BRIGHTON Hill Roundabout is set to be improved thanks to an injection of government cash.

Yesterday, it was announced that Enterprise M3, the local enterprise partnership, has been awarded £29.9million from the Local Growth Fund.

The cash has been earmarked for a number of projects, including a transport scheme to enhance the capacity of Brighton Hill Roundabout.

The roundabout currently experiences journey time delays and queues in peak periods and the improvements will be aimed at tackling this congestion and increasing capacity.

The funding boost comes hot on the heels of the last tranche of Local Growth Fund cash for the borough from Enterprise M3 that was announced in July 2014.

Road schemes for Basingstoke have already attracted a total of £25.7 million of government funding, with the support of Enterprise M3.

Added to local funding from the borough and county councils this brings the total investment in major road improvements to £35 million.

This investment, including the work underway on Black Dam roundabout at junction 6 of the M3, will improve five junctions along the A33 on the north eastern corridor into the town, two junctions on the A340 and the A30 western corridor into Basingstoke, including Thornycroft and Winchester Road roundabouts.

Basingstoke is one of Enterprise M3’s four major ‘growth’ towns and the road improvements are part of a plan to attract more jobs to the borough and provide infrastructure for new homes and to relieve pressure on existing communities.

The borough council’s Leader Cllr Clive Sanders said: “We are working steadily through the traffic crunch areas. Now funding is available, we can work with Enterprise M3, Hampshire County Council and our other partners on the detail of the plan for improvements at the Brighton Hill roundabout in the context of potential development in surrounding areas.

“We have always said that we need to have improvements in infrastructure to enable the town to develop. Attracting government infrastructure funding is essential to attracting businesses to bring more jobs here and improve the lives of our residents. Other bids for funding are already in the pipeline and we are working with Enterprise M3, Hampshire County Council and other districts to develop a long term infrastructure plan for the area as a whole. This work will be carefully planned and phased so that we don’t run the risk of cutting Basingstoke off with roadworks while improving it for the future.

“The multi-million pound allocation of money by government, with more in the pipeline, is a vote of confidence in our vision for the future and in the borough’s ability to deliver.”

Geoff French, Chair of Enterprise M3, said: “Basingstoke has been identified in our Strategic Economic Plan as a growth town, one of the drivers of economic growth in our area. Economic prosperity in our area is not possible without an effective and reliable transport network."