Scottish government officials have provisionally approved North Lanarkshire Council's use of tax increment finance (TIF) to kick-start a regeneration programme at the Ravenscraig steelwork site.

The move should allow North Lanarkshire to borrow money against future income from business rates to build a seven mile-long road linking Ravenscraig to the M8 and M74 motorways. The £73m road development scheme will be one of the first uses of TIF within the UK, and will feed into a larger remediation project at Ravenscraig.