Member Article

Robert Hitchens Ltd win £3m LEP investment

Cheltenham-based developer Robert Hitchins has won a £3m investment from its Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which is driven by GFirst.

Gloucestershire LEP’s first grant given from its £8.4m Infrastructure Investment Fund will see the construction of a new roundabout on the A48 at Lydney.

Robert Hitchens will build access roads with all the associated services and utilities for the project, which will open up a major mixed use development on the east side of Lydney.

Vital connections to the Hurst Farm employment site will be made as a result of the project, as well as securing around 1,600 jobs and 1,000 new houses.

Diane Savory, chair of the Gloucestershire LEP said: “As happy as we were to secure cash from the Growing Places Fund for Gloucestershire, I am delighted that the first project is about to deliver.

“The project is very ‘real’ and opens up the prospect of hundreds of new Gloucestershire jobs, as well as affordable housing.”

Andrew Hill, Land Director for Robert Hitchins, said “The money from the Gloucestershire Infrastructure Investment Fund will enable this scheme to get started. It is likely to begin in the latter part of this year.”

Gloucestershire LEP’s infrastructure fund was granted by the Government’s Growing Places Fund, and hopes to stimulate growth in the private sector through jobs and investment.

GFirst’s chief executive, David Owen, said: “This major project happens to be in the Forest of Dean, with our LEP Board approving a funding award of £3m.

“We still have over £5m yet to allocate from the fund, and therefore the LEP is keen to encourage further expressions of interest from other parties who may be seeking funding for essential infrastructure to enable them to bring forward sites for development right across Gloucestershire. Projects do not have to be on this scale.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .