South Ayrshire Council in Scotland, UK along with Scottish Enterprise has agreed to jointly fund a two-year support package of £240,000 in order to develop Prestwick as an aerospace and space hub.

The funding will be equally divided between South Ayrshire Council and Scottish Enterprise as part of work driven by the Prestwick Aerospace partnership.

The South Ayrshire Council has already approved £120,000 from an existing budget.

"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."

The investment will help drive growth by managing various programmes of work in areas such as infrastructure for space commercial development; inward investment by targeting prospects and bringing fresh business to Ayrshire; supply chain development; and skills.

As part of the initiative, a new programme manager will be appointed by Prestwick Aerospace for coordinating with several partner organisations, including BAE Systems Regional Aircraft, Spirit, Inter-tec, GE and aerospace, defence and security industries body ADS, University of Strathclyde, Ayrshire College, University of the West of Scotland, Skills Development Scotland and others, reports Daily Record.

The Glasgow Prestwick Airport (GPA) will provide office and admin support.

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The initiative will lead way for establishing the new Glasgow Prestwick Spaceport.

UK’s department for transport recently said that it was establishing a regulatory framework to license individual sites, which could lead to a network of spaceports being set up around the nation.

Once the license will be granted, the project is forecast to provide up to 1,450 jobs in a ten year period, and up to £320m of additional economic activity.

South Ayrshire Council 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 hub to service growing demand for industrial and tourism space related services.

"But to achieve wider growth in the aerospace sector we need to invest, and as part of a wider approach, we’re looking to secure an exceptional individual to help accelerate jobs growth and attract investment, and I think this new appointment will do just that."

Currently, Ayrshire has 3,200 aerospace workers, with 5% growth forecasts suggesting the figure could increase by 2,000 in the next ten years.