A NEW £286,000 enterprise centre could be built in Burnham-on-Sea if it is allocated Government funding.

Last month Heart of the South West (HotSW) Local Enterprise Partnership bid for £121m of Government funding to enable 63 'shovel-ready' projects to go ahead across the region.

This week HotSW LEP revealed they have received £35.4m of Government funding to support projects in the South West.

One of the projects which could receive funding is Burnham Enterprise Centre, a project which aims to support businesses in the Burnham area.

In a list of projects published on their website HotSW described the project as: "The project aims to deliver repurposed enterprise centre office, incubation and training space to support local businesses in the Burnham-on-Sea area.

"Enterprise centre will become part of the Somerset Enterprise Centre Network, which offers business space with a business support offer and skills training capacity.

"The area is expected to be impacted significantly due to COVID-19 given the towns dependency on the local tourism industry.

"Existing building and site are owned by Somerset County Council and will require significant remodelling circa £286k to repurpose to benefit the wider economy.

"The project links in with existing plans for investment/development - project plan is supported by Sedgemoor District Council which have agreed to contribute towards the repurposing of the building."

HotSW also welcome Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement last week that the Government will invest £5bn into large infrastructure projects.

Karl Tucker, chairman of the HotSW LEP, said he is pleased the LEP has been allocated funding but it is not yet clear which of the 63 projects they put forward will be funded.

“Our allocation of £35.4m is the highest in the South West and the 7th highest in the country; which we assume means there is some recognition of the economic impact on us by COVID-19," Mr Tucker said.

"This is a welcome initial funding by the Government towards our Route Map to Recovery which will enable the area to restart, revitalise and grow.

“With this amount, we will be able to fund a number of shovel ready projects to be delivered by January 2022. However, this allocation is only 30 per cent of the funding that we bid for, and therefore many of the other identified important shovel ready projects in our area currently remain unfunded.

"We look forward to working with Government on future funding for investments in our recovery pipeline.”