Dorset Innovation Park gets £14m investment

The Dorset Innovation Centre occupies part of the former Winfrith nuclear site

An investment of £14.6m is to go towards a science park in Dorset.

Dorset Council approved the funding for Dorset Innovation Park on the former Winfrith nuclear site at its cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The authority believes an additional 1,200 jobs could be created by adopting the plan.

It will pay for 10 new light industrial units, costing £3.1m, and a four-year capital investment of £11.5m on other long-term projects.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, this could mean buying a 6 hectare (14 acre) plot of land, close to the county police headquarters, to expand the site.

Other possibilities include improving the security gate building, adding more industrial or office buildings, and creating a shared "amenity hub" to add to the sense of community onsite.

Weymouth councillor Tony Ferrari, the portfolio holder for the project, said the site, which has enterprise zone status, had been extremely successful even with no available space.

'Serious commitment'

He said the plans, delivered in conjunction with the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership, were "bold and ambitious" and "vitally important for the local economy".

He added they demonstrated a "serious commitment to developing the site and supporting the many businesses there, both now and in the future".

The four-year plan will form part of future capital budget proposals, which will be considered by the cabinet and full council next year.

Dorset Innovation Park currently has 34 businesses, with many of its 794 jobs based in the marine, defence, energy, and cyber-security sectors.

It was built on the site of a now decommissioned nuclear test plant, which began operating in 1957, and shut down in the 1990s.

Councillor Laura Miller, whose father worked at the site, welcomed the investment.

She told the meeting she visited on a family open day as a child and was given gloves to "move glowing stuff around".

Mr Ferrari said that would not be happening on the site today, or in the near future.