"Early indicative priorities have been set out in the Agenda for Cities and include:
Connectivity
Improving rail and air connectivity to key national and international markets
Delivering world class digital connectivity, capacity and usage across the cities and their regions and improved mobile coverage along our main transport links"
Okay... Haven't you just spent all the money on trunk roads though? Doh!
Still, nice to know that train passengers will be annoyed even more by loud, boring and largely unnecessary phone calls made by their neighbours. And that drivers will have no barriers to distracting SMS, phone calls, Facebooking, etc. whilst traversing the new trunk roads.
"Sustainability
The transition to a low carbon economy offers an excellent opportunity to place Scotland in an advantageous position in the global economy and to secure new jobs and investment
Potential collaborative propositions include opportunities to deliver combined heat and power energy systems and district heating networks across the cities"
What exactly will this "transition to a low carbon economy" look like? Is that just the so-called "Saudi Arabia of renewables" strategy, or does it include the electric cars and (non-electric) busways you've raided the active travel budget to pay for? Combined heat and power: great, but where are the plans? Will the heat be produced by burning fossil fuels or something more sustainable?
"Knowledge
Exploiting competitive advantage in renewable energy, by identifying and developing complementary city region assets and strengths, including links to the cities' collective academic research expertise
Maximising the economic impact of further and higher education institutions as drivers of city economies"
So, noses to the grindstone, academics, your ivory tower days are over. Industry needs you!
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