Almost £250,000 is to be invested in Prestwick Airport to develop an aerospace hub, South Ayrshire Council has announced.

Together with the Prestwick Aerospace partnership, the local authority has agreed to provide £120,000 towards a two-year support package designed to build the facility as "one of the UK's leading aerospace clusters".

The funding will go towards a comprehensive development programme, which includes infrastructure, business development, energy reduction and supply chain development.

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In addition, Prestwick Aerospace will appoint a new programme manager to work with its partners on the development programme.

If successful, the project will create up to 1,450 jobs over a 10 year period, with a £320 million boost to the economy.

The move comes as the Department of Transport announced its intention to set up a regulatory framework to license individual sites, which could lead to a network of spaceports being established around the UK.

The council's Chief Executive, Eileen Howat, said: "Aerospace is already a vital sector for the Ayrshire and Scottish economy and we're now entering an exciting phase where we need to push forward our ambitious plans for Prestwick.

"Recent news of the licensing framework for spaceports means that Prestwick stands the best chance of being the UK's first commercial hubs to service growing demand for industrial and tourism space related services."

(LM)