The Government is injecting an extra £3million into Beacon Park, one of six designated sites within the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Enterprise Zone.

The investment will help fund the completion of key infrastructure to open up the whole of the Gorleston site for development and will lever in further investment totalling £7.3m which will see seven new industrial and office buildings constructed.

James Gray, investment director of the East of England Energy Zone, who works to attract large-scale inward investment from energy firms into the area, said the move would pay dividends, with more energy firms lining up to move into the area.

“The enterprise zone works,” he said. “What has been really helpful is the Chancellor’s decision in the budget to extend enterprise zone status until 2018.

“It’s really over the next two or three years that we will see a lot of movement in the offshore wind industry. When you look at the market, the really big stuff is going to come in the next 24 months or so.”

Brandon Lewis, Great Yarmouth MP, and Local Government Minister, whose department approved the funding, said: “I am really pleased. It shows the government is really championing an area like Great Yarmouth. The energy industry and supply chain is growing very fast and to keep that going we need to have the infrastructure in place to grow.”

Trevor Wainwright, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, which owns Beacon Park,said: “We are delighted with this extra funding to further expand Beacon Park, which is a huge vote of confidence in the local economy and in the borough council’s ability to deliver.

“We have already seen a number of companies relocating to Beacon Park, both from the local area and further afield, creating both new jobs and a vibrant area of economic activity. Investment in the Park from both the public and private sector continues to produce strong interest from potential occupants.”

The aim is that the funding will also attract additional private investment over the next two years resulting in further construction, targeted at growing energy-sector companies.

Mark Pendlington, chairman of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “This announcement further bolsters this region’s reputation as an unrivalled energy centre. In the two years since the Enterprise Zone has been created nine companies have opened up businesses there and over 450 jobs have been created.”