A £600,000 boost for Great Yarmouth is hoped to create hundreds of jobs and start up scores of new businesses.

The coastal resort has been awarded the six-figure sum from the government's Coastal Communities Fund, a £16m pot of cash aimed at supporting beach front towns and cities across the country.

Yarmouth is one of 20 communities to have been awarded a grant and the money will be used to provide support, skills and training - via three local groups - to help create 200 businesses and 300 new jobs in areas of high unemployment.

The money will be split among Enterprise GY, Target Opportunities and Business In The Community, which work to support existing businesses, help start up firms and guide people into work.

Jane Ratcliffe, deputy managing director at Great Yarmouth Borough Council - which successfully bid for the cash - hailed the grant as 'enormously good news' for the town.

She said: 'The aim of this is to create jobs, employment opportunities and apprenticeships.

'And it's about supporting local people back into work by investing in providing training and support for them and, in some instances, small amounts of money so they can buy things to get their business growing.

'Our focus is very much on people that are in the most difficult areas, furthest from the job market, and those that have the least opportunity to set up their own business.'

This is the first year of the Coastal Communities Fund but Ms Ratcliffe was confident the town could tap into its resources again, by bidding for capital that would build on the success the £600,000 grant will build in 2013.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles, who announced the funding on Monday, said: 'We've seen enormous enthusiasm for this fund and had to make some difficult choices but the projects we've chosen will create thousands of jobs and help many start up businesses.'