Businesses in Surrey have been awarded contracts worth more than £1.5m after a new online initiative was launched by Surrey County Council.

BuildSurrey was created by the council to help companies secure work after it pledged to ensure 60 per cent of its spending on goods and services came from local businesses.

The website has helped businesses win 31 contracts amounting to almost £1.57m just six months after its launch. Businesses bid for building and repair work from the council, its main contractors and others in the public sector.

David Hodge, leader of Surrey County Council, said: “Local businesses are the heartbeat of every community and our role is to help them do what they do best – create jobs and promote growth. That is why we’ve pledged to ensure 60 per cent of our spending is with local firms.

“With local businesses already benefiting to the tune of £1.5m BuildSurrey is proving to be an innovative way of helping us to achieve this and I have no doubt the website and the firms that use it will continue to go from strength to strength.”

The BuildSurrey site has also helped the county council gain a government award for being one of the top 10 authorities in the country to do business with.