PRESTWICK'S Spaceport has been highlighted in the Ayrshire Growth Deal's second annual report.

The team behind the £251 million Ayrshire Growth Deal, which is aimed at boosting new business spaces and improving infrastructure and connectivity across the area, say the difficult economic climate won’t derail their transformational plans for the region.

The Deal was signed in 2020 after a culmination of four years’ work by the area's councils, partner organisations and both national governments.

Their second annual report – which plots the progress over 12 months – was released today and recognises the challenges of recent times but stresses ‘great progress has been made.’

The report confirms ambitious plans for the Aerospace/Space Programme focused at Prestwick Airport with an opportunity for new international investment.

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Since finalising the report, this investment has now been confirmed with Mangata Networks, an innovative satellite-enabled cloud services company, choosing Prestwick as the location for its research & development activities as well as satellite manufacturing, space systems and core network operations.

This is expected to create 575 jobs.

Councillor Martin Dowey, Chair of the Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee, said: “Since signing the Deal in 2020 it is fair to say we have entered uncharted economic territory with so many challenges places upon us at the same time.

“We’ve had the challenges of the global economy, the war in Ukraine and the legacy of both the Covid pandemic and Brexit so we are working in an environment of uncertainty.

“We have had to re-evaluate some of our time frames and budgets but believe we are plotting an exciting path forward.

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“The annual report shines a spotlight on the excellent work being carried out and we are delighted with the progress being made.

"The development at the Halo project is moving forward at great pace and it’s exciting that PRA group have selected HALO as their European HQ. That is a massive feather in cap for Ayrshire and everyone involved in the Growth Deal.

“We are on the brink of more international investment at our Commercial Space project at Prestwick Airport, while the work by the Community Wealth Building team has been really powerful in supporting local business and increasing awareness, both locally and nationally, of this new economic model.

“We are optimistic about the year ahead and look forward to reaching more milestones in the coming months.”

View the full report online here