THE chairman of the Enterprise M3 LEP has been honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Geoff French has been awarded a CBE for his services to civil engineering.

Prior to his involvement with the local enterprise partnership, Geoff was chairman of Basingstoke-based engineering consultants, Scott Wilson, for eight years before its acquisition by URS in 2010.

He was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2013-2014 having been a vice president since 2008.

Delighted to receive the award, Geoff said: “It’s something I would never have received if it had not been for the guidance, friendship and support of so many people over many years.

“There is one person, my wife Annie, who deserves a particular mention. Without her support, her encouragement and her willingness to go to new places and take on new challenges my career would not have developed in the way that it has.”

He has over 40 years’ experience providing transportation and development advice to central government, banks, major developers, local government and international funding agencies.

“I have been planning, designing and implementing the infrastructure that is vital to our way of life – and doing that in many countries around the world,” said Geoff.

“It is one of the many advantages of being a civil engineer that you see the projects on which you have worked on in operation and becoming an essential part of the infrastructure that most people take for granted.

I am very pleased that my involvement with the Enterprise M3 LEP means that I am able to now do this in Hampshire and Surrey helping ensure the continuing prosperity and success of these areas whilst also maintaining the environment and quality of life that is an essential part of the attraction of this area.”

Geoff has been chairman of the Enterprise M3 LEP since its formation in 2011.

He has spearheaded the LEPs economic development work that is driving prosperity through innovation in the M3 corridor through numerous projects.

Ranked as one of England’s most innovative LEPs, Enterprise M3 has brought in more than £148million in local growth funds to the area and also established the £21.7m Growing Enterprise Fund.