Up to 2,650 jobs could be created at Alderley Park thanks to a £15m investment fund.

Both AstraZeneca and Manchester Science Partnerships had already ploughed £5m each into the programme.

Cheshire East Council has now matched them with a £5m pledge.

The £15m programme is expected to provide venture capital funding to encourage SMEs and start-ups to locate to Alderley Park and provide incentives to existing businesses to expand and develop.

It is also expected that the financial commitment from AstraZeneca and Manchester Science Partnerships will encourage further investment from the private sector.

The funding was given the green light by the council’s cabinet last Tuesday.

In his report, Coun Peter Raynes, member for finance, said Alderley Park was an internationally significant site and ‘getting it right’ would bring huge benefits to the economy of Cheshire East and the wider region.

An economic impact study revealed that the investment fund could create 2,650 jobs at the 400-acre parkland site by the end of 2019.

Half of these are expected to be generated from spin-off companies started by former staff at AstraZeneca and the rest from inward-bound businesses.

The figures are based on between 70 and 175 companies setting up at Alderley Park.

The fund is in addition to a £18m investment programme planned by Manchester Science Partnerships designed to generate around 5,000 new jobs at the site.

The leader of Cheshire East Council, councillor Michael Jones, said: “Once again the council is demonstrating its unwavering commitment to securing a sustainable future for Alderley Park through the continued delivery of new jobs and new businesses.

“We commend both AstraZeneca and MSP for their commitment to this shared goal and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that Alderley Park delivers as a world-class science park at the heart of both the local and regional economy.”

The former AstraZeneca site was bought by, Manchester Science Partnerships – which is made up of Bruntwood, Manchester and Salford councils and Manchester’s two universities – and Cheshire East Council after AstraZeneca announced it would cease its research and development work at the site. The new investment fund will be split into £5m for the more riskier start-ups, which includes the estimated 25 ‘spin-out’ companies from ex-AstraZeneca staff, and £10m from Cheshire East Council and Manchester Science Partnerships for developing new companies and those spin-outs.

Potential investment in each company will range from £50,000 and £400,000.

The council’s £5m comes from its financial resilience fund, which was set up to boost long-term income for the council.

Not everyone was supportive of the investment.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting Coun Brendan Murphy, representing Tytherington ward, accused the council of taking risks with tax payers’ money.

He said: “The role of the council is to invest in infrastructure not to speculate and risk.”

But Coun Jones hit back at the criticism saying the council was right to invest in jobs and growth and the investment would ‘be paid back 10-fold’.

Coun Jones added: “When AstraZeneca announced the momentous decision to relocate its headquarters to Cambridge people were aghast and horrified.

“Who could have believed that 18 months later we actually be hoping AstraZeneca will move out quicker to get more companies in.

“This is tantamount to the partnership between Macclesfield, Alderley Park, the task force, George Osborne and David Rutley, who was a stalwart on the issue.”