It is brilliant news for Southampton that the Government has announced today a £9.4M funding boost for environmentally conscious maritime projects.

£8M is provisionally being made available to support the development of a new environmentally sensitive cruise terminal at the Port of Southampton. Part of this project includes a new shore power system which would mean that new cruise ships docking would no longer need to run their engines whilst in port.

A further £1.4M will go to develop a control and engineering centre for low carbon boats in Woolston. This scheme is estimated to create 100 high value jobs for people in the city.

I have long been campaigning for more investment to help revitalise our city. It is great to see this becoming a reality once again with this big Government backed scheme. This announcement will provide a much needed funding boost and will help to generate more jobs, opportunity and clean growth in Southampton.