TRANSPORT Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has said Gloucestershire is in a 'unique' position to create huge development opportunities thanks to a £15 million cash injection from the Government.
Mr McLoughlin was in the county this morning visiting the various sites which will benefit from the funding, including Gloucestershire Airport and Gloucester's Blackfriars and Quayside areas.
While visiting Blackfriars Priory, which has been allocated £4.13 million for regeneration for domestic and commercial use, he congratulated GFirst LEP, the University of Gloucester and the city and county council's for everything they had achieved.
"I'm delighted to be here today because what you are seeing in Gloucester is a huge investment over the period which will create huge opportunities for the future," he said.
"The way in which you have strived to protect the heritage of the city, in particular Blackfriars, while also thinking about its future and how best to develop it is fantastic."
The extra cash has been made available under the Gloucestershire Growth Deal, which had already been promised £62.5 million.
"What this money will do is lead to the overall development and investment of over £100 million as what we are learning is that a small amount of money can actually lead to a large amount of private investment," added Mr McLoughlin.
The money, which was secured by GFirst LEP, will create or safeguard 6,000 jobs and help in building 400 new homes county wide.
David Owen, chief executive of GFirst LEP, said: "This is a great outcome for Gloucester. The investment will regenerate the Blackfriars and Quayside area, attracting private investment and delivering an exciting range of homes, jobs and growth.
"It is really positive to see the LEP, county and city councils working closely together to create a transformative masterplan for the whole area."
A joint bid was made by Gloucestershire County Council and Gloucester City Council for the regeneration of Quayside and Blackfriars covering 2.53 hectares of prime city centre land – the size of just over two and a half rugby pitches – after they agreed to work together last May.
The money will be used to bring the brownfield site up to a standard to attract developers and investors, which will in turn benefit the 300 businesses already established in the city centre.
The work will begin later this year to improve the existing ground conditions as well as ensure gas, electric and water connections are suitable for development.
Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said : "Today's announcement means that we can now begin to make our masterplan a reality, unlocking around £135m of further investment for Quayside and Blackfriars.
It's the first chapter in the transformation of this area, helping to keep our city and county punching above its weight. "
Cllr Paul James, leader of Gloucester City Council said: ""The regeneration of the Blackfriars and Quayside area has evaded the city for a generation.
"This announcement is a massive step forward. When combined with the masterplanning work we are doing on the area with the county council and the recent sale of the prison, it shows the prospects for transforming the area are the brightest they have been for a long time.
Work is continuing to develop the masterplan, which will be revealed to the public, developers and investors in March.
Gloucester MP Richard Graham said: "The thing I'm really excited about is that for the past 30 years people have been trying to regenerate Blackfriars and finally it is happening.
"The Government knows that Gloucester is a good place to invest and that we are a city that gets things done."
The University of Gloucestershire will also benefit from the extra cash helping it to build a new Cyber Security Training and Conference Centre in Berkley.
Stephen Marston, Vice-Chancellor of the university said: "The Growth Deal funding will enable us to keep investing in new capability, with cutting-edge equipment and facilities, expanding the opportunities for training, skills development, enterprise and applied research."
Talking about the university's cyber security programme Mr McLoughlin added: "I'm always very reluctant to use the word unique, but you are in a unique position with all the facilities around you to address the whole issue of cyber security and when you consider some of the examples where cyber security has broken down such as the United States then we can see what kind of potential there is here if we can get it right."
