New jobs will be created for southern Oxfordshire after Chancellor George Osborne announced their would be a new Enterprise Zone near Didcot.

An Enterprise Zone is an area that encourages businesses to set up and expand, partly thanks to financial incentives and relaxed planning regulations.

Mr Osborne has announced that the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire will now have two Enterprise Zones, which will mean new jobs and a multi-million pound boost to spending on local infrastructure.

The first Enterprise Zone in the area was established in 2011 at Harwell Oxford and Milton Park and was designed to create thousands of new jobs.

Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils will be able to keep the business rates from the second Enterprise Zone, rather than sending the money to the Government.

John Cotton, leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “We need to spend on infrastructure to support existing residents and those moving into the new houses we’re getting, and the Enterprise Zone will mean more ready access to the cash we need – that includes new roads and improvements to roads already struggling.”

Matthew Barber, leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “This is great news for the Vale – most of the sites in the new Enterprise Zone are in our district, which means all of our residents will benefit from more money for infrastructure including people in Harwell, Grove and Wantage.”

The zones are expected to attract more money to spend on infrastructure across the whole of the area around Didcot, and extending to Grove and Wantage.

A spokesman for the councils said having two Enterprise Zones would mean the area will also be able to attract even more government money to help support the extra houses coming to the two districts.

The redevelopment of the Milton and Chilton Interchanges on the A34 have been paid for by the Government to help support the Science Vale area.