AN OKEHAMPTON business has been awarded a £29,000 grant to help create four jobs in the town

N V Motors Limited at Mill Road is one of 20 small and medium-sized firms from Truro to Exeter selected for grants from 251 applications to the Plymouth University and Western Morning News Growth Fund.

Its comes as the business celebrates ten years of trading in the town and is a good news story for Okehampton which has suffered many job losses during the recession.

Lisa Voaden, who runs the garage business with her husband, Nelson, said the money would also be used to create additional work-stations and enable them to invest in new equipment and to create an advanced diagnostic testing facility.

NV Motors' bid was viewed as a strong all round application, presenting a clearly articulated plan for growth that was based on a good understanding of its local market and opportunities arising in it.

Lisa said the company had never advertised before but had always obtained work by word of mouth and reputation.

'Last year we decided to put in an MoT bay so we could do MoT testing and we had a complete overhaul of the premises.

'Business has increased massively and in order to respond to demand we wanted to create more jobs and convert a building on-site into extra work space. This money will help bring it all together.'

Office staff will double, another full-time mechanic will be taken on and a modern apprenticeship offered to the right candidate. NV Motors is match-funding the £29,000.

'Okehampton has been hit really hard recently with lots of job losses but I think this shows that there are still some positives and opportunities out there,' added Lisa.

'We work hard, are known for doing a good job at reasonable prices and it does pay off.'

The grants in the South West, amounting to £915,000, will help create 90 jobs in the first 12 months and have released almost £1.3-million of additional private sector investment.

The money has been allocated through the HM Government's Regional Growth Fund Initiative.