FIVE new directors have been appointed to the board of Enterprise M3 LEP.

They are Dr Mike Short, who is vice president at Telefonica, David Barnes chief executive of Farnborough Aerospace Consortium, Dave Axam, BT south east regional director, James Cretney, chief executive, at Marwell Wildlife and Andrew Lambert, managing director at Electronic Media Services.

They will join the Local Enterprise Partnership’s board this month.

The five private sector board members join the LEP at a crucial time, as the LEP pushes ahead with delivery of its £118million Growth Deal.

They will be instrumental in driving key initiatives and championing mechanisms to deliver success across Hampshire and Surrey as well as helping determine longer term priorities for investment to support economic growth in this important area.

Delighted with the appointments, Enterprise M3 chairman Geoff French, said: “They will play an integral role in developing effective relationships with businesses, local authorities and not-for-profit organisations as well as adding invaluable industry knowledge to our team. We look forward to working closely with them.”

This year, Enterprise M3 secured £118m from the Government’s Local Growth Fund for the delivery of ambitious projects covering infrastructure, skills and enterprise and innovation developments to support growth across the area.

This includes £35m confirmed for 2015/16 that will support economic growth within the M3 corridor and see investment in key infrastructure projects across Surrey and Hampshire, capitalising on the skills and innovation in the Sci:Tech corridor.

The investment from central Government for 2015/16 will bring forward significant additional investment from local partners, including the private sector.

Combined, this will create a total new investment package of nearly £440m for the Enterprise M3 area.

By 2021, this deal will create up to 8,000 jobs and unlock the development of up to 7,000 new homes.