A NEW technology park is predicted to bring £350m worth of investment to Didcot.

The 55-acre site is set to create 2,000 new jobs for the area with 950,000sq ft of high tech offices, laboratories and manufacturing.

Reef Estates is proposing to create the park north of the town at Hill Farm, with access off the A4130, which is included in the Didcot Growth Accelerator Enterprise Zone.

The company's CEO Piers Slater said: "We are incredibly excited about the potential to create a world class technology and manufacturing environment which will integrate into Didcot Garden Town offering a space where people can work, live and play."

A company called the Disruptive Innovation for Space Centre (DISC) has already agreed to take an 80,000sq ft lease, citing the proximity to the Harwell campus and Didcot Parkway station, the quality of the park’s proposals and the edge-of-town location as attractive features.

The space centre will provide a facility to encourages collaboration between other companies to share technology and develop new products.

Mr Slater added: "We are incredibly fortunate to be developing in such a dynamic sector as Science Vale with DISC's selection of our development as their preferred location confirming the quality of the proposals.

"Reef are talking to several other high-profile occupiers and hope to be able to make further announcements in the coming weeks."

He said the development will have an emphasis on "collaboration and innovation" and he hoped it would become a hub for the energy, space, satellite and intelligent automation industries.

Reef held a public consultation on September 14 and has taken feedback from the event before a formal consultation that will be held later this year.

The new park still needs to win planning permission from Vale of White Horse District Council.

Didcot town council leader Bill Service welcomed the proposal.

He said: "It is bound to create jobs, which is a good thing, and people in Didcot will benefit.

"We need to make sure all the infrastructure is put in place for all this growth, including thousands of new homes being built in and around Didcot.

"This is bound to put more pressure on the A4130, which is already very busy."

Reef Estates is now in discussion with the Vale about simplifying the planning for the development in line with the requirements of the Enterprise Zone designation.

Mr Slater said: "A Local Development Order will offer significant benefits to potential investors compared to the traditional planning control, by addressing all the key planning issues upfront and granting planning permission in advance for specified land uses."

It is hoped that the site will start to be occupied by the summer of 2018.