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WORCESTERSHIRE has secured a £17.5 million 'Budget boost' - including £5 million towards a new link road and £4 million to skill-up engineers.
Chancellor Philip Hammond has handed county leaders a shot-in-the-arm with a new funding package to help grow the economy.
It includes £5 million towards Pershore Link Road, a new route aimed at easing congestion around Pinvin crossroads by linking the A44 to the town centre.
The road, which would cut through Keytec business park, has been on the agenda for years and forms part of the Local Enterprise Partnership's Strategic Economic Plan (SEP), a £280 million 'wishlist' for ministers.
It will cost around £10 million to fully deliver, with the funding meaning Worcestershire is now halfway there.
The growth fund, the third instalment to be handed to the county, also includes £4 million for an engineering faculty at Worcester's Heart of Worcestershire College.
It will accept around 300 students per year, and is expected to be up and running in 2019/120, focusing on a range of intensive engineering courses.
Money from the fund will also go on widening sections of the A38 near Bromsgrove and the Churchfields 'urban village' highway, an emerging development in the Wyre Forest.
MPs have hailed the funding as "fantastic" for Worcestershire, with the onus now on County Hall to find the extra £5 million to deliver Pershore Link.
West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin said: "The link road is part of an important plan to help attract more business to the town, while making journeys easier for motorists at all times of the day."
Councillor Linda Robinson, Tory leader of Wychavon District Council, said: "I'm delighted that our lobbying over many years has at last had a major impact.
"This is excellent news, and will provide an important springboard to ensure this long anticipated project becomes a reality."
Mid-Worcestershire MP Nigel Huddleston, who also lobbied fiercely over the Pershore link, said he was "delighted", adding: "Traffic problems in the southern half of my constituency have been an issue I've long been helping to address.
"I hope that reduced traffic for lorries and commercial vehicles on the A44 will create better traffic conditions around the west side of Evesham."
He added: "This is a great success but also cannot be seen as the end of our efforts to tackle traffic congestion in Worcestershire.
"The county’s new Transport Plan will represent another important step and I will continue my own efforts to make Worcestershire’s case to the Department for Transport in Westminster."
Bosses at County Hall are said to be "well-advanced" with the technical studies over Pershore Link Road, but have yet to confirm if they can plug the gap.
But the drawing below, from Wychavon District Council, shows where it would go.
Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader, today hailed it as "significant new funding" for his future plans.
The £17.5 million means Worcestershire got roughly half of what it asked for, as its third growth fund submission was for £35 million.
A health centre at the University of Worcester, extra units at Malvern Hills Science Park and the expansion of a grants scheme for business looking to expand were among the schemes to miss out.
The first two rounds of growth fund cash totalled £54.2 million, meaning Worcestershire's support so far from the fund stands at £71.7 million.
Mark Stansfield, chair of Worcestershire's LEP, said: "This supports us to develop a connected, creative, dynamic economy to deliver increased prosperity for all."
Elsewhere, Herefordshire was celebrating today after securing £8 million towards its new university.
COLLEGE WILL CREATE 'WORLD CLASS' FACILITY
BOSSES at the Heart of Worcestershire College have reacted with delight over the £4 million engineering faculty cash - pledging to deliver a "word class" facility.
The college first created its vision for an engineering centre in 2014, saying it could accommodate 300 students a year looking for post-16 technical skills.
It will be based at the Worcester campus, with a section of its Deansway site getting a facelift over the next two years.
College principal Stuart Laverick said today: "This is a great opportunity to raise the level of technical skills in the county to a whole new level.
"This investment will create a world class, industry-relevant facility that meets the challenges of the 21st century.
"We have built a strong reputation as a college that provides leading technical courses - this new facility will further strengthen our reputation."
Gary Woodman, from the Local Enterprise Partnership, added: "Working with the Heart of Worcestershire College in Worcester, we are keen to regenerate this key riverside location."
Worcester MP Robin Walker called the college engineering centre cash "fantastic", adding: "This is exactly the dose of good news we needed."
"It's brilliant, I gave a speech in 2012 or 2013 saying I wanted the Government to invest more in engineering, but the centre for the college was always a big ask," he said.
"The biggest challenge from businesses is that they've got jobs but haven't always had been able to get people to do it - this is fantastic news."
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