THE team behind Bicester’s eco-town is set to receive a £50,000 grant to allow them to provide at least new 300 apprenticeships.

The money will be awarded, subject to signatures, to The Eco Bicester Project Team to help set up an Apprenticeships Training Agency.

At a meeting on Tuesday councillors at Cherwell District Council were told of the successful bid.

The apprenticeship grant was offered by the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP), and will go towards the set-up and initial running costs of the Oxfordshire-based training agency. The funding is subject to conditions, such as setting up the agency within first six months and securing 20 apprenticeships within two years.

Teenager David Fowles is set to be the scheme’s first recruit and has joined the 6,000-home development as an apprentice bricklayer.

The 17-year old from Bure Park, Bicester, said: “It is really enjoyable and you learn a lot.

“Since I was in Year 6 at school it is what I have wanted to do. It’s practical, it’s doing something new and it takes teamwork.”

David left school with no GCSEs but is now working towards a NVQ2 qualification as the site’s first apprentice and hopes to become a site manager one day.

Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce president Peter Smith welcomes the news and said the construction of the new eco town will be “a significant development for the county”.