped from 902 to 851 and patents granted fell from 142 to 103.

This was compared to UK applications which increased by 241 to 15,187 as patents dropped by 132 to 2,315.

IBM had the most patents granted with 309 followed by Dyson with 122.

However, trademark applications in Scotland rose by 28 to 2,219.

£28m West Dunbartonshire City Deal regeneration plans progress

The multi-million pound City Deal regeneration project in West Dunbartonshire has moved to the next stage after councillors approved the latest proposals.

The project would see the former EXXON site near Bowling undergo a £27.897 million transformation, including a road built providing an alternative route in and out of West Dunbartonshire and 20,000m2 of industrial and commercial development space.

West Dunbartonshire Council said the work would support up to 690 full time jobs, with the site potentially generating an additional £31.9m each year for the local economy.

Work begins on Glasgow’s first Krispy Kreme store

The opening of Glasgow’s first Krispy Kreme store is one step closer after planning permission was granted for the doughnut firm to open up shop.

The American firm was granted planning permission subject to conditions by Renfrewshire Council to turn the former Clydebuilt Scottish Maritime Museum at Braehead into a giant doughnut restaurant.

Argyll and Bute Council reduces savings target

The amount of money that Argyll and Bute Council will need to save over the next few years is less than it had previously expected, the council has said.

The local authority’s savings targets have been reduced to between £21.7 million and £26m, following updated budget estimates. This means a savings target of around £9m in both 2016/17 and 2017/18.

The updated funding gap was noted at a special meeting of the council’s policy and resources (P&R) committee when it met this week.