Opportunity North East funding more than doubled to £33m

Sir Ian Wood chairs Opportunity North East

Funding for an economic development agency in the north east of Scotland is to be more than doubled and the programme extended.

Opportunity North East (One) replaced Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future (Acsef) at the end of 2015.

It is chaired by businessman Sir Ian Wood and had an initial funding commitment from the Wood Foundation of £29m over five years.

It will now receive a further £33m from the foundation from 2021.

This will also cover a five-year term.

'Good news'

The main condition on the investment is achieving matched funding.

The Wood Foundation funding aims to help pursue opportunities in sectors including oil, gas and energy, tourism, food and drink, and agriculture.

Sir Ian said: "We are heading for an economic cliff edge if we don't act and invest now to maximise our remaining oil and gas reserves, anchor as much as possible of our high-value energy supply chain in the region long term and invest in our other sectors to rebalance the economy

"The good news is that the region is now very awake to this challenge, action is under way, we can see some daylight, and there are further projects in development."