A MAJOR step was taken yesterday toward making Alloa an international, if not global, centre in efforts to tackle climate change.

On Wednesday, February 26, the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal was signed off with a combined £214million investment package, part of which will be for Scotland’s International Environment Centre in Alloa.

The centre will be created in partnership with the University of Stirling with ambitions to become instrumental in driving policy forward toward a net zero carbon emissions economy.

It is understood a previosuly highlighted wetlands centre, with the RSPB, will form a part of that as well.

Signing the deal for the Wee County was council leader Councillor Ellen Forson who gathered with other delegates at Forth Valley College’s Stirling Campus on the day.

Also putting pen to paper were Stirling Council leader Cllr Scott Farmer, transport minister Michael Matheson, Scottish secretary Alister Jack and Professor Gerry McCormac, principal and vice-chancellor at the University of Stirling.

Speaking of the environment centre, Cllr Forson said that it will aim to “be a global leader for research and innovation, creating inclusive employment opportunities which will help us in our goal for a more sustainable and prosperous future”.

On top of the environment centre, the Wee County is set to benefit from skills and inclusion programmes, a capital fund, a digital skills hub, active travel initiatives as well as a share of capital investment in culture, heritage and tourism.

All of that, as well as projects in Stirling like the National Tartan Centre, will be funded by a combined £90m from the UK and Scottish governments as well as further investments from local councils and the university, totalling nearly £124m.

In her speech at the college, Cllr Forson thanked all partners who worked together in developing projects and ideas along with local businesses and with a special mention for Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface.

She explained how the deal will play a critical part in the local authority’s transformational journey, which was a major part of the council budget agreed today (Thursday, February 27).

During her speech, she made reference to the fact that projects will not only need to be delivered for the people, but with the people.

Speaking to the Advertiser, she added: “The first we are going to see is a bit of community engagement, because people will expect to be seeing things happening quite quickly.

“We need to go out to our communities to let them know what’s happening and let them know what to expect over the next wee while, but our priority is Scotland’s International Environment Centre and I’d be hoping to see some movement on that pretty quickly.

“That’s not to say a lot of the work hasn’t already started, you don’t necessarily need a building or a site for that.”

The funding is for the next 10 years and Cllr Forson thanked SNP MSP Keith Brown for his work on the deal.

The signing off milestone was also welcomed by Conservative MSP Alexander Stewart for being “transformational” for the region.

He sought to highlight the work behind the scenes by former MPs Luke Graham as well as Stephen Kerr and said: “The UK Government will be joining the Scottish Government to invest in projects across Stirling and Clackmannanshire, including in tourism, aquaculture and the environment.

“The city deal is one more example of the strength of the union of the United Kingdom and I would like to take this opportunity of paying tribute to my colleagues and former MPs Stephen Kerr and Luke Graham who worked so incredibly hard behind the scenes in order to move us to where we are now.”

In her speech, Cllr Forson added that the deal will benefit the area “not only through projects [bringing in] direct investment, but beyond that, through its power to act as a catalyst for the development of significant strategic partnerships, many of which have started developing already”.

Speaking of the deal, she said: "It’s great to get the deal signed, it lets us take the next step on our journey to actually deliver the projects we’ve been working on for so long that will make a difference to the people of Clackmannanshire.”