Dorset will receive an economic boost of £79 million which will fund two major projects in Bournemouth and Poole.
The Growth Deal has been signed between the Government and the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership and aims to “transform Dorset”, improving tourism, education, infrastructures and supporting businesses to grow across Dorset. An extra 12.6 million was added to the initial 66.4 million agreed on the 7th of July of 2014.
Lorna Gibbons, Director of the Dorset LEP, said they are providing a “package of growth”. “The ideal and what we are aiming for is that by 2021 with this deal roads would have been built, the planning would have been done, the sites would have been unblocked and unlocked, so something like 25 000 jobs and 3000 homes would be created. That’s our objective and what we are working towards,” Gibbons said.
“It’s a benefit for the whole of Dorset”
From the 50 projects that Dorset LEP had bid for, about 14 were successful in obtaining funds. Two major projects, the improvement of the port of Poole and the schemes to unlock suppressed growth at Bournemouth airport, including the renewal of the A338 spur road, will start next month.
Councillor Elaine Atkinson, Leader of the Borough of Poole, said that the Growth Deal is “a benefit for the whole of Dorset”.
“Before the introduction of Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership we would have been successful as local authorities bidding on our own for this kind of money. This is all about jobs and growth and that’s what we want to be about in Dorset,” Councillor Atkinson added.
The funding will be received by Dorset LEP on an annual basis from April 2015.
