WORCESTERSHIRE County Council yesterday voted to contribute £4 million to the next phase of development of Malvern Hills Science Park.

The money will be used to fund demolition of existing buildings on the site and the constriction of new buildings for Phase Five of the park's development.

Last month a planning application was submitted for Phase Five, a two-storey building that will provide around 1,500 square metres of space that can be used by new tenants or as extra space for established tenants.

It will be energy-efficient, resulting in lower operating costs for businesses, and also improve the attractiveness of the science park. Phase Five will develop half of the cleared site, leaving the other half to be developed at a later date as Phase Six.

Phase Four is due to be completed shortly and will see current tenants UTC Aerospace Systems move into a new high-tech office and production facility this month. Worcestershire County Council invested £3.5m into Phase 4, alongside £370,000 from Malvern Hills District Council.

Gary Woodman, executive director for the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Expanding Malvern Hills Science Park will enable existing businesses to grow as well as encourage businesses from the technology, cyber security and IT sectors to join Malvern’s significant cyber cluster and bring more jobs in this high-priority growth sector."

Alan White, chief executive of the science park, said: "Phase Five will kick off significant planned expansion of the science park, providing premises for more established companies to complement our community of start-up and early stage technology businesses."