WILTSHIRE is to get £6.2m extra funding for key projects as part of a Government drive to stop Britain being dragged back into recession.

Council and business leaders will be urged to draw up rapid-fire plans for “shovel-ready” schemes – for roads, homes, shops and business parks – to start within months. They have six weeks to apply.

Ministers are determined to revive projects that have become stuck due to the economic slowdown and fears of a double-dip recession.

The £6.2m is the provisional funding allocation for the whole of Wiltshire.

The Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partner-ship, which is being set up to replace the axed Regional Development Agency, is currently in the form of a group of business representatives who are in the process of recruiting a board of directors. The LEP proper will form in January.

Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, the cabinet member for economic development, said: “We welcome this news, which is a really positive start for the new LEP.

“We will be working through the LEP to put forward projects which will boost growth and bring more jobs to communities across the county.

“I can think of a number of projects which would fit the bill. The timescales are short, but we are confident we can put forward excellent projects which will benefit Wiltshire.”

The hand-out represents a significant U-turn because the Government had previously insisted LEPs did not need Government funding in order to draw in private investment.

But in September, ministers announced a £500m Growing Places Fund, to “get Britain building again”. That pot is now being divided.

The £500m is not increased Government spending, but has come from underspent budgets in the transport and local government departments.

The LEPs have just six weeks to submit proposals to the Department for Comm-unities and Local Govern-ment, with allocations due to be confirmed in January.

The allocations were decided partly on the basis of population size and partly according to the relative prosperity of the 38 areas covered by LEPs.