A NEW partnership that plans to boost Dorset’s economy and create much needed jobs has been awarded £6.5million by the government.

The Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has been set up to improve areas of the county in need of investment, to generate jobs and to create more affordable housing.

The partnership said the cash injection showed the vital role that housing development and commercial construction were playing in getting the UK economy back on track.

In Dorset, the LEP has already set up a working group with a short-list of projects and is considering potential development schemes across the county.

Now that funding is in place, the LEP board will examine each project in detail before announcing a final decision on where investment will be placed in March.

Chairman of the LEP board, Gordon Page, said: “We are enormously pleased to have this funding in place – it allows the LEP to start getting projects off the ground, bring development forward and also resolve some of the current economic difficulties which we are facing.

“Each project will be carefully considered for the level of investment required, its value for money and the impact it will have on generating jobs, along with the enterprises it will support and the ability it has to provide a return on the investment to gain further investment.

“We intend to set up a revolving fund for Dorset so that successful schemes can repay their loans, allowing further projects to be funded.

“There is absolutely no doubt that this announcement comes as great news for Dorset.

“We now have a real opportunity to deliver growth and rebuild areas where help is needed most.”

The cash injection comes from a national £500million Growing Places Fund, designed to boost economic growth by enabling the creation of new homes and jobs and to get stalled projects moving again.