Discovery Park gets £4.6m grant on second birthday

Discovery Park has received a £4.6m grant from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership to support further investment in roads and services. Announcing the grant, SE LEP chairman Peter Jones said: “We really believe this is one of the great business opportunities in the whole of our area.” The former home of Pfizer – which has recently celebrated its second anniversary – is a role model for the rest of the UK, according to Greg Clark, Minister for Universities and Science. “When you think back to the depths of despair everyone felt when the initial announcement came, to get to the point where on present trends, there will be more people working here than were employed at the time is a phenomenal achievement.” Clark said Clark called the project an “exemplar” of national and local government and the private sector working together to make it work. This should be broadcast nationally as a role model for other places.” Discovery Park Limited bought the site in July 2012 after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it would be reducing its activities at the 220-acre site. Since then, the park has created more than 1,600 jobs, including 600 still employed by Pfizer, and attracted nearly 100 businesses. It is on course to achieve its target of creating 3,000 jobs by 2017.