IMPROVEMENT projects for some of Basingstoke’s busiest roads have been given a £23million boost thanks to a Government cash injection.

The Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership has been awarded £118million from the Government’s Local Growth Fund to help create 8,000 new jobs and build 7,000 new homes across Hampshire and Surrey.

The funding will also allow £23m worth of improvement works to be carried out on major roads in the Basingstoke area, improving business links to the town and opening up more areas for residential development.

The money will be given to Enterprise M3 between 2015 and 2017 for various road projects in the town, including £3.3m for part dualling the A340 between Basingstoke and Tadley.

The partnership is also set to spend £6.4m of the funds on the A33 junctions to improve business links between Basingstoke and Reading.

Work will include the installation of traffic lights and additional running lanes on the Crockford Lane Roundabout and Binfields Roundabout, both in Chineham, as well as work to improve capacity at the Thornhill Way crossroads, in Chineham, the A339/A33 Ringway Roundabout and the A33/Gaiger Avenue Roundabout, in Sherfield Park.

A total of £9.3m will be used by Enterprise M3 for future improvement projects at the Winchester Road Roundabout and the Thornycroft Roundabout, in Basingstoke.

The improvement projects are in addition to £4.3m that was secured in 2012 for the Black Dam Roundabout improvement programme, which is under way. This will see four lanes of northbound traffic routed into the centre of the roundabout and a two-lane arm added, to allow motorists travelling on the A30 to join the centre of the roundabout.

Welcoming the announcement of the cash injection, Councillor Clive Sanders, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council leader, said: “We have always said that we need to have improvements in infrastructure to enable the town to develop. This series of grants is the first stage in that process.

“Improving the corridors into the town is crucial given our investment in regenerating the Basing View business district to create more jobs.

“The work at Black Dam Roundabout and on the A33 corridor will also help businesses at Chineham Park, and to the east of the town.

“The provisional allocation for the A30 will also bring the necessary improvements for the south of the town.”