ALMOST 80 jobs could be created in rural Hampshire if the Government grants £1.8 million in European cash for countryside economies.

The six-year Fieldfare LEADER programme, which offers grants for tourism, enterprise and farming in rural areas, is up for renewal until 2021.

Projects supported through the current programme, which ends this year, range from nurseries and cricket clubs to vegetable gardens and barn building.

Winchester City Council agreed to contribute £155,000 to the scheme in a cabinet meeting last week.

Kate Cloud, head of economy and arts, said the new  plan would create 78 jobs, supporting 91 businesses and 137 existing employees across Winchester, Eastleigh and East Hampshire from next year.

Fieldfare Local Action Group’s bid for EU funding will be determined by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) in late November.

Ms Cloud said the city council will no longer “bankroll” the grants, but the cabinet agreed to plug a £155,000 shortfall in European funding should the new programme be approved.

Civic chiefs want to split the bill with Hampshire County Council, Eastleigh Borough Council and East Hampshire District Council, whose constituents will also benefit.

Other authorities are positive about supporting the scheme but yet to commit any money, according to the city council report.

Council leader Rob Humby said: “It has been enormously successful and it’s something I want to take forward.

“We’re now in that position where we’re waiting for Defra to come back and actually announce to us, hopefully, that we’re going to take the project on again.”